The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.29           August 30, 1999 
 
 
Appliance Workers In New Zealand Strike, Demand Raise  
AUCKLAND, New Zealand - "This is an awesome turnout. People are starting to wake up," declared Lindsay Flavell as 500 workers picketed the appliance manufacturer at its Fisher & Paykel Auckland plant August 2. The picket was part of a 24- hour nationwide strike by 1,500 union members to press demands for a wage rise in their contract, which expired July 31.

Fisher & Paykel has long been touted as a flagship of New Zealand capitalism by the big-business media. The company boasts of its "good industrial relations," promoted by the slogan "Share the dream." Signs at the August 2 action included, "Share the dream - not!" and "Share the cream."

Other signs celebrated "union power" and declared their carriers were "proud to be union." The picket was held on a busy highway, and attracted considerable support from passing workers. Both national television news networks carried reports of the action on their evening bulletins.

The August 3 New Zealand Herald noted that the picket "was one of the largest industrial protests seen in New Zealand since the advent of the Employment Contracts Act," antiunion legislation adopted in 1991. In a speech on the day of the strike, Prime Minister Jennifer Shipley tried to play down its significance, calling it a " rarity."

The strike action came against a background of cutbacks implemented by the bosses over several years, as they look to maintain profit margins in the face of competition from imported appliances.

Last year, workers voted narrowly to accept a concession contract that included cuts in overtime pay, incremental service pay, and other allowances. Many workers see this year's claim for a 5.5 percent wage raise as a way of retaking last year's losses.

On July 7 they voted to reject a recommendation from union officials to negotiate the wages below this level. The company upped its first offer of 1.5 percent to 2.8 percent, but an 87 percent majority of the workers rejected this in favor of industrial action. A further offer from the company of 3.25 percent for each of two years was turned down by the union negotiators, citing the fact that workers in Fisher and Paykel's Australia plants recently got a 3.5 percent increase. "One company - one wage," read a placard on the picket line.

Following the strike, the company again offered an increase of 3.25 percent, but for a one-year contract only. Union officials recommended workers accept this offer. Opinions expressed by workers at Fisher & Paykel's Auckland plants at union meetings August 5 and on the job were evenly divided. The result of the vote announced August 11, was 57 percent in favor of accepting the contract.

For the majority of workers, the August 2 action was the first time they had been on strike. Janet Mai, a production worker in the washing machine plant, echoed the sentiments of many when she commented, "It's good to feel like a union again."

Bay Area hotel workers, janitors hold joint rally
SAN FRANCISCO - Hotel workers organized in the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) Local 2 and janitors who are members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 87 joined forces July 22 in a rally together in their fight for fair contracts.

About 500 SEIU members and their supporters marched from Justin Herman Plaza through downtown, past a number of the buildings in which they work. They held signs in Arabic, Chinese, English, and Spanish, reading "Justice for Janitors." Many of the signs pointed to the main demand in their contract talks-"Hands off the hiring hall." The contract between SEIU Local 87, which represents janitors who clean more than 90 percent of the city's commercial office buildings, and the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) expires July 31. BOMA is pushing to change the present control the union has of dispatching workers through the union hiring hall so bosses at these buildings can hire who they want. Workers argue this will not only lead to discrimination, but allow the bosses to hire the workers without regards to seniority. The workers already face a three-tier set-up, a concession won by BOMA in previous contracts.

One worker with 15 years in the union said the hiring hall is important so "the company can't do whatever they want and send us wherever they want."

Mohammed Ismael is a worker from Yemen who has been a member of SEIU for 11 years. He said, "We deserve what we're asking for." He explained the joint march and rally with HERE Local 2 was important for strengthening both fights.

The main issues in the janitors' contract talks are protecting job seniority, benefits, and a pay hike.

The janitors' march joined up with the hotel workers at Union Square. More than 1,000 workers continued the march through downtown San Francisco to the Marriott Hotel. Hundreds of workers, including from other hotels, regularly participate in picket lines and rallies in front of this hotel.

Workers at the Marriott have been fighting for a contract since they voted for HERE Local 2 to represent them three years ago. The majority of workers here are Latino, Chinese, and Filipino.

HERE's contract with 22 hotels expires August 14, and other hotel and motel contracts expire throughout the summer and fall.

Ten Steelworkers on lockout by Kaiser Aluminum joined the march and rally, as did members of the Carpenters' Union, the American Federation of Teachers, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

News workers mark four years of fight in Detroit
DETROIT - Chanting "Justice delayed is justice denied," more than 400 locked-out newspaper workers and their supporters gathered outside the joint editorial offices of this city's two daily newspapers, the Detroit News and the Free Press, July 15. The protest, billed as an "Hawaiian Beach Luau" and "Corporate Pig Roast," was part of a week of actions held to mark the opening of the fifth year in their fight against the union busting carried out by the newspaper bosses.

Some 2,500 workers, members of six union locals, went on strike at the two papers July 13, 1995, after the bosses unilaterally imposed new wages and work rules. But the striking workers never stopped the newspapers from printing, and in the face of cop assaults on the picket lines and court injunctions the union leaderships ended the mass picketing.

After a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) trial on charges by the unions of unfair labor practices by the companies, the six locals offered to return to work in February 1997. The companies refused to return most strikers and the struggle became a fight against a lockout. The NLRB ruled in favor of the unions but the companies continue to appeal in the federal courts.

Some strikers have taken other jobs, while many others have returned to work with the newspapers over the last two years and taken up the difficult task of rebuilding their unions inside. But nearly 900 members of the six unions still have not been reinstated. The newspaper bosses claim only 400 remain to be recalled, refusing to count the hundreds who were fired for "picket line misconduct" and other workers who refused to return to jobs different than their pre-strike positions.

Newspaper workers are fighting to get all strikers their jobs back and are demanding union contracts. They have kept up the pressure on the companies for four years. They continue to organize a readers' boycott, publish the Detroit Sunday Journal, organize protests at public events associated with the newspapers, and join other fighting workers' picket lines.

The unionists organized two other actions to mark the anniversary. On July 11 they decorated 50 cars and trucks and caravaned around the region, stopping to hold noisy picket lines at the homes of some of the best-known bosses and scab columnists. Two days later, more than 100 people picketed at the north printing plant during rush hour.

After the pig roast, more than 25 newspaper unionists joined United Steelworkers of America (USWA) members in picketing a Ford auto dealership as part of the USWA corporate campaign against Continental General Tire. Ford puts tires on some new vehicle produced by scabs at General's Charlotte, North Carolina, plant where 1,400 USWA members are on strike.

This fight continues to put pressure on the newspaper bosses. Independent auditors have pegged the two dailies' readership at 33 percent below pre-strike levels. The unions estimate that advertising revenue is 40 percent below 1995 levels and that strike-related costs and lost profits are more than $400 million.

The companies have signed partial agreements with three locals that allow early retirements and company buy-outs of workers with long-term job guarantees.

Barb Ingalls, a printer who has been active in the fight against the newspaper giants, recently returned to work part- time there. She attended the rally before going into the "evil empire," as she called it.

On her first day inside, the boss promised three, eight- hour shifts a week with benefits. On her second day, she and others who returned at the same time were told that a mistake was made, they would only be working two shifts a week without benefits. She declared that it was actions like this that fueled the determination of newspaper workers to make sure "this is not over until every striker has returned to work and all six unions have signed contracts."

Terry Coggan, a member of the Engineers Union at Fisher & Paykel in Aukland; Deborah Liatos, a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 101 in San Francisco; and John Sarge, a member of United Auto Workers Local 900 in Detroit contributed to this article.

 
 
 
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