—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Maggie Trowe, Editor

 

Israel Chemicals workers walk out to block layoffs

Some 400 phosphate workers at the Dead Sea Works unit of Israel Chemicals Ltd. walked off the job Feb. 19, joining 850 workers who have been on strike since Feb. 2 at the company’s Bromine Compounds factory near Beersheba protesting planned layoffs.

The strike by members of Histadrut, the largest union federation in Israel, began after the company refused the union’s compromise offer of giving early retirement to 70 workers who volunteered. Instead, the company sent termination letters to 140 workers at Bromine Compounds and has similar plans for Dead Sea Works.

Israel Chemicals, one of the world’s largest producers of bromine, potash and phosphoric acid, mines minerals and manufactures additives for food, fertilizers and industrial products.

“The wages in the plant are the highest in the bromine industry in the entire world,” wrote Nehemia Shtrasler, business writer for the daily Haaretz in a Feb. 13 column attacking the strike. He claimed that the bromine division lost $250 million in the past eight years as a result of an “excessive number of workers and bloated salary costs,” warning that investors “will not come to a place where they cannot fire when necessary.”

“They say the workers make too much. But the operators make their money from working weekends and holidays at overtime pay,” Ilana Kerman, an office worker at Bromine Compounds, said by phone from Beersheba Feb. 20.

“Israel Chemicals is one of the most profitable businesses in Israel,” said Yehudith Borochov, a striker who works in the marketing department.

“This is not a pleasant place to work. Our clothes stink, we stink from all the chemicals,” Martin Stone, a chemical engineer and union member at the Bromine Compounds, said.

This is the first time in more than 30 years that workers in the bromine unit have gone on strike, he said. “The company wants to weaken the union committee here and set a precedent that they can fire anyone whenever they want.”

—Seth Galinsky

National Gallery workers in London strike for five days

LONDON — Workers at the government-owned National Gallery here, an art museum with a collection of more than 2,300 works, struck Feb. 3-7 against the bosses’ plans to contract out 400 of 600 jobs to a private company. The workers, members of the Public and Commercial Services union, guard the art collection, guide visitors and arrange tours. They are demanding £9.15 ($14.10) per hour, the London “living wage,” a nonenforceable benchmark given lip-service by Labour Party and other politicians, promised but not delivered by gallery bosses. The minimum wage in the United Kingdom for workers 21 and older is £6.50 ($10) per hour. It is lower for younger workers and apprentices.

The day before the strike, bosses suspended Candy Udwin, senior union shop steward and a member of the union negotiating team. Udwin was charged with “breaching commercial confidentiality” for sending an email to her union asking officials to raise questions about new funding arrangements.

Udwin was suspended “to intimidate people,” said Nigel Green, a fellow Public and Commercial Services Union member who works for the Royal Parks agency. “But it backfired.” Many pickets held signs that read, “Reinstate Candy.”

— Anne Howie

Airport workers demand regular schedules, pay raise

MINNEAPOLIS — Carrying a banner that read, “Our bills aren’t on call — Our schedules shouldn’t be,” 40 Air Serv workers and supporters marched from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to Air Serv headquarters for a rally Feb. 17. The wheelchair pushers, cart drivers and cabin cleaners, who make $8 to $10 per hour, are demanding regular hours with set schedules and $15 per hour.

“Right now I am only working three days a week for five hours a day,” Suado Gabow, a wheelchair attendant, told the Militant. “The company has ‘blue days.’ You can be scheduled for work, and when you arrive, if a blue line is under your name, it means no work and go home.”

Air Serv workers recently forced the company to issue paper pay stubs instead of only posting the information online. This victory, giving those who don’t have computers or Internet access a way to be sure they are being paid for all hours worked, came after a Jan. 15 rally and a petition campaign. A delegation of workers and their supporters went to the airport to deliver the petitions. When no one from Air Serv management would speak to them, they gave the petitions to the airport operations manager and chanted, “Shame on Air Serv.”

—Hilde Makers