https://themilitant.com/2019/11/23/asarco-strikers-fight-for-union-first-raise-in-10-years/
Asarco strikers fight for union, first raise in 10 years
By Bernie Senter
Vol. 83/No. 44
December 2, 2019
Workers rally Nov. 18 in solidarity with copper workers on strike
against Asarco at company headquarters in Tucson, Arizona. The miners,
who struck Oct. 13, are fighting union busting.
Militant/Eric Simpson
Workers rally Nov. 18 in solidarity with copper workers on strike
against Asarco at company headquarters in Tucson, Arizona. The miners,
who struck Oct. 13, are fighting union busting.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Solidarity for striking copper workers got a boost from
a Nov. 18 rally of 150 in front of Asarco’s headquarters here. The
workers have been on strike since Oct. 13 at four mining complexes in
Arizona and a refinery in Texas, fighting flagrant union busting by the
copper giant.
“We are fighting to be treated fairly, with dignity and respect,”
striker Karl Wagner told Militant worker-correspondents at the rally.
Wagner, who has worked at the Mission mine in Sahuarita for 13 years,
repairs and replaces the gigantic tires on equipment used in the open
pit mine there. Ten miners from the Ray mine in Kearny and the Hayden
complex, 80 miles east of Phoenix, joined the protest.
Other workers from the area joined the miners to bring support. Noe
Gaxiola said he came with four fellow UPS workers “to be an example of
solidarity.” Trish Muir, a Teamster who works at American Airlines, said
she has brought co-workers to the picket lines. Lawrence Stewart, an
aerospace worker in Phoenix and member of the United Steelworkers union,
drove down for the day.
The copper strikers are organized in seven different unions based on
their jobs. The largest number belong to the Steelworkers and Teamsters.
The strike has forced Asarco to shut down its concentrator and smelter
in Hayden and its refinery in Amarillo, Texas, but the bosses have been
doing some mining. “The company is attempting to ramp up production at
the mines, but they don’t have enough manpower with those who crossed
the picket line, salaried personnel and hiring replacement workers,”
Alex Terrazas, president of USW Local 937, told the Militant.
Steelworkers Sub-District 2 Director and chief negotiator for the unions
Manny Armenta told the rally about the Nov. 14 “negotiating session”
with the bosses, the only one since the strike began. “It was tense, the
whole [union negotiating] committee was there hoping there would be a
change in the atmosphere,” Armenta said. “Unfortunately, there wasn’t.
They sat there and answered questions we had, but that was it.”
Bosses out to bust the union
Asarco clearly is out to bust the union. They’re expanding efforts to
hire strikebreakers. No further negotiating sessions are planned.
Asarco bosses’ “last, best final offer” freezes pay for four more years
for all but the most skilled workers, after nearly 10 years of no pay
increase. Health care premiums and deductibles would double or triple.
Contractual protections for union representation on the job would be
gutted. Miners rejected what they call an “insulting” offer and voted
77% to go on strike.
Henry Dennison, a freight rail conductor from Seattle, spoke, bringing
support on behalf of his union local. “We don’t get to pick our fights,
they pick us,” he said. “The key is solidarity.”
Dennison read from the letter sent by his SMART-TD Local 324 President
Pete Gushwa. “Your struggle was much discussed in our local meeting,”
Gushwa wrote. “We want to reach out to say how proud we are of you all
for taking a stand against the tyranny of corporate America and the
oppression of the working class.” Local 324 contributed $350 to the
strikers’ food bank.
Tucson mayor-elect Regina Romero also spoke.
The Militant’s worker-correspondents joined 40 miners and their families
at a Nov. 17 cookout at the Mission mine picket line, These have been
held every Sunday since the start of the strike.
“These cuts are totally unreasonable and caused a rebellion,” haul truck
driver Jim Rushford told the Militant. “Asarco is a profitable company
that basically forced us to strike or lay down and dissolve the union.”
U.S.-Mexico miners solidarity
Asarco is owned by Grupo Mexico, a mining conglomerate that also has
operations in Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador and Spain.
Strikers express a variety of opinions on whether the fact Asarco is a
“foreign” corporation is the source of their problems.
Some miners and union officials said they thought so. “The problem isn’t
that Grupo Mexico is Mexican based,” replied striker Eduardo Placencio.
“The division isn’t over nationality. They are multinational and workers
everywhere need to stand against them. The workers over there are the
same as workers over here. It’s just a border between us.”
There is a history of solidarity between miners in Mexico and Arizona.
In August 2005, thousands of miners in Mexico held an hourlong strike in
solidarity with miners on strike against Asarco in Arizona and Texas and
in Monterrey, Mexico. Nearly 50 miners from Grupo Mexico’s Cananea
copper mine, 25 miles south of the border, visited the picket lines in
Arizona.
Miners in Mexico also have a long history of struggle. Miners at La
Cananea were on strike from 2007 to 2010, before company bosses got the
help of federal police to break it.
James Wegener has worked at the Mission mine for 14 years. It’s his
first strike. “Teachers have showed up, many people from the community
have dropped by, some with firewood or baked goods,” he told the
Militant at the Tucson rally. “We’re striking for people who aren’t even
striking because they’ll benefit from us being out here.”
Miners and their families will celebrate Thanksgiving on Sunday, Nov.
24, with a cookout at the picket lines. Everyone is welcome.
“It’s going to be a long road ahead. We’re in it for the long haul,”
said Mission striker Gregory Schuett, who is USW Local 937 financial
secretary, echoing a common refrain by miners.
Join them Nov. 24. Send donations for the strike fund and food pantry to
the Pima Area Labor Federation via paypal.me/palfcommunityservice.
Solidarity messages to the strikers can be sent via palfchair@xxxxxxxxx.
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Front Page Articles •Back CN rail workers, Asarco strikers fights!
•Asarco strikers fight for union, first raise in 10 years
•Bolivia protests demand end to rightists’ ouster of Morales gov’t
•Step up pace to make fall books, fund, Militant drive
•Protests win stay of execution, new hearing for Rodney Reed
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•‘For recognition of Israel and of a Palestinian state’
Feature Articles •International conference in Havana says ‘US hands off
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Also In This Issue •Hundreds protest in London, demand ‘No more Grenfells!’
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David Hume
“ In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees
of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral
evidence. A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence. ”
― David Hume,
