Vol. 75/No. 4      January 31, 2011

Heinz workers picket UK plant
demanding wage raise
WIGAN, England—More than 100 workers picketed outside the giant Heinz plant here January 11. The 1,200 Unite union members were on their fourth day of strike action, demanding a wage raise that matches inflation.

The day before, the company upped its offer to 3.5 percent for this year and 3.4 percent for 2012. The UK government’s inflation figure was 3.3 percent in November. Since then further price rises have hit working people hard, including a 2.5 percent increase in the value added tax.

“Heinz is making record profits,” said union steward Jimmy McCarrick. “Everything is up for them, and they want to peg us down.” A woman striker chimed in, “They get the cream and we get the sour milk.” She recounted how this was their first plant-wide union action since 1978.

Ian Wright, a strike leader and deputy Unite union convener, described how students from nearby Salford University had joined the picket lines at the end of 2010. They had been occupying their university to protest tuition raises. Some 200 agency (temporary) workers are respecting the picket lines too. McCarrick pointed out that the union here has ensured they receive the same pay rate as company workers.

The day following the strike Heinz upped its offer to 3.9 percent with consolidation of a supplementary payment into basic pay. The workers are currently voting on this offer.

—Pete Clifford and Dag Tirsén

Locked-out workers in Iowa
and New York pledge solidarity
BROOKLYN, New York—Building workers locked out at the Flatbush Gardens apartment complex here welcomed a visit to their picket line by a fellow unionist, Buddy Howard, a locked-out grain miller at Roquette America in Keokuk, Iowa. He joined the pickets in front of the complex’s business offices January 16.

Howard is one of about 240 members of Local 48G of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), locked out for more than three months by the corn-processing company. The 70 building workers are members of Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ. They have been locked out since November 29 after refusing to accept a 30 percent pay cut. New hires would make even less.

One of the 32BJ pickets told Howard, “I used to work five days a week; now I picket seven days,” echoing the opinion expressed by many of the workers that they will do what it takes to withstand the property owners’ effort to break them. Howard brought greetings from Local 48G. “Stay strong and keep in touch,” the building workers told Howard as they parted at the end of the day.

On January 11 union lawyers filed unfair labor practices charges against Renaissance Equity Holding LLC, owned by landlord David Bistricer. Bistricer is already on a list of the city’s worst landlords. The Tenants Association is supporting the locked out workers in their fight for a decent union contract. Some of the locked out workers live in the 59-building complex.

Desmond Pennant, the shop steward, said, “We are working people who feel we got a raw deal. We won’t accept a bad contract forced down our throat. This is 2011, not 1911.”

At a union meeting held at the local school January 14, union officials announced plans to leaflet four other housing complexes in New York City owned by Bistricer.

—Dan Fein and Mike Fitzsimmons  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home