We invite you to contribute short items to this column as a way for other fighting workers around the world to read about and learn from these important struggles. Jot down a few lines about what is happening in your union, at your workplace, or other workplaces in your area, including interesting political discussions.

LONDON - British Airways (BA) cabin crew workers struck July 9-11 to protest the imposition of a package of cuts in pay and working conditions aimed at saving the company 42 million ($70 million). The walkout brought London's Heathrow airport to a near standstill.

Most of the 9,000 cabin crew workers at BA are members of the British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Association, a division of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU). Prior to the strike, management had expressed confidence that they could break the strike, using non- strikers and staff on short-term contracts. BA also counted on the management-backed breakaway union Cabin Crew '89 to keep its planes in the air. Cabin Crew '89, which has accepted BA's terms, claims 3,000 members; this is disputed by many workers.

BA managers tried to intimidate the workers, including telephoning staff at home, demanding to know if they planned to support the strike.

At the same time, 9,000 ground staff voted 2-1 to strike against the proposed sell-off of BA's catering operations, where 1,400 workers are employed. In previous years several divisions, including cleaning, have been sold off, leading to large cuts in wages and working conditions.

On the last day of the strike, several hundred cabin staff demonstrated outside Heathrow Airport. Their march was applauded by other airport workers. Hundreds of motorists sounded their horns repeatedly. As the strike ended, BA agreed to renegotiate the pay and conditions package it had previously imposed. Negotiations are also continuing with ground staff. TGWU representatives have set a deadline of August 8 for management to agree to a new pay and working conditions package, threatening another three-day strike.

Australia miners battle bosses over union rights
SINGLETON, Australia -Some 440 mine workers at the Hunter Valley No. 1 open cut coal mine near Singleton, some 150 miles north of Sydney, have been on strike since June 10 against Rio Tinto (formerly RTZ-CRA), the world's largest mining company.

In what has become the central union battle in Australia, Rio Tinto has refused to settle an enterprise agreement (local contract) at the mine over the last two years, recently offering nonunion individual contracts instead, and has targeted a broad range of working conditions, including seniority rights.

In picket line standoffs on July 4 and 7, train crews who are members of the Public Transport Union refused to cross the miners' pickets, forcing coal trains Rio Tinto had ordered from FreightCorp, a New South Wales state government- owned corporation, to return empty.

Rio Tinto has been working some coal at the mine during the strike, but these trains were the first attempt to ship coal out of the strike-bound mine. Scab labor has not been used in the coal fields in Australia since the Chifley Labor government sent troops into the coal mines and coal-loading ports to defeat a 1949 national coal strike.

Defense Minister Ian McLachlan, in one of several statements of support to Rio Tinto by the federal Liberal/National Coalition government, declared July 13 that troops could be called to operate the mine.

Since the July 4 and 7 stand-offs, FreightCorp has taken the Public Transport Union to the Australian Industrial Relation Commission, which ruled that the train crews had to cross the picket lines unless lives were in danger. FreightCorp has also threatened to use management to drive trains through the pickets.

The coal-loading company at Newcastle, partly owned by Rio Tinto, has threatened to sack any worker who refuses to handle coal taken through the picket lines.

With the dispute threatening to escalate to involve the rail unions and maritime unions as well as coal miners, some 2,000 coal miners and supporters marched on the Rio Tinto offices in Sydney July 16, presenting a petition from the strikers that the company recognize their right to a union contract.

Rio Tinto agreed to resume negotiations while the strike continued, without retreating on any of their demands.

The strikers have a very well organized and disciplined picket line with high morale. Striker Geoff Betten, an electrician at the mine, said, "I think this is going to be a very long, drawn out strike."

Dock workers shut L.A. port to back pilots' strike
LOS ANGELES - On July 11 a dozen harbor pilots, backed by 3,000 dockworkers, shut down the second busiest harbor in the country for three and a half days in a strike over wages and job security.

Pilots meet ships approaching port, board them from speedboats and guide them to dock. In the port of Los Angeles, they are government employees, members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 68, and the only harbor pilots in the country who do not work for a private contractor.

Currently salaries are $113,000 a year but the pilots are demanding a 72 percent increase. Their wages are substantially lower than other harbor pilots across the country, which range from $134,000 to $270,000. The city offered a 17 percent pay increase.

Hundreds of members of the ILWU staffed 24-hour picket lines and turned back truckers entering the port area. Not one ILWU member crossed. The unionists were joined in supporting the strike by hundreds of "casual" dockworkers. After a certain number of hours casual dockworkers become ILWU members. "Workers from the Scalers and Chippers union, who do boat repair, have also been down on the picket lines here," said ILWU member Tom Hofve. The local machinists union also supported the strike.

Dockworkers have been involved in several protest actions over a new coal processing facility, the Los Angeles Export Terminal, saying that coal dust in the air creates a hazardous work environment. Another issue is that this new terminal, built by a consortium of U.S. and Asian firms, is trying to run non-union, with ILWU members working on the ships but not the facility, said Hofve. "We want to see any cargo that moves in the harbor to be union," he said. "The pilots are in negotiations and we're walking the line for them."

Last year nearly 7,000 independent truck drivers struck the harbor to try and form a union. Traffic ground to a halt as thousands of big rigs circled the port area. Unable to win the support of other unions, their strike was broken and the drivers remain nonunion.

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge issued an injunction on July 15 against harbor pilots picketing private container terminals, but did not order them back to work. The pilots are still on strike, but the longshoremen are back at work. The ruling stands until July 24. Meanwhile, the pilots and the city agreed to negotiations.

400 rally to support farm workers in Washington
WENATCHEE, Washington -Four hundred farm workers, union members, and supporters marched through the streets here July 9 to support the struggle of Washington apple workers for union representation. A score of United Farm Workers (UFW) members from the Yakima Valley joined workers from nearby fruit packing warehouses and their families at the front of the march. They were joined by Steelworkers, Carpenters, Machinists, Teamsters, and other unionists in town attending a statewide AFL-CIO Convention.

The Apple Organizing Campaign is a joint effort between the Teamsters and the UFW to organize apple workers in the fields and the cold storage houses. There are about 15,000 fruit packers in Washington, who the Teamsters are attempting to organize. The UFW is organizing among the apple orchard workers, whose numbers swell to 45,000 during peak harvest season.

Teamster organizers report that 65 percent of the workers at Stemilt, one of the largest apple warehouses in the state, have signed union pledge cards. Noe Luna, a worker at Stemilt, explained why workers are supporting the union in growing numbers: "I want a union at Stemilt so that we will be respected, taken into account as workers, and listened to."

At a rally held in Memorial Park following the march, a fruit packer spoke in support of the Teamsters union. "We are working to get the dignity owed to the workers, not based on race or color. The only color the employers know is the green of money. We must join together," she told the crowd.

UFW president Arturo Rodriguez urged the demonstrators to join an August 10 march in Mattawa, Washington, to support the union drive. Also speaking in support of the organizing drive were Tom Leedham, International vice president of the Teamsters union, and John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO.

Scott Breen, Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of Seattle, was also there, marching and talking with rally participants at a campaign table staffed by supporters and members of the Young Socialists.

UPS workers may strike over contract
Members of the Teamsters union at United Parcel Service (UPS) have voted 95 percent in favor of authorizing strike action after their contract expires July 31, if the company does not meet their demands for more full-time jobs, stronger safety protections, increased job security, and better wages and pensions. More than 60 percent of UPS workers are considered part-time - with lower wages and benefits. This includes 10,000 employees who work 35 hours or more a week. According to the Teamsters, 83 percent of new jobs at UPS since 1993 have been part-time.

In February 1994, UPS workers struck nationally for the first time, pushing back the company's attempts to increase the weight handled by the unionists.

Martin Hill, member of TGWU branch 1/1935 in Luton, England; Bob Aiken, member of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union in Sydney; Mark Friedman, member of the International Association of Machinists, and Barry Fatland, member of the United Transportation Union, in Los Angeles; and Alaric Dirmeyer, member of the Young Socialists in Seattle contributed to this column.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home