The Militant (logo) 
   Vol.65/No.13            April 2, 2001 
 
 
Garment strikers stand firm in Los Angeles
(front page)
 
BY ELIZABETH LARISCY
LOS ANGELES--Garment workers on strike against Hollander Home Fashions here have been mobilizing to stop the company's attempts, backed by the cops and courts, to get their plants running with replacement workers. Through picket lines, teams to the temporary agency Labor Ready, and appeals to workers being bused into work at the two struck plants, the unionists have stood firm in the second week of their walkout.

The 450 members of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), most of them immigrants, produce pillows, comforters, and other home textiles. They are among a small unionized component of the garment industry in this city, estimated to employ nearly 100,000 workers. The two Hollander Home Fashions plants here are in Vernon, an industrial center near downtown which is incorporated as a separate city. In the town's five square miles, 55,000 workers are employed in garment, textile, meatpacking, and manufacturing industries. The company also has plants in Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, and in 1999 reported $165 million in sales with 1,300 employees.

Rosa Pena, who leads spirited chants outside the company's plant on Seville Avenue, said on the picket line, "We hope this will be resolved soon but we are fighting with all our strength to get justice." Striker Blanca Toxqui echoed her sentiment, saying, "We Toxqui echoed her sentiment, saying, "We are fighting and are not going to give up until we get justice."

Esperanza Lopez, who has worked as a sewing machine operator at Hollander for 10 years, said, "We're asking for what's just: higher wages and pensions. Why should the company give it to [salaried employees] and not us?" In addition to increased wages, workers are demanding a pension plan from the company, a benefit received by management and office personnel.

"As a young person I know we have to fight for a better future," said Maria Palacios, a young Salvadoran. "This strike is for all workers, not just us."

In a March 14 press release, UNITE reported that the company's plant in Georgia is on strike after union members from Los Angeles set up picket lines there. Strikers in Los Angeles also report slowdowns at Hollander plants in Chicago and Dallas.

Since March 8 when the strike began, large numbers of pickets have filled the sidewalks in front of the plants here, holding signs and chanting in Spanish and English for "respect," "dignity," and a pension plan and other benefits. The union members have been able to keep production to a minimum, despite company efforts to hire large numbers of scabs.

Strikers at the Boyle Avenue plant, the larger of the two, estimate that 2025 union members have crossed the picket lines but that none have crossed at the Seville Avenue plant six blocks away.

The biggest challenge is the bosses' push to use temporary-agency workers contracted from Labor Ready, which organizes vans and buses to bring workers to the plants. A few workers hired by the temporary agency, arriving at the job on their own, have been convinced to leave. Most say they were not told there was a strike by the agency. Others have gone into work only to leave after a couple of hours.

Facing this challenge from the company, strikers decided to go to the agency office to let applicants know about the walkout. The union produced a flyer in English and Spanish that says, "We are here today to make sure you hear the truth about the work you are being asked to perform at Hollander Home Fashions today. We understand that you have been informed that you will be working at a new or recently opened factory today. The truth is that if you are assigned to work at Hollander Home Fashions, you are being asked to work as a strikebreaker."

Dora Arriaza, a UNITE organizer who visited the Labor Ready offices, told the Militant that Labor Ready "is telling temps that Hollander pays regular workers $12.50 per hour and pays temps $8 per hour. After we explained our situation to Labor Ready officials they told us that it is not their problem and that they have nothing to do with labor disputes."

Ignacio Abunis, who has worked at Hollander for five years, said, "The truth is many of us make only minimum wage, while others just earn $6 or $7 an hour. And the company wants us to go lower and lower." For example, he said that a few workers at each plant who were able to make higher pay on piece rate recently had their wages cut.

In response to these union actions, the company deployed guards from Huff Master Crisis Management with pepper spray canisters and video cameras at both plants March 19.

The following day strikers at the Boyle Street plant refused to open the driveway and to allow a busload of temporary workers to pass. Unionists on the picket line spoke to the agency workers through a megaphone, asking them to honor the strike. After a 20-minute standoff, cops moved in and pushed the strikers back, opening the line to allow the bus to pass.

Cops read a restraining order to union representatives at the Seville plant on the same day, limiting the number of pickets in the driveways to five and the total on the line to 75. Later in the morning Raquel Garcia, who has worked in the plant for 27 years, was arrested along with a UNITE organizer. "I was trying to stop a worker from crossing," Garcia said later. "At that point, a security officer came out, began yelling at me, pushed me away, and told me to leave right now. The bosses told the police that I was harassing the security officer and so they arrested me."

A week earlier strikers held their ground against several cops who attempted to allow cars into the plant. The cops backed off, but later arrested 14 strikers after they linked their arms to defend the line. They were held for part of the day and were back on the line soon after. On March 17, a striker's foot was run over by a scab's car, requiring him to be taken to the hospital.

Elizabeth Lariscy is a garment worker in Los Angeles. Francisco Cipriano contributed to the article.  
 
 
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