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Point Blank workers rally for contract, protest firing of unionist |
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BY NICOLE SARMIENTO
OAKLAND PARK, Florida--On March 20, dozens of members of the Union of Needletrades Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), who work at Point Blank Body Armor here, organized a plant-gate picket during their lunch break to protest the firing of Ralph Frederic, a pro-union worker. Point Blank manufactures bulletproof vests for the military and police. Frederic worked at the new Point Blank plant in Deerfield Beach, Florida, which the company opened in February after a federal injunction ordered 175 pro-union workers to be rehired at its Oakland Park plant. The workers at the Oakland Park plant went out on strike in August last year in response to the firing of three pro-union workers, and to demand recognition for their union and a contract. The six-month strike ended in a victory, when a judge ordered the company to rehire the fired union militants. Workers hired to break the strike were transferred to the Deerfield Beach location, which the company intends to operate without a union. Union members report, however, that a number of workers at the new facility have already signed UNITE cards.
At the March 20 rally the Point Blank unionists, who were joined by students and other workers, gathered and chanted, "What do we want: Contract!" and "No contract, no peace!" in English, Spanish, and Creole. "The judge ordered us to be rehired," said Milagro Santos, who works at the plant, "but we have to continue the struggle."
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