BY DANNY BOOHER AND TONY KENNEDY
NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia - Chants of "No Justice No Peace!"
and "What Do We Want? A Contract! When Do We Want It? Now!"
broke out as Steelworkers on strike at Newport News
Shipbuilding and locked out at Kaiser Aluminum greeted each
other by slapping hands on the picket line here July 10. The
strikers carried picket signs that read: "Locked-out workers
at Kaiser support Local 8888," and "Local 8888 supports
locked-out Kaiser workers."
Fourteen locked-out Kaiser workers from United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 341 in Newark, Ohio, together with several youth and other supporters, made the trip here by bus, after spending a day talking to other Kaiser workers in Bellwood, Virginia. Kim Collins, the bus captain and a 20-year Kaiser employee, explained, "Our purpose was to get our word out to the Bellwood Kaiser workers on what they might be facing in 2001 when their contract comes up, and to support the workers on strike in Newport News."
Kaiser Aluminum workers went out on strike at five plants in Washington, Louisiana, and Ohio September 30, to fight the company's plan to eliminate hundreds of jobs from its factories. The union offered to return to work under the terms of the old contract January 13, and Kaiser responded by locking out the workers.
Speaking to a rally of the Newport News strikers at the 50th Street gate to the massive shipyard, Kaiser worker Dave Lockland from Spokane, Washington, pointed to the disparity in wages and benefits between northern shipyard workers and the predominantly Black shipyard workers in Newport News, Mississippi, and New Orleans. The fight at Newport News, where nearly 9,000 workers have been on strike since April 5, is a fight for civil rights and social justice, he said.
`Stop Navy strikebreakers'
Pensions for Newport News workers are notoriously low.
Edward Artis, a welder on nuclear ships, has worked at the
shipyard for 35 years. He explained, "If I retired today my
pension would be $300 dollars. Now how is my family going to
live on that?"
Artis is the picket captain at Gate 50. He was the picket captain at the same gate in 1979 when the members of USWA Local 8888 at Newport News battled the shipbuilding company for union recognition and for a contract. Artis continued, "This fight is for my life and for my family's life. It's for all of us."
Another issue Newport News workers are addressing is the strikebreaking role of the U.S. Navy. While Local 8888 is on strike, U.S. Navy personnel are in the shipyard working on the ships. The Navy has also extended deadlines for completion of work to help the company cope with the strike. The union has called a July 23 march and rally in Washington, D.C., to protest the strikebreaking role of the Navy. Local 8888 is organizing buses to Washington for the rally.
After lunch in the Local 8888 union hall, several Newport News strikers took the Kaiser workers onto the James River in boats to look at the back side of the shipyard, which stretches for two and a half miles.
These workers are part of the "boat patrol" that the union organizes to ensure the company does not try to bring in strikebreakers by water. Brian Newsome, a pipefitter on dry dock 12, is active in the boat patrol. He explained, "We organize boat patrol every day, 24 hours a day." The strikers have faced occasional harassment from both the company's boat security and the Coast Guard, "But our boat pickets will continue. This is our picket line on the river."
Kaiser workers reach out for support
The first stop for the bus from Newark was in Bellwood,
Virginia, the site of a plant that Kaiser bought from
Reynolds Aluminum in 1997. The 350 workers there, organized
by the USWA and the International Association of Machinists,
are under a contract that expires in 2001.
The Newark workers leafleted the Bellwood plant during shift changes July 9, getting a very favorable response. Almost all of the workers stopped to talk and take literature. Many took extra copies to bring into the plant. One worker coming out of the afternoon shift change spoke to a leafleteer for several minutes, and then drove up to Greg Bowman, president of USWA Local 440 at the plant, and asked to be reinstated into the union. Since Virginia is a "right- to-work" state, not all the workers in the plant belong to the union, though most do.
The Kaiser workers, a busload of Newport News strikers, and some of the workers from the Bellwood plant held a lunchtime rally in front of the factory the same day. Workers from USWA Local 341 in Newark and Local 8888 from Newport News spoke, as well as the presidents of the USWA and IAM locals at the plant and officials of the USWA and the Virginia AFL-CIO. Locked-out Kaiser workers from Gramercy, Tacoma, and Spokane also spoke.
Whitney Jasmin, a locked-out Kaiser worker from Gramercy, described the devastation caused by a massive explosion that ripped through the Gramercy plant on July 5. Twenty-four people in the plant were injured. According to an article in the July 7 New Orleans Times Picayune, one-quarter of the 1,200-acre plant was damaged. The explosion shook houses, knocked out windows as far away as a mile from the plant, and covered the town in red bauxite dust.
Jasmin told the Militant that Kaiser is now talking of closing the Gramercy plant altogether, though other plants in the Kaiser system rely on it for the initial step of processing alumina out of bauxite. In addition, the company faces dozens of lawsuits from residents of Gramercy and the surrounding area.
Union members in Gramercy responded to the blast by going into the community and helping their friends and neighbors to try to repair the damage to their property.
The chairman of the Local 8888 organizing committee, Jerry Good, also spoke at the Bellwood rally, introducing half a dozen members of the committee, who are known as the "pit bulls." These workers were responsible for helping to lead the campaign to increase the percentage of union members leading up to the strike.
Eddie Whitley, one of the pit bulls, said that the key to their success was that "We told the people the truth. And if we said we were going to stand behind them, we stood behind them all the way."
Heading back to Ohio, the Kaiser workers felt their efforts had been worthwhile. "We made a bridge with the Bellwood and Newport News workers that will hopefully bring northern and southern unions more together," said Jarrod Whitlatch, a 27-year-old worker.
Sixteen-year-old John Pennington, who accompanied his stepfather on the trip, commented, "We informed the people at Bellwood about what was going on. I feel if one person read the literature we passed out we accomplished our goal." Pennington, who initiated discussions in his classes and brought videos to school about the Kaiser lockout, concluded, "The strike has hit me pretty strongly. I really believe in it."
Steve Smyers, a 24-year-old worker who was the victim of a police assault on the picket line in Newark, said, "I'm coming back from this trip really pumped up. I knew we had support, but when you see it for yourself it makes you feel a lot better. I'm looking forward to the future."
Danny Booher is a member of the USWA in Pittsburgh.