http://themilitant.com/2016/8015/801532.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 80/No. 15 April 18, 2016
—ON THE PICKET LINE—
Maggie Trowe, Editor
Militant/Sara Lobman
Members of Communications Workers of America rally in front of Verizon
building in New York March 31 against company’s concession demands.
Their contract expired last August.
Help the Militant cover labor struggles across the country!
This column gives a voice to those engaged in battle and building
solidarity today — including Steelworkers opposing concessions,
construction workers demanding safe conditions and workers fighting for
$15 and a union. I invite those involved in workers’ battles to contact
me at 306 W. 37th St., 13th Floor, New York, NY 10018; or (212)
244-4899; or themilitant@xxxxxxx. We’ll work together to ensure your
story is told.
— Maggie Trowe
East Coast unionists again protest Verizon concession demands
NEW YORK — Several hundred members of the Communications Workers of
America took part in a Stand Up to Verizon rally March 31 in front of
the company’s headquarters here protesting concession contract demands.
Similar actions took place that week in other cities and towns in New
York state, New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere.
One of the issues is Verizon’s demand to be able to send workers up to
90 miles away from their home for 120-day stretches multiple times a
year, Jim Padgett, who has worked for Verizon for 27 years, told the
Militant. “It’s a disruption of life,” he said.
Verizon is also demanding increased health care contributions,
concessions on pensions and elimination of accident and sickness
disability coverage. Union members are continuing to work under the old
contract, covering 39,000 members of the CWA and the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in nine East Coast states. That pact
expired Aug. 1.
Verizon posted over $5 billion in profits during the fourth quarter of
2015.
— Willie Cotton
Farmworkers from Washington, Mexico tour West Coast together
WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Some 80 farmworkers and supporters rallied in
front of the corporate headquarters of berry distributing giant
Driscoll’s March 31. The action, called by the Washington-based Familias
Unidas por la Justicia (Families United for Justice), is part of a
monthlong West Coast tour promoting a boycott of the company’s berries
and building the fight for a union among berry workers in Mexico and
Washington who work for Driscoll’s subcontractors.
Three farmworkers are on tour — Ramon Torres, president of the Familias
union; Lazaro Matamoros, a member of the union who works for Sakuma
Brothers Farms in Burlington, Washington; and Gloria Gracida,
spokesperson for La Alianza farmworker union in the San Quintín Valley
in the Mexican state of Baja California. The region is a major producer
of Driscoll’s berries in Mexico and home to tens of thousands of
farmworkers, many indigenous Mixtec and Triqui people from Oaxaca. These
workers initiated strikes and organizing efforts beginning in 2013 in
Washington and Baja California. Thousands of Mexican workers walked off
the job in March 2015.
Torres and Gracida described harsh conditions agricultural workers face
in both countries. Child labor is common. Workers in Mexico have been
protesting sexual harassment of female workers.
During the event two Driscoll’s representatives walked up carrying water
jugs and cups for the protesters.
“This is a humiliation,” Gracida said, pointing to the need for clean
drinking water in the fields and the homes of farmworkers.
— Raul Gonzalez
Steelworkers in Mexico win strike over firings at ArcelorMittal
Members of the Mexican Mining and Metal Workers Union walked out March
4, shutting down production at ArcelorMittal’s steel mill in the Pacific
port of Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico. Some 3,500 people work at the plant.
They struck over company violations of the union contract, demanding
reinstatement of more than 200 workers fired at the coke plant when the
company closed it recently.
On March 13, the company backed down, agreeing to relocate 125 of the
workers to other jobs in the mill, to provide severance packages for 81
workers who took voluntary retirement and to pay the workers for nine
days on strike.
When the strike began ArcelorMittal said it was illegal because it had
not been approved by the Mexican Federal Labor Board. “The effects of
this illegal blockade are already being felt,” said a company statement.
With the lost production of 8,500 to 10,000 metric tons per day, “we run
the significant risk of losing customers.”
Workers refused to be intimidated, organizing mass pickets at the
company gates. Thousands of steelworkers, teachers, transport workers,
telephone workers and others marched through the main streets of Lázaro
Cárdenas to the plant March 12 supporting the strikers.
“We marched to show we were united, with support from unions and the
community,” Luis Gonzalo Zaragoza, housing secretary for the union, told
the Militant in a phone interview March 29. “The next day, the company
agreed to our demands.”
ArcelorMittal has closed or cut back production at several facilities in
Europe and the U.S. to protect profits in the face of increased
competition and a worldwide glut of steel. Most recently the company
closed its Point Lisas plant in the Caribbean island of Trinidad, firing
644 workers the day after the union won a wage dispute case in
industrial court.
More than 13,000 members of the United Steelworkers at the company’s
U.S. mills continue working while the union negotiates with bosses. The
old contract expired Sept. 1. The company has refused to back down from
concession demands, including significant cuts to medical benefits for
retirees and active workers.
— Betsy Farley, member of USW Local 1010 at the ArcelorMittal mill in
East Chicago, Indiana
Union rail workers picket against unsafe conditions in New Zealand
DUNEDIN, New Zealand — Rail workers scored a victory here when Dunedin
Railways withdrew a disciplinary warning following a March 8 picket of
the company. A driver had been disciplined after sending a safety report
to the company and the union health and safety committee after a
breakdown in radio recordings of track occupancy led to two crews
potentially using a single track at the same time. Informing the union
committee was considered by the boss as misconduct.
“It’s a rail worker’s worst nightmare to see another train coming
towards you,” Brian McKay, secretary of the Otago branch of the Rail and
Maritime Transport Union, told the Militant in an interview March 22.
“The potential is for a serious incident and we thought it was important
to send the company a message. If we don’t stand up as a union to defend
protections we have won, they will be eroded away.”
Some 30 people took part in the March 8 picket, including the Dairy
Workers Union, Public Service Association and Nurses Organisation.
— Annalucia Vermunt
Related articles:
April 14 actions will demand $15 an hour and union organizing
London ‘tube’ drivers strike against unsafe trains
For $15 an hour and a union!
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