Avondale victory
Shipyard workers win union after six years
By
Shelley Ettinger
After fighting for a union for more than six years, shipyard
workers at Avondale Industries in New Orleans felt like things
were looking up on Nov. 2. That's when executives at Litton
Industries, which recently took over Avondale, signed a
"neutrality" agreement. The bosses promised to recognize the
Metal Trades Council if a majority of Avondale employees signed
union cards within one year.
One year? It didn't even take one week.
One of the toughest, longest fights for union rights in
recent history has suddenly ended in a sweet, swift victory.
And the labor movement is celebrating.
On Nov. 13, union officials confirmed that a substantial
majority of the workers had signed cards saying they want to be
represented by the union. The Metal Trades Council formally
filed a request for recognition as their collective bargaining
agent.
The company is not expected to dispute the workers' clear
mandate for a union. Contract negotiations, also covering
workers in Gulfport, Miss., and Tallulah, La., could begin
soon.
After the neutrality agreement was signed, the 300
organizers on the in-plant organizing committee gathered
signatures with phenomenal speed. It was an explosion of
organizing, like opening a tightly corked champagne bottle. The
job was done in days.
Plenty of champagne bottles were opened as word of the
victory spread. At the shipyard, there was unbridled joy among
the about 4,000 workers.
One organizer who attended a Nov. 15 victory party said the
mood was "ecstatic."
It's no wonder. Avondale had been the only major shipbuilder
in the country without a unionized work force. Its workers, who
are mostly African American, are dismally underpaid. Working
conditions have been very bad. Health and safety violations are
rampant.
Workers fought hard to win union representation. They first
voted in the union in 1993. Avondale refused to recognize it.
Ever since, the company has used the labor laws to stonewall,
dragging the union through labor board and court hearings.
The union won most of the decisions--along with scores of
safety citations against the company--but the bosses kept
appealing. The company fired 28 workers for union organizing.
The abuses went on and on.
But so did the fight. The workers refused to give up. They
organized a national solidarity campaign.
They also took their struggle to Washington--and took on the
Pentagon, the biggest anti-worker institution of them all. They
demonstrated outside the Navy Department.
An AFL-CIO statement last spring pointed out: "Avondale
profits from $2.7 billion in taxpayer dollars flowing through
its biggest customer, the U.S. Navy. In fact, Avondale even has
used tax money to directly violate its workers' rights,
harassing and threatening them in massive mandatory meetings
and then billing the Navy for the workers' time."
In the midst of its anti-union war, Avondale used state
funds to build the $40 million Maritime Technology Center in
1998. The center is key to Litton's contract to build new
amphibious assault ships, the LPD-17, for the Navy. This
project is expected to eventually bring in $4 billion to
Litton.
With this kind of Pentagon booty coming its way, the
shipbuilder can afford to raise the Avondale workers' living
standard. It looks like the Litton tops decided to do this.
Knowing the workers would fight on forever, the bosses opted
for labor peace.
Union organizers in New Orleans say the Avondale victory
will have repercussions beyond the shipyards. A major
organizing drive is under way in New Orleans hotels. Many hotel
workers have family members who work at Avondale.
Now the hotel bosses can't threaten, "We'll beat you down,
we'll never give in, just like at Avondale." Instead, the
workers can say, "We can organize and win, just like at
Avondale."
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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