The 2,700 members of International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local 709 rejected two company contract proposals and voted overwhelmingly to go on strike to stop Lockheed Martin's continued outsourcing of work and demands to increase health coverage premiums. The strikers are also fighting to win better retirement benefits.

Another 100 workers are on strike against the Lockheed Martin sub assembly plant in Meridian, Mississippi. They are members of IAM Local 2386, which coordinates bargaining with the Marietta local. In a phone interview Local 2386 president Joyce Williams said that although the contract was approved at the Mississippi plant, they set up picket lines and only seven nonunion employees are working at the plant. Williams said that UPS drivers are honoring the line.

Among the unions represented at the March 15 rally here were the Teamsters, Service Employees International Union, United Auto Workers, and Communication Workers of America. Representatives of the Atlanta Labor Council, the Georgia State AFL-CIO and the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department also spoke. Greetings were also presented from the NAACP Young Adult Council. A few local politicians and public office holders were also introduced.

Last year Lockheed Martin received a $200 billion contract from the U.S. government to build the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter plane, the largest armaments contract in history. The company builds the F-22 Raptor fighter plane and the C-130J Hercules transport plane at the plant here.

In interviews at the rally and on the picket line strikers described a rigged pension system that denies full benefits to many workers. One 55-year-old worker said that even though he has been working for the company for 17 years, because of time deducted for layoffs he will have to have work another 11 years before he can receive a full pension. Workers also point out that there is no cost-of-living allowance to the pension and no cap on the insurance premiums.

Violet Brown explained that many workers are also opposed to a "pay for knowledge" clause the company is seeking in the new contract. She said this would simply give the company the "right to discriminate. There's no language to define 'knowledge.' They want to use it to do away with seniority and combine jobs. It's like signing up to be eliminated."

Another demand of Lockheed Martin is that workers be prohibited from walking on picket lines with other unions. Striker Belinda Cook said the company "can control what you do on the job but they don't have the right to control the union." Pat Cook added, "If I'm not at work I should have the right to go where I want."

Many workers are quick to point out the problem of the steeply tiered wages structure that the company imposed in the early 1980s. Workers who were hired in 1984 still remember their starting wage was $6.69 an hour, less than half of what other union members doing the same job were earning. Today, although some workers earn more than $20 an hour, the starting wage remains between $8 and $9 with gradual increases to top pay over 11 years.

"We lost the cost-of-living allowance about six years ago and since then we've lost about $6 an hour," said Sid Parker, a structural worker on the F-22, adding that the company's outsourcing of work and job security are the main issues in the strike.

"If we accept this contract we won't have a job pretty soon," said Greg Blalock about Lockheed Martin's outsourcing of work. "We've been losing on every contract. There have been take-aways on the last three. It's time to take a stand. We're finally seeing the unity to say 'enough is enough.' If we go down we'll go down fighting."

Ned Measel is a textile worker. José Aravena, also a textile worker, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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