On the picket line

NWA flight attendants set to strike

The federal court overseeing Northwest Airlines’ bankruptcy case did not grant an injunction against a strike by NWA’s flight attendants. On Aug. 17 the court said it had no authority to block a strike. NWA appealed that decision on Aug. 19.

The 9,300 NWA workers in the Associ ation of Flight Attendants-CWA are threatening to initiate CHAOS as of 9:01 PM CDT on Aug. 25. CHAOS, or Create Havoc Around Our System, is AFA-CWA’s trademarked tactic of targeted work actions using random, unannounced strikes. Any unilateral change in a contract triggers a right to strike under the Railway Labor Act.

On July 31, NWA prompted the strike by imposing 21 percent pay cuts and new work rules that the workers have twice rejected. The union calculates that total givebacks in health care and other benefits add up to a more than 40 percent pay cut.

“Today we sent a strong message to corporate America: you cannot keep taking from your employees without a fight,” said Mollie Reiley, AFA-CWA Interim Master Executive Council President in an Aug. 17 union press release. “Now Northwest management has one more chance. They have the choice to either set greed aside for once and agree to a fair and equitable contract, or they will face CHAOS. Management needs to reduce their demands and do it in a hurry.”

The flight attendants are at the barricades not only for themselves but for all workers whose pay checks are shrinking due to ever-increasing capitalist greed for profits over human needs.

NWA mechanics on strike for a year

The mechanics, cleaners and custodians at Northwest Airlines went on strike Aug. 20, 2005—a year ago—rather than give in to NWA’s demand for a greatly reduced workforce, huge pay cuts and other givebacks.

NWA responded by hiring scab replacement workers at lower wages. After issuing an ultimatum last fall, the company refused to negotiate with the 4,300 trained, experienced workers represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association.

On Aug. 15—day 361 of the strike—the AMFA Negotiating Com mit tee met with NWA management to, in its words, “resolve outstanding issues that are of mutual interest to both parties.” The struggle continues.

NYC hotel workers sign contract

Though most hotel workers in New York City represented by UNITE/HERE reached a six-year agreement earlier this year with most hotels, Hilton New York and the Waldorf Astoria refused to sign.

Finally, on July 29, they relented and agreed to the same terms: hourly wage increases of 4 percent a year for the first three years, 3.5 percent for the final three and new rules for health and safety and back pay.

An unusual feature of the agreement included a five-year plan called “Partnership for Future Growth.” In it Hilton agreed that UNITE/HERE could organize workers using the card check process at its facilities in other cities.

UFCW campaign for Smithfield workers

The United Food and Commercial Workers have been trying for more than 12 years to unionize super-oppressed workers—mostly people of color—at Smithfield Foods in Tar Heel, N.C. But the union has been up against a relentless, racist, anti-union foe, which nets $7 billion annually as the largest hog producer and pork processor in the world.

The company is so blatantly anti-union that recently a federal appeals court ruled against it. The court affirmed a cease-and-desist order issued by the National Labor Relations Board in 2004 that “forbid the company from interfering with, restraining, or coercing its employees in the exercise of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.”

To expose the brutal, crippling working conditions, racist treatment and urgent need for collective bargaining and to kick off a boycott of Smithfield pork products, UFCW, along with other labor and civil rights groups, launched “A Change to Win Week.” During the end of August, rallies, supermarket initiatives and church services will kick off in seven Smithfield retail markets, ranging from Boston to Chicago to Atlanta.

A rally and march are scheduled on Aug. 30 in Richmond, Va., where Smithfield top officials and stockholders are holding their annual meeting at the Jefferson Hotel. A call has gone out for union activists and supporters to converge on Richmond to show these greedy bosses that they can’t keep robbing, maiming and harassing the workers.

The rally will start at the Cedar Street Baptist Church at 11:30 a.m. and march to the hotel. For more information about the Aug. 30 protest and to download a resolution calling for justice for Smithfield workers, visit the union’s website: www.smithfieldjustice.com.