Vol. 75/No. 47      December 26, 2011

Members of the International Association of Machinists and the Journeyman Stonecutters Association of Indiana—both employed at the mill—continue to honor the picket line. But the company has started up limited production with a skeleton crew of managers and a small group of scabs and members of the Laborers union who work in the quarry.

On Dec. 2 a scab driving a pickup truck into the plant hit striker Danny Stephens, sending him to the hospital. Stephens has filed a criminal complaint, and the union is urging speedy prosecution of the case.

On Nov. 29 members of United Auto Workers Local 440 from the GM plant in nearby Bedford joined millworkers for an expanded picket line rally.

Community members and several local pizza restaurants have started regular donations of food and drinks. Occupy Bloomington has sent weekly caravans to bolster the picket line. And passing cars continue to honk up a storm in support of the strike.

A Dec. 10 strike support summit in Bedford attracted two dozen people, including leaders and members of Communications Workers of America Local 4730 at Indiana University, UAW Local 440, Journeyman Stonecutters, Bloomington Jobs with Justice, United Way of Monroe County Community Services, and Democracy for America.

“I am proud to be here today. It warms your heart to come into a place like this and see all the local people together,” Scott Moore, president of the Bedford UAW local, told meeting participants.

Also present were two members of United Steelworkers Local 7-30 who work at C&M Conveyor in Mitchell where workers voted for the union four months ago and are now fighting for their first contract. Rex Smith, a member of the union’s bargaining committee, announced that workers there would be holding a union rally at the plant gate on Dec. 21 and invited groups to attend.

Donations to the strike fund can be sent to Rick Watson, Local 8093 secretary-treasurer, 6601 State Road 158, Bedford, IN 47421.
 
 
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Locked-out tire workers in Ohio build support rally
Rally slams Manitowoc Cranes’ union busting
Striker: ‘If we don’t stop it here, it will spread’
1,700 McGill Univ. strikers win, now ‘together, stronger’
Illinois miners win court ruling in fight for union
Bosses get off easy in 2010 death of 29 W.Va. miners
Minn. tank trailer workers strike against ‘outsourcing’
Licorice workers in fight ‘for long haul’
Pa. Steelworkers return to jobs with heads held high
Union power key to defend life and limb
‘Keep covering our struggles’  
 
 
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