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On the picket line

Published Jun 14, 2008 7:55 AM

Immigrant workers’ hunger strike continues

Lured in 2006 with promises of green cards for themselves and their families, more than 550 metal fitters and welders were devastated to discover soon after they arrived from India that Signal International was only offering them short-term H-2B visas.

The maritime oil rig construction company based in Pascagoula, Miss., hired the skilled immigrants to rebuild its holdings in the Gulf after the 2005 hurricanes. Not only had recruiters forced the men to pay $20,000 for the “privilege of working in the U.S., but the workers were subject to slave-labor living and working conditions.” No wonder 100 workers bravely walked off the job on March 6! To further dramatize their struggle against human trafficking, the workers took their protest to Washington, D.C., where about a dozen workers have been on a hunger strike since May 14. They are demanding that the Justice Department and immigration officials investigate charges of fraud and exploitation and offer them protection, since they lost legal immigration status when they left the job.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, working with the Indian Workers Congress and the Alliance of Guest Workers for Dignity, an affiliate of the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice, filed a federal lawsuit against Signal and the recruiters on March 6. (New York Times, June 7)

Burger King will pay more for tomatoes!

Florida tomato pickers, mostly immigrant workers from Latin America, have been fighting for livable wages for years. On May 23 they won a long, important battle when Burger King finally dropped its aggressive, dirty tactics and agreed to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ demands to pay a penny more per pound for tomatoes. With the one-cent increase, workers will earn 77 cents, instead of 45 cents, for a 32-pound bucket of tomatoes. The 71 percent increase will go a long way toward raising the workers’ current annual poverty wages that range from $10,000 to $12,000. (CIW press release, May 23)

When Burger King joined Yum! Brands (Taco Bell) and McDonalds in supporting the workers’ demands, its CEO “apologized” for BK’s vicious tactics, which included spying on and lying about CIW. But that didn’t faze the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, which represents 90 percent of the state’s growers. Though the FTGE dropped its threat of imposing $100,000 fines on members who ante up the penny-a-pound pay raise, it advised members not to go along with it. (New York Times, May 24) ¡La lucha continúa!

Delta flight attendants continue union fight

The National Mediation Board refused to certify the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA to represent Delta flight attendants on May 28. Though the vast majority of the 5,306 members who voted cast ballots for the union, that’s only about 40 percent of the total number of workers, and federal rules require that a majority participate in the vote.

The AFA-CWA cited an aggressive voter suppression campaign involving—no surprise—intimidation and coercion by Delta management as a major factor in the outcome. Nonetheless, the union vows to keep fighting. Patricia Friend, international president of AFA-CWA, is optimistic that the upcoming vote in connection with Delta’s merger with Northwest will result in winning AFA-CWA representation. (AFA-CWA press release, May 28)

Two UAW locals win strikes

Like members of four United Auto Workers locals at American Axle plants, Local 602 in Lansing, Mich., and Local 31 in Fairfax, Kan., were forced to go on strike this spring. Unlike the American Axle workers—who must be commended for putting up such a valiant fight on behalf of themselves and all U.S. workers—both UAW locals won better contracts for their sacrifices.

The 2,300 workers in Local 602, who build SUVs for General Motors, went on strike April 17 and reached an agreement May 15 that restricts subcontracting of skilled trades and provides a say in job organization. The 1,800 workers in Local 31, who went on strike May 5 and went back to work on May 22, were able to stop GM from suspending seniority rules for various job assignments and won better terms for overtime and job classifications. (www.uaw.org)