And in Southern California where wild fires are raging and residents
are being told to evacuate, some Farm Owners are ordering their
workers back into the field. "Pick the crops or you're fired!" the
workers are told. Most go back, pitting their own lives against the
starvation their families would face if they lost their jobs.
Those Cold Farm Owners must be held accountable for placing their
workers in danger. And if anyone loses their life by obeying such
mean spirited orders, they must be charged with murder.
How many examples do we need before we all wake up to the fact that we
live in a land driven by Profit? We, The American People, have
allowed these Terrorists to seize control and put Profit above all
else. If we want a nation that puts People First, we will need to
either convert the Ruling Class, or remove them. Personally, I see
very little hope that we can convert them.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/8/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://themilitant.com/2017/8146/814655.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 81/No. 46 December 11, 2017
Calif. Henkel workers continue strike for safety
BY NORTON SANDLER
BAY POINT, Calif. — “Management doesn’t care about safety, we don’t get
the respect we deserve,” Felix Rivera, one of the striking members of
International Association of Machinists Local 1584 at Henkel Aerospace,
told the Militant as he picketed outside the plant here Nov. 25.
“It seems like the company really isn’t negotiating in good faith,”
added John McFarland, a production worker with three years at the plant.
“It comes down to they’re trying to break us.”
The bitter strike began Oct. 16. This plant, a subsidiary of Henkel AG &
Co., based in Germany, manufactures aerospace adhesives used by Boeing,
Spirit Airlines, F3 and other companies, workers say. Bosses in Germany
reported Henkel’s third-quarter net profits rose 7.1 percent this year.
The Machinists union was won here in a 2013 strike after David Eleidjian
was crushed and killed after being pulled into a mixing machine in the
plant. The company was cited for safety violations and fined over $200,000.
Brian Fealy, an IAM business representative, told the Militant that
there have been three major injuries over the past year from steam burns.
The IAM unionists maintain their pickets 14 hours daily. Only seven of
the 80 workers at the plant have crossed the line in six weeks, strikers
said. The company is busing in 20 to 30 professional strikebreakers
every day, from the notorious Minnesota-based union-busting outfit Strom
Engineering.
Derion Oliver started working at Henkel in July. “Boom, I’m on strike,”
he said. “This work is dangerous. I sometimes work 60 hours in a week
around hazardous chemicals.”
Company bosses terminated strikers’ health care Nov. 1, including for
four workers on disability from injuries on the job.
Striker Anthony Tatum, with three years at the plant, expressed
frustration over the company’s stalling on a settlement. “I’m ready to
go back to work,” he said. “We should be back.”
“There was mediation last week, and we were making progress on the
contract language on advancements, safety and grievances,” Fealy said.
“But when the discussion focused on back-to-work language, they
basically walked out of the mediator’s office.”
Steve Older, another union official, said the bosses want to victimize
strikers and keep the strikebreakers. “They want us to return on the
company’s schedule, they want the ability to impose picket line
discipline that is not subject to the grievance procedure or
arbitration. It’s the company’s word, that’s it,” Older said. “They also
want to keep these professional scabs in the plant, not subject to union
jurisdiction for six months.”
“We have to have the scabs go, and amnesty on the line,” Fealy said.
Donations and messages of support can be sent to IAM Local 1584, 436
McCormick St., San Leandro, CA 94577.
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Gov’t presses frame-up of rail workers in Canada
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