—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Maggie Trowe, Editor

 

Steelworkers at Quebec cement plant strike to defend pensions

ST. CONSTANT, Quebec — After twice voting down a contract gutting their pension plan, 68 members of United Steelworkers Local 6658 went on strike at the Lafarge cement plant here Feb. 6.

“They want to cut pensions by 25 percent and eliminate pensions after we turn 87,” shipping worker Julio Capilla told the Militant Feb. 18. “They want to penalize us for living longer.”

Lafarge produces construction materials in 61 countries.

The company won a court injunction limiting the number of picketers and prohibiting them from blocking traffic.

Strikers told the Militant the plant is being run at about 60 percent capacity by management personnel. The union maintains 24-hour picket lines and is vigilant making sure Lafarge does not use strikebreakers.

— Beverly Bernardo

Minneapolis janitors, union and nonunion, hold protest strikes

MINNEAPOLIS — Janitors here held a one-day strike Feb. 17, picketing office buildings across the metro area and at the airport. The strikers, members of SEIU Local 26, have been working without a contract since Dec. 31. The union is demanding an immediate $1 an hour increase for all workers, and a total raise of $3 an hour by the beginning of 2018, as well as $15 an hour for part-time workers by the end of the three-year pact. Full-time janitors currently make $14.62 an hour, part timers $11 to $13.

As several hundred strikers rallied here, Jorge Garcia, who works for Aramark cleaning offices at General Mills, told the Militant janitorial companies want to cut some full-time workers to part time. “I could lose my benefits, seniority and vacations. It would be like tossing 10 years of work in the trash.”

“I think you have to have leverage to get a good deal,” said Bruce Peterson, who works at ABM cleaning the Wells Fargo Center here. This is his first strike.

“It is a big workload with low pay,” said Nepal-born Padma Kattel. “We want more sick days and more rights. We have to win or we will strike again.”

Andrew Conway works for contractor Marsden, which offered 20 cents the first year and 10 cents for the next two years. “That’s nothing!” he said. “I got a union job because I thought things would be better.”

Nonunion janitors who clean retail stores and are organized by Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (The Center of Workers United in Struggle) held a one-day strike the next day, kicked off with an early morning rally and march in downtown Minneapolis that tied up rush hour traffic. Earlier in the week the group announced a $425,000 settlement for several hundred workers in a 2015 federal lawsuit against Capital Building Services Group for underpaying workers.

— Kevin Dwire