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The Militant (logo)
Vol. 80/No. 16 April 25, 2016
—ON THE PICKET LINE—
Maggie Trowe, Editor
Militant/George Chalmers
United Mine Workers of America members and supporters marched in
Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, April 1 protesting coal bosses’ attempts to
gut retirees’ pensions and benefits.
Help the Militant cover labor struggles around the world!
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
UMWA miners march against attack on retirees’ benefits
WAYNESBURG, Pa. — Some 3,000 miners marched and rallied here April 1 to
protest the attempt by Alpha Natural Resources to tear up its contract
with the United Mine Workers of America and end its pension and medical
obligations for 2,600 retired miners through the bankruptcy courts.
April 1 is John Mitchell Day, a paid holiday for union miners honoring
an early UMWA president and traditionally a day of union actions. Most
of the marchers were retirees and their families. People came from
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana.
About 30 members of the United Steelworkers who work at the
Brackenridge, Pennsylvania, plant of Allegheny Technologies Inc.
participated. They recently returned to work after a six-month lockout.
“Bankruptcy is just a way for corporations to rob the workers of
everything they have earned,” UMWA President Cecil Roberts told
participants. He recalled the fight in 2012 when miners held rallies
around the coal fields during Patriot Coal’s attack on their contract
and pensions using bankruptcy laws.
Alpha Natural Resources employs over 600 miners at the Cumberland Mine
near here, and operates 50 mines around the country. The company filed a
motion to gut the contract March 28.
In other developments, Donald Blankenship, former CEO of Massey Energy,
was sentenced April 6 to a year in prison for his responsibility for the
massive 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners at the nonunion Upper Big
Branch Mine in Montcoal, West Virginia. The contempt for safety at that
mine was a product of the decades-long drive by coal bosses in their
drive for profit to push back safety rights and deal blows to the UMWA.
This is the first time a top mining executive has been convicted for
violating safety regulations.
— Ned Measel
Montreal unionists march to protest two-tier pensions
MONTREAL — Members of United Steelworkers Local 6658, on strike since
Feb. 6 against attacks by Lafarge Cement on their pensions, led an April
4 march here of several hundred unionists. The action was called by the
Quebec Federation of Labor youth committee to demand the provincial
government ban companies from implementing pension plans with inferior
benefits for newly hired workers, which demonstrators called “orphan
clauses.”
Members of UNIFOR Local 145, locked out by furniture retail chain Brault
& Martineau at its east end Montreal distribution center since Feb. 28,
marched behind their union banner.
Steelworkers from across Canada, who were in Montreal for the union’s
National Policy Conference and a Next Generation conference for younger
union members, joined the action, as did small delegations of other unions.
“Our members remain united despite Lafarge’s efforts to divide us,”
Steelworkers Local 6658 Vice President Francois Cardinal — a Lafarge
worker and participant in the Next Generation conference — told the
cheering crowd.
— Beverly Bernardo
Chicago teachers’ one-day strike protests cuts, attacks on union
CHICAGO — Thousands of members of the Chicago Teachers Union rallied and
marched downtown with students, parents and other supporters April 1
demanding a contract that honors promises for wage increases from the
previous contract that expired June 30. They snarled rush-hour traffic
as they concluded a full day of picketing schools and joining afternoon
protests against cutbacks at the city’s community colleges.
The Chicago Board of Education announced in February it would stop
paying part of teachers’ pensions, which it has done since 1981, when
the “pension pickup” was agreed to in lieu of raises. Teachers say this
amounts to a pay cut.
School officials say that while negotiations continue they won’t
implement pay increases from the last contract based on teachers’
education and seniority.
Teachers are also protesting anticipated school closings and bigger
class sizes. Forty-nine public schools in Chicago were shuttered in 2013.
Many teachers and their supporters say the attacks amount to union
busting. “If we lose our union we’re done,” Deborah Davis, an elementary
school teacher for 20 years, told the Militant. “I’m tired of teachers
being stepped on.”
— Ilona Gersh
Related articles:
Verizon workers strike against concession demands
Solidarity with Verizon strikers!
Australia gov’t presses attack on construction union rights
Union: Amtrak rail worker deaths ‘totally unacceptable’
One-day strike opposes job cuts at Calif. warehouse
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