—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Maggie Trowe, Editor

 

Pennsylvania Steelworkers mark six months fighting ATI lockout

WASHINGTON, Pa. — Some 150 locked-out members of the United Steelworkers and supporters picketed at the plant gate here Feb. 11 to mark six months of their fight against Allegheny Technologies Inc. “We will be here one day longer and a lot stronger than they are,” said Marc Scott of USW Local 7139-5. Among the participants were two busloads of young Steelworkers participating in a leadership conference.

ATI locked out 2,200 Steelworkers at 12 plants in six states Aug. 15. The company announced it had a “once-in-a-generation” chance to cut wages and boost profits by imposing a lower tier as many workers approach retirement.

“I’ve never believed in two-tier contracts,” said Local 1046 picket captain Dwayne Smedley of Louisville, Ohio. “Yesterday, Carrier, an Indianapolis air-conditioner manufacturer, announced it was moving its operation to Mexico. They had a two-tier system where a quarter of the workers made $14 an hour or about $30,000 a year while others made close to $26 an hour and with overtime close to $70,000 a year. Two-tier contracts don’t protect jobs, they just split the union.”

ATI cut off medical coverage for locked-out workers in November. Unemployment benefits ended Feb. 15. Many workers have been forced by economic pressure to retire, take side jobs or look for other work. “There’s hardly any full-time jobs out there,” locked-out worker Debbie Cupec told Triblive. “It took me two months to get a [part-time] job at the post office.”

Negotiations between the company and the union have resumed.

“We maintain our 24-hour picket lines and fight to get our side of the story out,” Smedley said. “I can’t get any coverage. The local paper would rather talk about how a police dog was stabbed, than the fact 106 of us are locked out.”

— Arlene Rubinstein

Unionists rally in solidarity with California warehouse workers

MIRA LOMA, Calif. — Unionists and others rallied here Feb. 12 to support warehouse workers in their struggle for better conditions at Walmart supplier Olivet International. The 200 workers receive, repackage, palletize and ship merchandise to Walmart and other retailers.

Two years ago workers began making demands. “There were not even fans,” among other things, Rafael Sanchez told the Militant. “You couldn’t touch the walls of trailers parked in the hot sun. We forced them to provide fans.” In retaliation, Sanchez said, bosses began to bring in temp workers on first shift, and moved workers directly employed by the company to second shift with reduced hours.

Workers are raising several demands. “Change all temp workers to direct and get rid of the temp agency,” read a leaflet issued in conjunction with the Warehouse Workers Resource Center. Other demands are, “Assign work schedules based on seniority and no favoritism,” and, “Stop the atmosphere of pressure, harassment, disrespect and retaliation by supervisors and leads against workers who are seeking to improve working conditions.”

A delegation delivered a petition to the head boss the day of the rally.

Teamsters, United Food and Commercial Workers and UNITE HERE unions took part in the action.

There are tens of thousands of warehouse workers in the greater Los Angeles area.

“We’re not only fighting for ourselves but all warehouse workers!” Miriam Garcia, a leader of the fight, told the rally.

— Becca Williamson