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Community, Labor Unite with IUE-CWA at Whirlpool Rally
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When more than 5,500 workers and community and religious activists from at least six states converged in front of the Whirlpool plant in Evansville, Ind., members of IUE-CWA led the way to deliver the message to “Keep It Made in America.”
Local 808 President Darrell Collins said:
We have had small rallies before and Whirlpool ignored us! They will not ignore us today! This is just the beginning of something big. We will carry this fight on till it changes. There is no limit to what we can accomplish as long as we work together.
One of the Whirlpool workers who stands to lose her job is Natalie Ford. A member of Local 808, Ford told the rally:
This doesn’t just affect us, it affects everyone in our families….This is the only life we’ve known—now it’s gone. The questions run through my mind: Am I going to lose everything I’ve worked my entire life for? I try to be strong for my family, but deep down I’m scared to death, not knowing what the future holds for us.
Speaking amid an increasing crescendo of cheers and applause, Communications Workers of America (CWA) Vice President Seth Rosen told the energized crowd that although some people “blame us for what they call ‘legacy costs’: union wages, health care, pension for retirees”:
There is a legacy from those things. You know what that legacy is? Every firehouse in Evansville, Ind., is a legacy of the tax dollars of union workers making a middle-class wage. Every school house is a legacy of the people who work in this plant.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, along with 40 people, including children and grandchildren of workers, clergy and retirees, used a Whirlpool refrigerator to wheel petitions with 70,000 signatures to the plant’s locked front gate. At the same time, as coordinated with the Michigan AFL-CIO, the Machinists delivered more than 40,000 signatures on petitions to the Whirlpool headquarters in Michigan. The petitions urged Whirlpool executives to reconsider their decision to shutter the Evansville plant, laying off 1,100 people and moving jobs to Mexico. Union members also made more than 1,700 phone calls in one day to Whirlpool headquarters in Benton Harbor, Mich., and the Evansville offices with the same message. IUE-CWA Local 808 represents 900 of the 1,100 workers.
The fight for jobs at Whirlpool is part of the union movement’s nationwide jobs campaign. The AFL-CIO is calling on Congress and the Obama administration to take five steps now to care for jobless workers and put America back to work.
Recognizing the broad spectrum of unions who traveled to Evansville to support the workers at Whirlpool, including workers from the General Electric plant in Louisville, Ky., IUE-CWA President Jim Clark said:
We’ve had some bad weather, and in this weather here for union people to come from all the different states on a Friday evening, that means they’re ready to fight and they’re ready to fight for you.
Tom Vinnedge, a local restaurant owner, said:
More unemployed neighbors means less customers who can afford to enjoy a meal out, plain and simple. It’s just madness that Whirlpool is abandoning our community like this, and nobody has the courage to stand up to them and other greedy corporations and say it’s got to stop.
The Rev. Phil Hoy, a longtime local minister and former state legislator, said the workers and the region deserve better:
I am appalled by Whirlpool’s disregard for the community that has done so much for them throughout the years and by the apathy and disdain that many politicians show toward our nation’s working families. We deserve better.
As Trumka said:
American workers should not be reduced to stocking shelves down at Wal-Mart with stuff made in Mexico and China. We don’t have to accept second class status for America. We can lead the world economy again if the leaders we elect step up and insist that we invest in America again.
You can check out photos from the rally here, including speakers such as Rosen, Clark, Collins and Hoy.
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12 Comments
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Great article. Thanks for keeping us updated on the Whirlpool campaign.
Its a great inspiration to see so much support for the workers down there. Do you have any links for us to get information on where and how others across the nation can support the campaign?
In solidarity,
-John
http://www.thetbf.wordpress.com
“(Trumka) used a Whirlpool refrigerator to wheel petitions with 70,000 signatures to the plant’s locked front gate.”
Brilliant.
Thank God for the 5,500 protesters at the rally!! If this country dose not have good manufacturing jobs in it how is this country going to survive. I remember when I was yunger there were jobs to be had if you were willing to work hard and Americans are more than willing to work hard. But the corporations, banks, and politions today do not care any more. They all want to make huge projected profits not just a good healthy profit they want it all right now and do not care what they are doing to this great country. We need good jobs in this country and have to keep the jobs we have. Thank God for the men and women who were at the Rally at Whirlpool !! Remember Organize, Organize, Organize!!
here a link to Jim’s video of Richard Trumka speech at the Whirlpool protest. I’m retired union USW member,wish y’all the best of luck
http://hillbillyreport.org/diary/1223/richard-trumka-tells-whirlpool-like-it-is-thank-you-richard
http://hillbillyreport.org/diary/1224/5500-workers-rally-at-whirlpool-plant-in-evansville-indiana
When will they realize, if no one has a job, no one can afford to buy their product.
Americans are just as wrong, when they continue to shop at places like Walmart, to save a dollar or two, they are saying it is ok to sell us out.
Personally, I shop my politics, I refuse to walk into a Walmart store, I need a new car, but I will no longer buy a Chrysler or GM product, after they took our bailout money and ran to Mexico. I will buy a Japanese made car before I will buy one made in Mexico. When I need a plumber or electrician, I will ask if they are a union shop. When I shop for fruits and vegetables, I look to see where they are grown, Usually they are grown in Chile, Mexico or Peru. I will pay a lil more for Made in USA or do without. Many of my friends and family tell me I am just being crazy, then I reply, “If there were more crazies like me in the USA you would have a job!”
When are the people in America going to realize that the only way you are going to change this government is through work actions ,just like Italy, France and Germany. If you refuse to make the investment then you will lose your republic. Every congressman/woman and Senator and even the president are sold out completely.The only way to stop the money is to stop the money yourselves.
My Grandmother, the late Millie Rogers was a Trustee in the AFL-CIO Laundry Union Workers in Oakland,Ca. During her tenure she made amazing changes in Union policies. Trust me, if she were still alive she would be the first to picket Keep It Made In America.
Sending jobs overseas is strictly caused by poor government and giving and selling the USA to foreign interests by our elected leaders by free trade agreements. Granted, if our imports matched our exports, this would have a semblance of fairness but nothing is done by our fat cat crooked self serving politicians..
if whirlpool does end up making there products somewhere else, then it will be time to boycott there products
working americans , this is america , the america i know and was born in , what has happened to the companys in america and why americans dont count any more , we need to send this message across america to all companys , that american need american jobs for americans with american companys , we alos need to send a message to washington to congress and the u s senate and along to states legislators through out the country , we have 35,000 registered lobbyist in washington , thats about 65 for each politician in washington, whats wrong with america special interest send money to washington to sell americans jobs down the river and over seas or to foreign born workers coming to america at 125,000 a month , thats 1.5 million a year , we need to look at the voting records of congress and the u s senate and see how they our voting , there not voting for americans and we should vote them out of office this fall , now thats american !
Very good article. Thank you for the good news about AFL-CIO President Trumka, leading a labor protest against WHIRLPOOL.
Most labor leaders and union members pretty much know many reasons millions of American workers are without jobs.
This is the way to go by protesting because labor and workers need to expose Corporations like WHIRLPOOL and a small companies like Sun Chemical, a maker of specialty inks for food packaging based in Parsippany, N.J., that will inaugurate a new plant in Frankfurt, Germany employing 120 people.
Also, letters by union members and their representatives to radio, newspaper and television reporters help to expose the greedy Corporations. But how many get printed and attract media attention?
So, the WHIRLPOOL protest is fantastic because Corporations keep Labor on the defensive and win over the majority of the general public about workers wages and benefits.
It’s worked since President Reagan, fired all striking PATCO workers, August 5, 1981, and before that too — thus, workers making less in wages fall for the dirty trick by becoming envious, especially workers in the Southern States and non-union workers. There was little sympathy from most working Americans for the fired PATCO striking workers after their wages and benefits were front page headline news. An excellent hatchet job by our Government and a cover up for the very reason the workers went on strike (forced overtime).
I believe every union member is tired of being on the defensive all the time. Labor at every level, especially where the corporations and companies have their headquarters need to expose that American jobs are being sent to foreigners like the WHIRLPOOL protest.
It’s UNAMERICAN what they are doing in a recession creating high unemployment, foreclosures of homes, long lines at employment offices, more Americans going on welfare, — the entire 9 yards of all the financial harm needs to be mentioned when jobs are moved deliberately to foreign nations for cheaper labor.
The bottom line, a spark is needed to get Americans angry at the corporations and companies because as a whole Americans don’t pay much attention past their own little circle. And they believe everything on FOX News without thinking.
What appliances are made in the USA? Maybe AFL-CIO should put out information that would us to know about American made products.