BY MAGGIE TROWE
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky - Two busloads of members of the
United Steelworkers of America (USWA), on strike against Titan
Tire, traveled here from Des Moines, Iowa, and Natchez,
Mississippi, for a protest and rally at the Titan Tire booth
at the National Farm and Machinery Show.
After their all-day bus ride, the more than 70 striking steelworkers met February 9 and attended a dinner hosted by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 227, whose members are on strike against the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in nearby Corydon, Indiana.
After the dinner, the Titan strikers practiced for the next day's protest, and exchanged experiences. The Des Moines workers, members of Local 164, have been on strike since May 1, 1998. The Natchez local went on strike last fall.
Reggie Arnold, a striker with more than 30 years experience at the Natchez plant, which Titan owner Maurice Taylor bought last year, said, "The local police are against us. About six workers got citations for `obstructing traffic,' but they beat the rap. Another striker was charged with getting battery acid on a strikebreaker's car. He has a hearing coming up."
Also participating in the protest was Charlie Long, who is helping lead an organizing drive at the Titan plant in Clinton, Tennessee. Long worked at the plant until he was fired recently. Managers called Long and another worker to the office and told them they couldn't be so openly supportive of a union. "I told them we're allowed to by law," Long said.
"Later the plant superintendent told me if I had complied a little more, I could have gone further. One day I was sick, so I told them and went home. The next day I came in for my shift and they told me `You've quit.'" Now Long is doing auto body work at his home, and is continuing to support the unionizing effort. Workers inside the plant are producing an underground pro-union newsletter, "The Bear Trap." Titan owner Taylor calls himself "the grizzly bear" or "the grizz."
The Titan strikers met on the morning of February 10 and went to the exhibition hall by bus. They entered in small groups, mingling with farmers and others attending the machine show for about an hour. Then, as previously rehearsed, they converged on the Titan Tire booth, and when an air horn was sounded, everyone displayed union buttons and T-shirts they had been concealing, and began chanting, "What do we want? A contract! When do we want it? Now!" Another chant was, "The Grizz is a fizz!" Strikers placed dozens of Alka-Seltzer tablets on the Titan display table.
Then several strikers, using bullhorns, testified about why they are on strike, describing conditions in the plants, massive forced overtime, and wages below industry average. Many show participants were attracted to the commotion, and many were sympathetic.
After 15-20 minutes, exhibition security guards and police ordered the unionists to leave. They marched with dignity out of the building, chanting as they went and raising their fists, and joined a Jobs with Justice rally of unionists outside.
Natchez striker Willie Evans, 48, a rack handler and tire tester, led chants and used his cane to keep the beat. He said, "When I was coming up, the civil rights movement was going on. I agree with the country song that says `You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything; you've got to be your own man, not a puppet on a string.' "
Members of USWA Local 9423, who are on strike against the Southwire Corporation in Hawesville, Kentucky, also came to Louisville for the protest.
A contingent of several dozen Tyson strikers came to the rally and sponsored a lunch for all the unionists at their union hall afterward. The Tyson strikers' slogan is "One day longer, one day stronger!" While the lunch was being prepared, the catering company delivered some chicken that turned out to be from Tyson. Union members turned it away, and served meatloaf and cold cuts instead.
John Willis, chief shop steward for the Tyson local, said 40-60 of the more than 300 members have crossed the picket line, but morale is still strong on the picket lines.
Lynnette Chinn, 24, who has worked at Tyson for 10 months, said, "Tyson runs the lines so fast that chickens fall all over, and they won't stop the line to let us catch up. When a chicken falls on the floor, they tell us to rinse it off and put it back. That's one of the issues we're striking about."
Another issue, Chinn said, is bathroom breaks. "If you ask to go to the bathroom twice in one day, Tyson says you have to get a note from the doctor about your `medical condition.' "
Larry Nance, 27, another UFCW member, took "We will win!" stickers from Titan strikers, and told of how many Tyson workers had union stickers and other stickers like smiley faces on their hard hats before the strike.
Tyson managers outlawed stickers, saying they weren't USDA- approved. So workers used magic markers and wrote slogans on their hard hats.
Joe Burnett, 37, said his six-year old son has explained the strike to fellow elementary school students and teachers at his school in Erkon, Kentucky. "Last week they served Tyson chicken nuggets at the school cafeteria," Burnett said, "and everyone threw them in the garbage." Burnett said Tyson's Christmas gift to employees last year was three $5 Tyson coupons.
Jason Vollman, 22, said this is his first union job and his first strike. He and Willis went leafleting at two Tyson plants in Jacksonville, Kentucky. "One was union and we got a really, really good response. The other was nonunion, and we were surprised at what a good response we got there," he said. These information teams, or "truth squads" as strikers call them, are "the funnest thing in the world," Vollman added.
After the rally at the UFCW union hall, unionists watched a video on the Tyson strike and talked about plans to travel to Titan headquarters in Quincy, Illinois, in March.
Bob Riggle, 42, who has worked at Titan since 1986, said on the bus ride back to Des Moines, "I was surprised at how long we were able to protest at the Titan booth. I didn't expect so much support from the people at the show. And I was really happy to see the Tyson strikers waiting for us at the rally outside of the show. I didn't know they would be there."