The Militant - July 16, 2012 -- On the Picket Line

Vol. 76/No. 26 July 16, 2012

On the Picket Line

Mass. nuclear power workers
reject concessions for 2nd time

BOSTON—About 200 locked-out workers and their supporters rallied on the steps of the state Capitol here June 28. Members of Utility Workers Union of America Local 369 at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth, about 45 miles south of Boston, were locked out June 6 by Entergy Corp.

About 20 area unions took part in the rally, according to Rich Rogers, executive secretary-treasurer of the Greater Boston Central Labor Council.

It was held a week after members had rejected a second company offer by a vote of 137 to 89. The workers had voted down the initial proposal 174 to 34. The plant is being operated by management and replacement workers.

In a press release after the second vote, Local 369 President Dan Hurley said his members “will not accept cuts to their pay or health care from a company making record profits and paying executives in the tens of millions.”

The company told the union it would cut off health benefits on July 1.

“Entergy is short staffing the critical Pilgrim Nuclear fire brigade—forcing workers during the lockout to double up on responsibilities,” said a flyer passed out at the rally. “Fire hazards represent the single largest safety risk in a nuclear power plant.”

—Sarah Ullman and Ted Leonard

Minn. newspaper workers fight
union busting by archdiocese

ST. PAUL, Minn.—Fifty workers at the Catholic Spirit newspaper and their supporters picketed and leafleted outside the large Catholic Cathedral here June 24 to protest the decision by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minnesota to end their union contract. The workers explained to the parishioners that this was a case of union busting and appealed to them to pressure Archbishop John Nienstedt to reverse his ruling. Most took the leaflets.

Since 1965 workers at the paper have been organized in the Minnesota Newspaper Guild and have worked in a building outside the offices of the archdiocese. Recently Nienstedt, citing concerns about publishing costs, merged the operations of the paper into the Office of Communications of the archdiocese, which is replacing the union contract with so-called “Justice in Employment” contracts with workers individually.

According to Mike Bucsko, a leader of the Minnesota Newspaper Guild, recent decisions by the National Labor Relations Board have upheld these types of union-busting moves by religious institutions under the guise of First Amendment rights. The guild has decided not to appeal the decree of the archbishop for this reason.

The archdiocese has announced that three of the 13 union workers at the Catholic Spirit are to be laid off.

—Cameron Slick and Tom Fiske

Tesoro oil refinery workers
ratify contract in Calif.

MARTINEZ, Calif.—Four months after their contract had expired with Tesoro Corporation’s Golden Eagle refinery here, members of United Steelworkers Local 5 voted June 6 to accept the company’s proposal.

The Golden Eagle workers were the last in Tesoro’s half-dozen USW-organized refineries to ratify the three-year contract after voting down an earlier version May 21. The pact includes an 8.5 percent wage increase and a promise of “no substantial reduction in benefits” before negotiations begin on a new contract in late 2014.

Seven Tesoro workers were killed in a refinery explosion and fire in 2010 and another four in 1999.

—Joel Britton

Rally in Paris protests
closing of Peugeot auto plant

PARIS—About 1,000 workers rallied June 28 in front of Peugeot headquarters here to protest the threatened closing of the Aulnay assembly plant in the Paris suburbs with its 3,300 workers.

This would be the first closing of an auto assembly plant in France in 20 years. Peugeot has convened a meeting with union representatives before the end of July when it is widely expected that the plant closing will be announced.

Delegations of workers from Peugeot plants throughout France and from Madrid participated in the action, as well as a delegation from Opel in Germany.

“They couldn’t care less about people,” said Francisco Coelho, a worker in the stamping department of the Peugeot factory in Poissy, outside Paris.

Peugeot, the second largest European automaker, which also markets vehicles under the Citroën name, has claimed it is forced to reduce excess capacity because of the steep decline of car sales in Europe.

—Derek Jeffers and Jacques Salfati

Greece airport workers’ contract
pushes back some boss demands

ATHENS, Greece—Workers at 35 airlines at the Athens International Airport pushed back some concession demands and signed a collective contract after organizing protest actions at the end of May. The pact began July 1 and runs until the end of 2014.

The employers demanded a 42 percent cut in wages and benefits. These demands by the bosses are part of measures the Greek government passed last February in order to receive more loans to stave off bankruptcy.

According to the labor department, from February 14 until the end of May, 84,772 individual contracts were registered with an average cut of 23.5 percent in salaries, and 400 enterprise contracts for 30,659 workers with an average cut of 24 percent.

The airport workers’ contract contains a 5 percent cut in some benefits and concessions on working conditions.

“We are satisfied with it since it retains the basic gains of our existing contract,” Eleni Patsouki, who was part of the Federation of Air Transportation Employees’ (OPAM) negotiating committee, told the Militant.

—Bobbis Misailides and Maria Plessa, OPAM members