VALLEY VIEW, Ohio — Fifteen drivers and warehouse workers, members of Teamsters Local 507, went on strike at this Airgas location southeast of Cleveland June 26 in response to the company’s refusal to negotiate an acceptable contract. Airgas workers in Local 701 in North Brunswick, New Jersey, are also on strike. Workers here are fighting for their first contract.
The two striking locals set up solidarity picket lines at eight company locations in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Teamsters members at these locations aren’t crossing.
Airgas, a subsidiary of the French multinational corporation Air Liquide, is the largest distributor of industrial, medical and specialty gases in the U.S. Last year the company reported a record profit of $3.8 billion.
“Local 507 represents workers at another Airgas location in Oakwood in Cleveland,” Dan Chavez, secretary-treasurer of Local 507, told the Militant. “They won $4 wage increases and better health benefits in their first contract. Workers here at this location reached out to us, saying they wanted to organize and win a similar contract. The company gave us a hard ‘no.’”
Chavez explained they’ve been negotiating for a year, but the company keeps delaying talks, fearing a union victory here would spur organizing and contract fights at their other locations in the Cleveland area.
Strikers on the picket line explained they haven’t had a serious wage increase in years and the rising cost of medical care takes a greater and greater toll. These are their key demands: a raise that meets the higher prices today, and adequate and affordable health care.
On July 22 the union extended picketing at Airgas outlets in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan and California. Hundreds of Teamster workers are now honoring picket lines at some 15 facilities nationwide. On July 29, Teamsters Local 996 in Honolulu went on strike.