Fighting for union rights
Two hundred people participated in a protest meeting in Miami on August 10 against the Peerless clothing firm. The meeting expressed solidarity with over 2,000 workers who are fighting for their rights to organize a union at Peerless in Montreal. The meeting was sponsored by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE).

For several months the workers at Peerless have fought to organize a union and against company attacks on their rights. Franklin Valois, who was fired by Peerless because of his union activity said, "We are fighting for a wage raise and for respect. Workers' rights are violated, sexual harassment is used constantly against women." He said that "around 70 percent of the workers are women and 90 percent are immigrants.

Participating in the protest were 30 workers from Deerfield Beach, who are themselves involved in organizing a union at the `Kitchen of the Ocean,' a shrimp processing plant. More than a dozen workers from the Yoo Hoo bottling plant in Hialeah, who have just won a union organizing victory against the company and joined UNITE, attended the solidarity event. Members of the Farmworkers Association, activists from the Committee for Dignity and Justice for Immigrants, and several strikers from the Detroit Free Press participated as well.

A dozen members of the National Organization for Women joined the protest meeting after holding their demonstration against sexual discrimination practices outside the Tire Kingdom company.

One of the speakers at the meeting was Marlene Bastien, a leader of the organization of Haitian Women in Miami. "I'm concerned about the rights of workers not only because in my country workers' rights are not respected," she said, "but I believe that the workers are the most important people in every society."

At the end of the protest, one of the Peerless workers addressed the crowd. He said that during the last three months workers at Peerless traveled to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. to build solidarity with their struggle.

Rollande Girard

Miami, Florida

Day of protest in Ireland
Twenty-five years ago, August 11, 1971, in an attempt to crush Nationalist resistance, the British government introduced mass internment without trial in Northern Ireland. In the early dawn hours, British armored units and paratroopers swept through Nationalist communities, dragging thousands of "suspects" from their beds. Thousands were being held in overcrowded jails, concentration camps, and improvised prison ships. Detainees were routinely tortured.

Britain's terror tactics were a complete failure, as the oppressed communities exploded in revolt. Since that time the anniversary of internment has been a day of mass protest by the Nationalist community and the Republican movement.

This years' march began in the Poleglass housing development, seven miles from Belfast city center. The march was trailed by a formation of 12 armored vehicles, armed cordons, and heavily armed RUC and soldiers guarded major intersections. As bands marched up to the various police bases they would halt and play Republican songs and chant "I-RA, I-RA, victory...."

By the time the march reached city hall, it had swelled to more that 12,000 protesters. The main speaker at the rally was Belfast Sinn Fein representative, Dodie McGuiness, who lashed the British government for their refusal to begin all party peace talks. "We do not seek to harm the Protestant community or the Loyalist institutions, but they can not be allowed to go on trampling the rights of others.... We will not stop struggling for equality and justice, and for the withdrawal of Britain from Ireland. Sinn Fein is not going to go away; we will not accept second class citizenship."

Roy Inglee

Wilmington, Delaware

Meatpacker killed on job
A Lundy packing company employee fell into an industrial "blender" August 20. Clinton police ruled it an industrial accident and turned it over to OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration]. The blender is a boneless meat grinder and the employee, Solomon Velasquez was supposed to stand on a catwalk and use a high-pressure hose to clean the machine. The blender had to be turned on so the meat scraps would wash down into the bottom.

According the police, a coworker said he had talked with Velasquez a few minutes prior to hearing a loud noise in the blender area. When he and a few others employees investigated, they found Velasquez's body.

The county medical examiner, Carl Barr said, "The whole thing is illogical."

The fatality happened in a plant with historical malice against employees. The owner of Lundy, Annabelle Fetterman, has a history of anti-unionism. The union was ratified about seven years ago, and finally, workers could be assured that stipulations against them would end such as time limits on visits to the bathroom and presenting viable proof to be excused to attend funerals.

James Robinson

Clinton, North Carolina

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of general interest to our readers. Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
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