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.

GARY, Indiana - Hundreds of members of Locals 1014 and 2695 of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) demonstrated in front of U.S. Steels' Gary works April 3, demanding the company pay wages deferred from 1997.

These wages, which the company calls "profit sharing," are due in April. The company was refusing to pay, claiming they would keep the money until a union demand for an accounting of how much workers were entitled to was taken before an arbiter at union expense. On April 7 the company caved in and agreed to hand out the checks this month.

Even though the microphone at the rally broke down, workers continued to rally, chanting "We want our money."

After that action, workers decided to go to Pittsburgh to demonstrate outside the home of USX chairman Thomas Usher. Chuck Dale, an executive board member of USWA Local 1014, said four busses were full to take workers to the demonstration and the local had to turn more people away who wanted to go. The trip was canceled after the company gave in.

Most basic steel companies make "profit sharing" payments to workers if the company had been profitable the previous year. In fact, this money is created solely by the labor of the workers, and is part of the wages steel workers have won in struggle over the years. The deferred pay won by the unionists totals more than $2,000 each, to be paid in three installments.

Many unionists see this skirmish as part of the fight leading up to negotiations for a new contract at the basic steel companies in 1999.

Unionists back strike at W. Virginia rubber plant
SPENCER, West Virginia -More than 250 union members and supporters rallied here April 4 to mark the one-year anniversary of the strike by Laborer's Local 1353 against the Monarch Rubber Company.

"Fifty-four of us went out, and only one crossed the picket line," strike president Randy Whytsell told the Militant in a telephone interview. The strike is not over wages, but conditions in the plant. "They're trying to take away things that we had," said Whytsell. "The company wants to cut vacations, raise the premiums workers pay for health insurance, and is trying to get extra work out of some departments."

A fact sheet passed out by the union details acts of violence and intimidation carried out by scabs against the strikers. The latest incident was March 12, when an explosive device went off near the picket shack outside the plant.

The number of union locals represented at the rally showed the support the strikers have in northern West Virginia. There were speakers representing locals of the USWA; the United Mine Workers; Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE); Communications Workers of America; and the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers.

Mike Holland, representing steelworkers on strike against MSI in Marietta, Ohio, told the rally, "All of us need to stick together. When you get your contract, we'll come down and watch you go back in!" A delegation of MSI strikers attended the rally and brought a donation of $1,000 for the Monarch strikers.

Many at the action here had attended a rally for MSI strikers in Marietta on March 15. That event brought together fighters from throughout the Ohio Valley. The strikes at Monarch and MSI began just a month apart in 1997. "We help each other," said Whytsell. "We go to their events, they come to ours. We're in the struggle together. They're trying to get what we've got, which is to be recognized as a union."

A strong contingent of USWA Local 5668 members who were locked out at Ravenswood Aluminum Corp. in 1990 attended the rally. "They've been our lifeblood," said Whytsell. "They went through it and now they're helping us." The Ravenswood steelworkers pooled their resources at the rally and bid over $700 for a cake celebrating the one-year strike anniversary auctioned off at the end of the rally.

"The government tells us we're worth $5.00 an hour," said UMWA Local 5396 president Tom Finch. "They don't want us to be organized. We have to keep our guard up." Finch's local, just two years old, organizes power plant workers in Ravenswood.

Jeff Hill, from a steelworker organized Chevron refinery, told the rally, "We're the reinforcements! They're here every day fighting the scabs. They're fighting for all of us."

UNITE locals from Huntington, West Virginia and Ashland, Kentucky, donated $1,500 to the strike.

Negotiations between the union and the company resumed on April 9 for the first time since May 1997. Whytsell said the three-and-a-half-hour meeting "went better than expected," and that negotiations will resume early next week. "They're seeing that we're not going away and that we're not going back without a contract," he said.

Communication workers rally for pensions, rights
ATLANTA - Some 150 members of the Communication Workers of America (CWA) in the Atlanta area rallied at noon time at the main office of the telecommunications giant AT&T here April 6. The national contract between the CWA and AT&T expires May 30. Most of the unionists were AT&T employees, but a good number were CWA members at Lucent Technologies, a major employer in Atlanta where workers are also represented by the CWA.

Norma Powell, a staffer for the CWA, told the rally that the pension increase the union is fighting for is the number one issue. Speaking to this correspondent, Eddie Christian, a member of CWA Local 3263 at Lucent, confirmed, "If you work for AT&T or Lucent you can't afford to retire."

Chris Hill, an AT&T worker and member of CWA Local 3250, and Bunny Mitchell with Local 3263 at Lucent, said card- check recognition is a big issue. This refers to the way the union signs up new members and wins a new contract at joint ventures involving AT&T. Hill, who has been involved in union organizing efforts, said, "In the past AT&T would allow us to have access to workers on the property to sign them up for the union. If we collected cards from more than 50 percent of the workers, we went directly to negotiations with the company for a union contract without the NLRB getting involved. AT&T now wants to keep us off the property to limit our access to organize the workers."

Seattle workers rally to back Jet Tools strikers
AUBURN, Washington - About 100 workers rallied in defense of 20 Teamsters on strike against Jet Equipment and Tools here April 3. Unionists from the International Association of Machinists at Hexcel and Boeing, longshoremen, railroad workers, and other Teamsters joined the strikers.

The rally came as the unionists were starting their 10th week on the picket line. Their battle began in July 1997, when they voted 20-3 to join Teamsters Local 117 based in Seattle.

After fruitless negotiations for more than six months the strikers voted down Jet's final offer and went on strike January 28. On the first day of the strike, Jet boss Robert Scummer sent each striker a letter telling them they were "permanently replaced." Fourteen scabs now work their jobs.

In an interview April 8 on the picket line, Hank Curran, a member of the negotiating team, and Lloyd Fields explained the issues in the strike. Jet refuses to standardize wage rates or pay raises. They insist that wages remain based on "performance" and that rates be given or taken away when management decides.

The strikers want a union shop and "amnesty" - that is, all strikers must come back to work. Jet insists on deciding who works and who doesn't.

Curran, 47, says that Scummer refused to join the negotiating meetings to discuss contract terms. He did tell Curran, who has worked at Jet for seven years, that if he wanted more money, he should get more education and work in the office. Fields, 43, has worked at Jet for two years after 21 years in the army. "It's about respect," Fields summed up. "We want respect."

Twenty of the 24 members of the bargaining unit went out on strike and have been staffing picket lines in two shifts from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. every workday. One striker has worked 22 years at Jet, while others are in their early 20s.

Jet Equipment and Tools expects to do $101 million in business in 1998, importing and exporting machinery and tools. They service hardware stores in the Seattle area like Eagle's Hardware, Tool Town, and Loews.

John Studer, member of USWA Local 1011 in Chicago; Keith Davis from Cleveland; Dan Fein, member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1996 in Atlanta; and Chris Rayson, member United Transportation Union Local 845 in Seattle, contributed to this column.  
 
 
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