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Vol. 71/No. 26      July 2, 2007

 
On the Picket Line
 
Pennsylvania: garment workers
strike over hike in health costs
PHILADELPHIA—Garment workers, members of UNITE HERE, struck three plants June 1 in the largest walkout in the garment industry in the Lehigh Valley in 50 years. About 500 workers at A&H Sportswear, International Women’s Apparel, and Universal Sportswear, stood up to the bosses’ demand for a hike in health insurance premiums with no raise in pay, and elimination of medical coverage for spouses. Workers said most sewing machine operators earn $8 per hour plus piece rate. Other workers, including those that have worked for years, often earn less.

The strike was settled June 6 when a new contract was approved by a vote of 313-95. The three-year agreement requires each worker to pay $12 a week for medical coverage. Families must now pay as much as $47 a week for their children and there is no coverage for spouses. Previously workers did not pay for those benefits. The agreement includes a one-time $500 bonus and a 2 percent pay raise in the second and third years.

“Personally, I’m disappointed because I’m a single mom,” Wendy Paul, a worker at A&H Sportswear for the past six years, told The Morning Call. “I’m going from paying $50 a month to [$188 a month] for health insurance for me and my daughter. I’m screwed.”

—Ellen Berman

Thousands of teachers in Mexico
protest law cutting their pensions
Thousands of teachers in Baja California in Mexico protested June 6 against a law that reduces pensions of teachers and other public sector workers. The demonstration, which protest leaders said included 15,000 to 20,000 people, wound through the streets of Tijuana and succeeded in blocking vehicular traffic into the United States at the San Ysidro port of entry for nearly three hours. The law forces teachers to work longer for retirement benefits that were previously guaranteed after 30 years of service. It also establishes private retirement accounts.

—Brian Williams  
 
 
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