—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Maggie Trowe, Editor

Honeywell workers approve new contract ending 10-month lockout

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — After nearly 10 months on the picket line at Honeywell Aerospace, workers here and in Green Island, New York, will be returning to work in late March. Members of United Auto Workers locals 9 and 1508 voted 186-106 to approve a new five-year contract Feb. 25. Honeywell had locked out 317 workers at its wheel and brake plant in South Bend and 40 others in Green Island.

The South Bend workers organized three solidarity rallies and maintained 24-hour pickets at the plant for the duration of the lockout.

“We were never alone,” said UAW Local 9 Recording Secretary Bryan Rogers. “We had tremendous support from the community and other unions.”

“The biggest thing for us was union rights and seniority,” said Local 9 Vice President Todd Treder. “They wanted to be able to arbitrarily move workers from shift to shift and assign jobs and lay us off without regard to seniority, but we stopped that.”

The new contract includes increases in what workers must pay for health care. It sets the annual deductible at $3,000, instead of $8,000 that the company originally demanded. It also eliminates retirement pensions for new hires and freezes pension benefits for those currently working, replacing defined pension benefits with a 401(k) plan.

The agreement includes three 2 percent wage increases over 5 years for all but the highest paid workers in the plant, according to workers interviewed.

Honeywell brought in scabs from Strom Engineering to maintain some level of production during the lockout. “When the company brought them in before the vote, it actually united the local,” Treder said. “Everyone could see what the company was up to.”

“Some people say the unions are going away, but I don’t think so,” said Theo Davis, a fabricator with two years in the plant. Davis explained he voted against the first two company offers, but in favor of the new contract. “I was with this fight all along. Now we’re just better prepared, we know what to expect.”

— Betsy Farley

Workers at NY Momentive plant rally for fired unionists

WATERFORD, N.Y. — About 200 workers who recently returned to work after 105 days on strike against Momentive Performance Materials, and their families and supporters, enjoyed a spirited fundraiser at Chrome Food and Spirits here March 5 to benefit 26 workers who were fired during the strike.

“We’ll do everything we can to get them back to work,” said Dominick Patrignani, president of International Union of Electrical Workers-Communications Workers of America Local 81359, at the event. “One worker was terminated for supposedly stealing a company radio but he has the receipts to prove he purchased it. We are for using a criteria of innocent until proven guilty,” noting that the company would not agree to that.

A spokesperson for Momentive said they are following the contract agreement in “full cooperation with the IUE-CWA and the governor’s office,” and said they would “not comment on open employee matters.”

The workers were fired for supposed sabotage of the plant on the eve of the strike and for alleged “misconduct” on the picket line. According to Patrignani, no convincing evidence has been presented to the union that would justify the terminations. “The company presented bogus evidence for the sabotage, such as missing labels.”

Momentive used the fired workers as a bargaining chip to pressure the union to sign a contract. Workers told the Militant that Momentive threatened to never let the 26 back, and lay off another 150 workers if they didn’t vote for the contract. The agreement was approved in mid-February.

Union workers distributed T-shirts to their fellow fighters that read “Stood the line for 105,” on the front and “Now we stand for 26,” on the back.

A “50-50” raffle was held to benefit the fired workers. Rich Gaughan, a worker at the plant, won $853 and immediately donated it to those who were fired. “It is extremely important that we win their jobs back,” he told the Militant. “In my opinion we never should have returned to work without them.”

“Outside the plant we became more unified,” said plant worker Michael Harrington. “The strike was our stand. Someone has to take a stand.”

Donations can be sent to Save The 26 IUE-CWA 81359, P.O. Box 339, Waterford, NY 12188.

— Jacob Perasso