BY ARLENE RUBINSTEIN AND MIKE ITALIE
PASCAGOULA, Mississippi - As the walkout by almost 8,000
workers here enters its third week, the strikers remain
determined and the huge Ingalls shipyard appears lifeless.
"These are serious times, and we are some serious people," stated Leon Fantroy, Jr., a member of Pipefitters Local 436 with 23 years at Ingalls Shipbuilding. "We're in this together with the shipyard workers at Newport News. We are prepared to sacrifice to get what we want, like they are." Members of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 8888 at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia have been out since April 5 (see article on page 3).
"When the company says we're the best paid," said pipefitter Chris Packer, "they're lying." Jimmy Cox, 48, with 17 years as a shipfitter, said top wages are $14-15 per hour. "We haven't gotten a raise in six years."
The strikers' central demands are for up to $4 per hour raises over three years, with no increase in workers' medical costs, and safety.
As the Militant went to press, Ingalls strikers were voting on the company's latest contract proposal, which included $2.30 in wage increases over a 45-month contract and increases in workers' monthly insurance payments totaling $15. The unionists previously rejected a 36-month contract with $1.90 in wage increases and $30 in insurance increases. "This company is trying to do the same thing as Newport News" is trying, said Jack Beard, a member of Boilermakers Local 693, commenting on the offer June 3. "If they can stay out, so can we."
"The longer we stay out the stronger we are. In two weeks we can get anything we want," added Teresa Nelson of Pipefitters Local 436. Workers are voting June 3 and 4.
"The company has got the money," emphasized Cox in the earlier interview. "They say they're going to buy Newport News, so they've got the money." Cox was especially angered by the company's demand to increase strikers' medical costs. "This is a company-owned medical insurance company. Last year the company made millions in profits, and now they want us to pay more for medical coverage!"
Ingalls Shipbuilding constructs U.S. Navy missile destroyer and amphibious assault ships, as well as container ships and oil tankers. The Pascagoula shipyard is owned by Litton Industries Inc., which is bidding to buy the Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans and the Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia for $529 million. Ingalls is Mississippi's largest private employer, with annual sales of $1 billion, plus a $4 billion backlog of ships to build and contracts to fulfill.
The strike began May 16 when members of the smallest union at the yard, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local 1133 with a few dozen members, set up pickets. None of the other 12 unions had sanctioned the strike. But by the next morning at 7:00 a.m. what started as an IAM picket line had grown to more than 2,000 workers. By the end of that day the entire yard was on strike. Recalling how the strike unfolded, Fantroy said, "Thirty-four people got 8,000 on strike. Think about how important what you do can be. Everybody out there just refused to the cross the line."
Workers organized expanded picket lines over the next several days. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers with 1,200 members declared they were on strike May 19. The next day the Metal Trades Council, with 6,500 members in nine unions followed suit. Office and security workers accepted the company's offer and continue to work.
According to James Lankford, 46, an IAM member with 21 years at the yard, the first mass picket line was "awesome. When the IAM struck in '96, we got walked over and the strike lasted two and a half days. This is different. People were watching and waiting for a strike. Solidarity took the cake. I felt pretty sure it would turn out this way."
Strikers have gained confidence from their actions. John Hall, a pipefitter, said, "The support this time is overwhelming." Out of 8,000 workers, the highest estimate is that 50 have crossed the picketline. Striker Greg Perry reported that "Ingalls sent out a letter saying, `Let's go to work day by day, let the IAM work out it's problems.' But as a union man I couldn't do that."
Strikers are also discussing the challenges in maintaining and strengthening their strike. They report, for example, that the company has already contracted out to Friede Goldman, a non-union shipyard in Pascagoula, the completion of the commercial drill ship Discovery Enterprise. These workers are entering the Ingalls yard from an old Navy entrance. Other Gulf shipyards have succeeded so far in keeping the unions out by paying wages a couple of dollars higher than Ingalls.
Alvin Wiley, who works as a joiner with 20 years on the job, said that at a meeting of Boilermakers Local 693 May 27 "a chart was presented projecting how much we were losing by the day, by the week, by the month, while we are out on strike." Wiley added, "A guy got up and said, `You're showing what we're going to lose, but how about the effect we're having on the company? How much are we hurting them?' There was a roar of applause in support."
In an attempt to turn other working people in the Mississippi Gulf coast against the strike, the local Sun Herald newspaper is playing up statements by members of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce who "are voicing concern" that the strike will "hurt area retailers," and "reduce county and city tax revenues," as well as "hurt statewide efforts to attract new manufacturers." Mississippi senator Trent Lott also got in the act, warning that by jeopardizing Littons's buy-out of the Newport News and Avondale shipyard, the strike would hurt "the future of our Navy and our country."
Many small businesses in the area are contributing to the strike effort. Tapping into this support IAM Local 1133 and IBEW Local 733 have set up food banks. Food is prepared at the IBEW hall and taken out to union members on the line. According to striker James Lankford, "Our strike has made the Gulf coast a family. The merchants appreciate us for being workers. The strike has even brought some prices down."
Mike Italie is a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees and Arlene Rubinstein is a member of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association in Atlanta. Robert Shields, a member of United Auto Workers, contributed to this article.