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Berry CraigBerry Craig is a professor of history at the West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah, a member of AFT Local 1360 and the author of "True Tales of Old-Time Kentucky Politics: Bombast, Bourbon & Burgoo," "Hidden History of Kentucky in the Civil War," and "Hidden History of Kentucky Soldiers." |
Steelworkers Rally for Locked-Out Nuclear Workers |
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What makes members of the United Steelworkers (USW) hop a bus at 6 a.m. and ride six hours so they can march in 95-degree August heat to show solidarity with their union brothers and sisters? Jim Robinson, director of Steelworkers District 7 in Gary, Ind., explains:
“We love it. This is what we do.”
Some 3,000 union members and their families from at least four states recently rallied in Metropolis, Ill., in support of USW Local 7-669, which has been locked out at a Honeywell Corp. plant that processes uranium for use in nuclear fuel.
Cheryl DeCero, who belongs to the USW’s Women of Steel organization, rode a charter bus from Gary, 365 miles north of Metropolis. Before she learned of the lockout, which began June 28, the only Metropolis she knew about was the Man of Steel’s fictional hometown.
Her bus arrived in the real Metropolis—population about 6,500—early enough for passengers to get a peek at the 15-foot, two-ton bronze statue of Superman on the court square.
But DeCero, a member of USW Local 1011 in East Chicago, Ind., wasn’t in Metropolis for sightseeing.
We’re here because we know what the workers are struggling against.
Robin Rich, another Woman of Steel and USW Local 6787 member, came from Gary.
We left at six this morning, but some of the people drove two hours to get on the bus. We’re here for them because they’re brothers and sisters, like family members.
“Family members” include kids. The Gary USW contingent brought a candy-stuffed piñata in the shape of a bright-yellow honeybee—Honeywell.
Many youngsters who pummeled the piñata were sons and daughters of the more than 225 hourly workers Honeywell locked out after the union turned down a contract offer from the company that would eliminate 45 jobs, seniority, overtime pay, pensions and retiree medical benefits, according to Darrell Lillie, Local 7-669 president. He called the rally:
unbelievable, bigger than we ever dreamed of. The support is really overwhelming.
Busloads of Steelworkers also rolled in from Chicago and from Granite City, Ill., near St. Louis. Most of the crowd was local, from Metropolis, an old Ohio River town, and from communities in southern Illinois. But several people came from over the river in western Kentucky and northwestern Tennessee.
Kip Phillips, an assistant to USW President Leo Gerard, read a letter from Gerard urging appropriate federal authorities to investigate whether the 200 “replacement workers” the company hired are operating the plant safely.
The letter says “replacement workers,” but I call them scabs.
The letter also warned that an accident at the facility, located just outside Metropolis, could be catastrophic. Phillips pointed out that chemicals used in the plant, plus the radioactive material the plant manufactures, are potentially deadly.
Robinson said Honeywell’s attempt to break Local 7-669 is:
part of a larger fight going on in this country. It is the fight for the rights of working people to negotiate and obtain what we once thought was simply accepted in our society.
This fight is an old fight. It is in the Bible. Corporate greed is in the Bible. When the pharaoh was too greedy to pay the Israelites, they organized and walked out.
8 Comments
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Thanks for publicizing this. Who is writing this up to pitch to national publications?
Looks like a story with a very wide narrative that will appeal to many groups in working America.
God bless the USW.
One look at what Honeywell calls afair negotiatio of contract in good faith, is criminal. The proposal is blatantly anti union anti labor and anti American. I suppose they are headed to Mexico or Some other place that they can easily expliot labor. These “cheezeballs ” have made a lot of money on the American labor force and now the want to rob them cheat and insult them.
Fight on ,you have nothing to lose but your self respect and your indecent employer. Your pay cuts will fill the pockets of the CEU,so he cam afford that third condo in Florida. Yuck, they make me barf!
Stay strong my brothers and sisters. You shall overcome the corporate greed that is running rampant through this country.
The sad thing is, the unions hands are tied. The company knows that in this economy workers will do whatever has to be done to keep their job. Unions are doing everything in their power to keep their union brothers and sisters from becoming unemployed. That is not an easy task in todays society. After the shut down at the Granite City works, union workers were called back little by little to get the place up and running again. At first they were working with just a couple hundred skilled workers. My husband was one of those lucky people to be called back first. That was great news for our family and we truly thanked god for it. Little did we know that it was really just the beginning of the end of our life. The company was demanding that the union workers do jobs that they were not qualified to do. The union could do nothing but stand back and hope for the best for their union brothers and sisters. After all, everyone was lucky to have a job. My husband had been with US steel for 15 years. He loved his job and his union. He never had a problem until the day that he went back to work after the big shut down. The problems started from there. For a month, he was forced (in order to keep his job, and feed his family) to do things that were not safe and had no idea or training for. The union did every thing they could to protect their workers but the company just wanted the place up and running, no matter who was in danger! My husband could not take the stress and refused to put others in danger. He took his own life because he was so nervous and depressed about his work conditions and was so afraid of hurting someone else because the company didn’t give a crap how things got done or who got hurt! The union was behind my husband 100%. But what could they do when the company is demanding something and people were lucky have their jobs back. Not once did anyone from the company ever call (not even his immediate supervisors), to offer their condolences. The union was there for me and my family and even attended the funeral. This story should give you an idea of what the unions are up against and how the company really feels about their employees. They might be able to replace my husband, but I can’t!
The republicans are wanting to run everything and when they do we’ll lots more of this kind of thing . Stay strong , SOLIDARITY
About 100 years ago Henry Ford realized you cannot have a sustained industrial economy if the people who make goods don’t have enough money to buy them.
This is a critical process that Honeywell is playing games with. The Government must step in and hold Hwell accountable. I am sure some special Liscensing is requirred to process nuk. material.
Honeywell you would think would want to be a leader in the world as an enployee concern employer. I have heard many horror stories of Honeywell not being a friend to labor and needs to be held accountable.
Time for NLRB to get involved and safty before profits. Truly sad how Honeywell has become a union buster over the years when their company was built from the backs of Union Labor. They should be ashamed.
This is what unionism is all about. SOLIDARITY BROTHERS & SISTERS!!!