Court setback for shipbuilders' union
Avondale workers vow to fight on
By Mary
Owen
On July 7 a federal court upheld a company challenge and
ordered the National Labor Relations Board to conduct a new
union election at Avondale Industries in New Orleans. This is a
setback in the years-long struggle by Avondale workers and the
Metal Trades Department of the AFL-CIO to get a union for
shipbuilders at the only non-union Navy contractor.
Nevertheless, the workers--most of whom are African
American--have vowed to continue their fight for justice.
"We voted to form our union to get justice, dignity and
safety on the job, and we will fight until we win," pledged
Harry Thomas, a 21-year pipe fitter at Avondale, in response to
the court's ruling.
Jim Evans, campaign coordinator for the Avondale workers,
said the entire labor movement has stood with the workers from
the very beginning of their struggle. "We will stand together
until justice at Avondale is not a demand but a reality," he
said.
Calling the Avondale ruling "a travesty," AFL-CIO President
John Sweeney stated that the Avondale workers, "will eventually
prevail and the AFL-CIO will put its full support behind the
workers to help them do just that."
In 1993 a majority of shipbuilders at Avondale
Industries--3,850 workers--voted for a union to fight against
unsafe working conditions, for better wages and benefits, and
to win dignity and respect. The election struggle was a tough
one. But after a recount, the NLRB ruled the union had won by
250 votes.
Since then the workers have faced a relentless campaign of
massive, illegal retaliation by Avondale senior management. The
U.S. Navy has bolstered Avondale's six-year union busting with
lucrative contracts--$2.3 billion worth or 80 percent of the
company's business--and big tax breaks. The company also ran to
federal court for relief. On July 7 the court obliged--ruling
the union vote was "fatally flawed" by a procedure the NLRB has
used in union elections for decades.
"The judges' opinion appears to be at odds with sixty years
of established labor law," said union attorney Bill Lurye.
"We're reviewing all of our legal options, and we intend to
take all the steps necessary to best protect Avondale workers'
rights."
Serious safety hazards were the number-one reason Avondale
workers wanted a union and are still a major issue. Just five
days before the court's decision on the election, Avondale
Industries was slapped with a pile of safety citations and
$180,000 in potential fines for failing to maintain worker
illness and injury records.
This is the second set of penalties issued by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration during an
eight-month investigation of Avondale prompted by worker
reports of unsafe working conditions.
Shipbuilding is the second most dangerous job in the U.S.,
after meat packing. The industry's injury rate is four times
the national private-sector average. And among shipbuilders
Avondale has the worst health and safety record in the country.
Since 1990, three times as many workers have died at Avondale
per thousand employees as at any other shipyards with major
Navy contracts.
Avondale workers have fallen from unsafe scaffolds, been
struck by improperly welded ship parts, plummeted though
unguarded access holes and drowned, or run out of air in
enclosed spaces. Cranes have dropped weights on workers, or
rolled over them. In April, OSHA issued 60 citations and levied
a $537,000 fine against the company for these and other
hazards.
Avondale, Litton, Pentagon:
Partners in union busting
Trying to stop the organizing drive is not only a top
priority for Avondale management. The Pentagon and Litton
Industries also have a stake in quashing the workers'
struggle.
Workers at Avondale design, build and overhaul ships for the
U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and private businesses.
On July 6, Avondale got the green light to proceed with a
proposed merger with Litton Industries. Litton owns Ingalls
Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss.--a manufacturer of Navy
destroyers and other surface ships.
Ingalls was shut down during the U.S./NATO bombing of
Yugoslavia when thousands of unionized workers went on strike
for better pay and benefits.
If the Avondale-Litton merger goes through, the combined
company will employ 40,000 in a strategic military
manufacturing sector. Clearly, Avondale, Litton and the
Pentagon will try any means at hand to keep such a proletarian
powerhouse from becoming fully unionized.
However, the recent smashing union victory by textile
workers at Fieldcrest Cannon plants in North Carolina shows
that Avondale shipbuilders have working-class momentum on their
side.
The textile union victory, after several tries, gave labor
an important foothold in the industrial South. The victory also
illustrated how a resilient, determined group of workers, like
those at Avondale, can come back from defeats to win--and win
big.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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