Vol. 64/No.18 May 8, 2000

Iowa workers rally for Teamster strike

BY RAY PARSONS

DES MOINES, Iowa — Some 175 Teamsters, Steelworkers, and other unionists and supporters turned out April 22 for a spirited rally in support of workers on strike at Smurfit-Stone Container here.

The strike by members of Teamsters Local 147 began December 30. Workers are demanding increased wages and health care benefits, and contractual limits on mandatory overtime.

The rally helped link up the Teamsters fight with the hard-fought strike by United Steelworkers of America Local 164 at Titan Tire, just across town. A leader of that struggle spoke to the crowd, urging everyone to attend the steelworkers' April 29 rally to mark the two-year anniversary of the Titan fight.

Strike leader Gary Anderson thanked steelworkers for their help over the course of the four-month fight. "It's good to see all the kids here today — they are why we're on strike," he said. "We're not here just to make money for the stockholders. It's time we get a piece of the pie."

Teamsters officials said the fight against Smurfit-Stone is being taken to its plants and customers around the country. A May 18 action at the company's board of directors meeting in Chicago was announced.

Members of USWA Local 310 at Bridgestone/Firestone in Des Moines were at the Teamsters rally. The contract there, part of a nationwide agreement affecting thousands of rubber workers, expired later that day at midnight.

Ray Parsons is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 310 at Bridgestone/Firestone in Des Moines.

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