Caterpillar strikers, along with many supporters, marked the one-year anniversary of their walkout with a demonstration of 2,000 June 21 in front of the company's headquarters in Peoria, Illinois. The night before, 350 Caterpillar strikers staged a mass picket at the Mapleton plant. These actions and others being planned are a fitting reminder to the company and to many others in the employing class that despite the obstacles thousands of United Auto Workers (UAW) members continue to be determined fighters.
In spite of the constant harping by spokespersons of big business on the demise of the labor movement and the Caterpillar walkout, and the blow that was struck with the defeat of the United Rubber Workers in their strike against Bridgestone/Firestone, the Caterpillar strike is not a settled matter. The recent actions of UAW strikers shows there is still a lot of fight left.
The battle of Caterpillar workers against union busting has been at the center of labor's resistance to the bosses' attacks on the working class for some time. A lot remains at stake in the outcome. "This struggle goes beyond getting a contract at Caterpillar," one UAW member explained to the Militant as the strike began last year. The employers "are trying to lower the living standards of all working people and they're trying to destroy unions to do it."
The world's largest maker of earth-moving equipment wants to break a major industrial union. This has been the company's overriding goal for the past four years. The latest strike followed a widespread campaign of harassment and provocations against union militants.
Ever since Caterpillar workers set up picket lines in November 1991, the Militant has given prominent coverage to this important battle and called on the labor movement, youth, farmers, and all working people to rally in defense of the UAW members on strike. We have explained that this strike is part of the broader struggle of working people around the world against the employers' attempts to protect their profits and make us pay for the crisis of the capitalist system.
Solidarity with the strikers at Caterpillar should remain at the top of the agenda for fight-minded workers and rebellious youth. Traveling to Illinois to join strikers at rallies and picket lines and spreading the word about their battle can help push back Caterpillar's anti-union campaign and make it possible to get UAW members back in the plants with their union intact. That would be a gain for the labor movement in this hard-fought battle.
As the Militant said as the walkout began a year ago, "The Caterpillar workers have proudly taken their place in the front lines of the battle against the employers' offensive." Their fight deserves ongoing support.