‘Say NO to racism, don’t buy Moncure Plywood!’

Organizers of the recent U.S. tour of Latin American union leaders (see workers.org) learned from striking members of International Association of Machinists Local W369 at Moncure Plywood in North Carolina that La-Z-Boy Furniture, headquartered in Michigan, was buying wood products made by strikebreakers. La-Z-Boy management was shocked when the following letter was hand-delivered during a midday informational picket of their global headquarters in Monroe, Mich.

Oct. 23, 2008

To whom it may concern:

La-Z-Boy Furniture is purchasing wood products from Moncure Plywood near Raleigh, North Carolina. The workers at Moncure Plywood have been on strike since July 20, 2008.

By continuing to buy products made without the skilled and long-time workers who are on strike, La-Z-Boy is helping to:

• Force workers to work 60 hours per week.

• Change seniority to allow favoritism, discrimination and racist practices by management.

• Use racism to divide African-American and Latin@ workers.

• Increase health insurance payments by 300 percent.

• Allow unsafe working conditions: cutting machines with no guards, holes and water on floors near dangerous machines, and too much dust that can cause explosions. Moncure was fined $37,000 for safety violations last year.

As part of a national tour by Latin American union leaders, we joined the workers on the picket line at Moncure. The workers at Moncure want to secure their rights to a decent job and to work with dignity.

We told their story in 12 cities and are now calling on La-Z-Boy to do the right thing—tell your supplier, Moncure Plywood, to come to a just settlement with IAM Local W369. Stop buying Moncure wood products until they do it! We await your reply.

For the Labor Exchange,
Ignacio Meneses
Cheryl LaBash