Vol. 80/No. 47 December 19, 2016
NY Momentive strikers: ‘Solidarity just keeps coming’
“The solidarity from other unions and people in the area has been good and has not slowed down,” union trustee Gilbert Travis said as five donated pizzas were delivered. “A week after Thanksgiving we still have turkeys left over.”
Momentive bosses’ drive to increase their profits at the expense of union members is well known in this industrial region. Every day union pickets confront scabs being shepherded into the plant.
Some 50 firefighters from nearby towns joined the picket line Dec. 1. Strikers explained that union workers are trained and organized into fire-fighting units within the factory, because the industrial sealants and adhesives are volatile and combustible. “It takes the workers years to learn how to operate that plant safely,” Frank Razzano, president of Troy Uniformed Firefighters Association, told the Times Union.
The unionists have maintained round-the-clock pickets since walking out Nov. 2 after voting down several company offers that attacked workers’ rights and conditions. Strikers said Momentive’s concession demands would raise the cost of health insurance, downgrade health care for retirees and cut company contributions to workers’ 401(k) retirement accounts. Pay raises would not keep up with inflation.
“They are trying to make us look greedy, but we are just trying to stay even,” said Travis.
A steady stream of solidarity is heard as passing motorists honk their horns. “Our strength comes from the ranks,” said former chief shop steward John Ryan. He is on disability but comes to the picket line daily. “Spirits among the workers are high and many show up even when they aren’t scheduled.”
Strikers picket four hours a day, five days a week, in rotating shifts. They are prepared for winter with burn-barrels and tents to keep them warm and dry. The local has organized movie nights to encourage family participation and expanded picket lines most Saturdays.
Ryan said members of the CWA who struck Verizon earlier this year have picketed, as well as members of the teachers, nurses, confectionery, pipefitters and sheet metal unions and area local labor councils. Visitors have signed a “wall of solidarity” outside strike headquarters.
Local 81359 is in a contract together with two other locals, one of 50 members at the company’s Willoughby, Ohio, plant and the other representing 80 technicians here. The majority of the three locals voted up Momentive concession contracts in 2010 and 2013 that fell hardest on the local here. This year Local 81359 members voted overwhelming against the contract and it was rejected. Ryan said workers at the Ohio plant returned to work after approving the contract 43 to 1 Nov. 7.
The unionists receive $400-a-week strike pay and will begin collecting unemployment benefits Dec. 21. The union reimburses strikers’ medical bills.
“We need to stay in the public eye,” said William Johnson, a 30-year worker at the plant. “We’ll be stronger after the strike. We are getting to know ourselves. They won’t be able to push us around.”
Johnson said cops have visited the homes of some workers because the company accuses them of “industrial sabotage.” Chief shop steward Shawn Mastropietro said no charges have been filed against anyone.
“Something has to happen in this country,” said retired chemical operator Stephanie Greene. “The corporations think they can squeeze every dime out of us.”
Jacob Perasso, a freight train conductor, is a member of United Transportation Union Local 1447. Dean Hazlewood contributed to this article.
Related articles:
On the Picket Line
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