Vol. 73/No. 36      September 21, 2009

The Teamsters local has been in contract negotiations for nine months. Workers on the picket line say the company is refusing to restore lost health benefits and is demanding other concessions, including a 20 percent across-the-board pay cut and an additional $4 cut for the first six months of the new contract. On average, workers make about $14 per hour. SK Hand Tools employs some 70 workers between the two Illinois plants.

“They want 80 percent of the people here to work at near minimum wage,” said Emilio Lunar, a machine operator and shop steward at the Chicago plant. “This is a great example of what is happening right now, it is happening elsewhere every day. We know it is hard to be on strike but we have to do this.”

The union reported that the company has not made regular payments to the pension fund since February. Workers also said they have not been given holiday pay since December and that the company is seeking to cut vacation time.

This is not the first time workers have held protest actions against the company’s withdrawal of their health coverage. In May, workers held a 30-minute rally during lunch and also struck for four hours on July 31.

Union members say they have maintained 24-hour picket lines at both SK Hand Tools plants, covering multiple entrances. Workers said they have prevented several trucks from making deliveries and have had the picket lines honored by drivers who are members of Teamsters Local 705.

Strikers have received solidarity from unionists in the Service Employees International Union, United Auto Workers, and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546. Members of UNITE Local 1, who are on strike at the Congress Hotel here, joined the Teamsters picket line last week.
 
 
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