—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Maggie Trowe, Editor

 

East Coast unionists again protest Verizon concession demands

NEW YORK — Several hundred members of the Communications Workers of America took part in a Stand Up to Verizon rally March 31 in front of the company’s headquarters here protesting concession contract demands. Similar actions took place that week in other cities and towns in New York state, New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere.

One of the issues is Verizon’s demand to be able to send workers up to 90 miles away from their home for 120-day stretches multiple times a year, Jim Padgett, who has worked for Verizon for 27 years, told the Militant. “It’s a disruption of life,” he said.

Verizon is also demanding increased health care contributions, concessions on pensions and elimination of accident and sickness disability coverage. Union members are continuing to work under the old contract, covering 39,000 members of the CWA and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in nine East Coast states. That pact expired Aug. 1.

Verizon posted over $5 billion in profits during the fourth quarter of 2015.

— Willie Cotton

Farmworkers from Washington, Mexico tour West Coast together

WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Some 80 farmworkers and supporters rallied in front of the corporate headquarters of berry distributing giant Driscoll’s March 31. The action, called by the Washington-based Familias Unidas por la Justicia (Families United for Justice), is part of a monthlong West Coast tour promoting a boycott of the company’s berries and building the fight for a union among berry workers in Mexico and Washington who work for Driscoll’s subcontractors.

Three farmworkers are on tour — Ramon Torres, president of the Familias union; Lazaro Matamoros, a member of the union who works for Sakuma Brothers Farms in Burlington, Washington; and Gloria Gracida, spokesperson for La Alianza farmworker union in the San Quintín Valley in the Mexican state of Baja California. The region is a major producer of Driscoll’s berries in Mexico and home to tens of thousands of farmworkers, many indigenous Mixtec and Triqui people from Oaxaca. These workers initiated strikes and organizing efforts beginning in 2013 in Washington and Baja California. Thousands of Mexican workers walked off the job in March 2015.

Torres and Gracida described harsh conditions agricultural workers face in both countries. Child labor is common. Workers in Mexico have been protesting sexual harassment of female workers.

During the event two Driscoll’s representatives walked up carrying water jugs and cups for the protesters.

“This is a humiliation,” Gracida said, pointing to the need for clean drinking water in the fields and the homes of farmworkers.

— Raul Gonzalez

Steelworkers in Mexico win strike over firings at ArcelorMittal

Members of the Mexican Mining and Metal Workers Union walked out March 4, shutting down production at ArcelorMittal’s steel mill in the Pacific port of Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico. Some 3,500 people work at the plant. They struck over company violations of the union contract, demanding reinstatement of more than 200 workers fired at the coke plant when the company closed it recently.

On March 13, the company backed down, agreeing to relocate 125 of the workers to other jobs in the mill, to provide severance packages for 81 workers who took voluntary retirement and to pay the workers for nine days on strike.

When the strike began ArcelorMittal said it was illegal because it had not been approved by the Mexican Federal Labor Board. “The effects of this illegal blockade are already being felt,” said a company statement. With the lost production of 8,500 to 10,000 metric tons per day, “we run the significant risk of losing customers.”

Workers refused to be intimidated, organizing mass pickets at the company gates. Thousands of steelworkers, teachers, transport workers, telephone workers and others marched through the main streets of Lázaro Cárdenas to the plant March 12 supporting the strikers.

“We marched to show we were united, with support from unions and the community,” Luis Gonzalo Zaragoza, housing secretary for the union, told the Militant in a phone interview March 29. “The next day, the company agreed to our demands.”

ArcelorMittal has closed or cut back production at several facilities in Europe and the U.S. to protect profits in the face of increased competition and a worldwide glut of steel. Most recently the company closed its Point Lisas plant in the Caribbean island of Trinidad, firing 644 workers the day after the union won a wage dispute case in industrial court.

More than 13,000 members of the United Steelworkers at the company’s U.S. mills continue working while the union negotiates with bosses. The old contract expired Sept. 1. The company has refused to back down from concession demands, including significant cuts to medical benefits for retirees and active workers.

— Betsy Farley, member of USW Local 1010 at the ArcelorMittal mill in East Chicago, Indiana

Union rail workers picket against unsafe conditions in New Zealand

DUNEDIN, New Zealand — Rail workers scored a victory here when Dunedin Railways withdrew a disciplinary warning following a March 8 picket of the company. A driver had been disciplined after sending a safety report to the company and the union health and safety committee after a breakdown in radio recordings of track occupancy led to two crews potentially using a single track at the same time. Informing the union committee was considered by the boss as misconduct.

“It’s a rail worker’s worst nightmare to see another train coming towards you,” Brian McKay, secretary of the Otago branch of the Rail and Maritime Transport Union, told the Militant in an interview March 22. “The potential is for a serious incident and we thought it was important to send the company a message. If we don’t stand up as a union to defend protections we have won, they will be eroded away.”

Some 30 people took part in the March 8 picket, including the Dairy Workers Union, Public Service Association and Nurses Organisation.

— Annalucia Vermunt