Toledo rally marks

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On Sunday, June 3rd, 800-1000 people gathered at the Lucas County Courthouse to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Toledo Auto-Lite strike. Mike Ferner, recording secretary, AFSCME Local 544, who co-chaired the rally, described it as a celebration by labor to explain why the Auto-Lite strike was a historic victory for working people all across the United States.

The Toledo Area Solidarity Committee (TASC) organized the rally. This is a group of Toledo area union members that grew out of last fall's Greyhound strike support activity. TASC has helped organize rallies to defend several striking unions in Toledo. It has also conducted activities to win financial support for strikers including a raffle for the OCAW strikers at Sun Oil Co. which raised over $1000 and a collection at the Fermi nuclear power plant which took in $2800 and four truckloads of food for the striking UAW members at AP Parts Co.

Speakers at the rally included veterans of the 1934 strike, officers of some Toledo area unions, and representatives of Black and women's groups. These speakers discussed the lessons of the Auto-Lite strike and what is necessary to successfully counter the current attacks on unions.

Jerry Street, president of the Ohio Association of Letter Carriers and the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 100, spoke first. He explained that the Auto-Lite strikers helped win the wages, benefits, and working conditions that today's union members have added that recent union-busting activities have shattered the false sense of security many workers had enjoyed. He said the only way we can protect our past gains and win is by recognizing the importance of solidarity-that no one individual, no one local union, and no one international union can stand alone. He ended by saying that with such solidarity, "we will win."

Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, detailed his union's attempts to organize migrant farm workers in the Midwest and their fight to win contracts with the major canneries. He pointed to the importance of solidarity to avoid additional PATCO-style defeats.

Jack Shertzer, secretary-treasurer, UAW Local 12 Jeep Unit, also spoke. Wally Smith brought official support from the Ohio Education Association. Tom Joseph, co-chair of TASC, member Local 50 Plumbers and Steamfitters, began the second half of the rally with a rousing appeal for union solidarity.

Community supports rally In addition to the union speakers, representatives from a number of community groups spoke. Rev. Floyd Rose, president of the Toledo NAACP the streets. He explained that, similarly, it was the events of May 21, when cops attacked several thousand strike supporters who had rallied at the AP Parts plant, that forced the company to the conference table. He called for a return to the picket line in ever larger numbers and explained the importance of supporting those arrested.

Judy Nablo, president of Toledo NOW, described the role of women workers. Margie Curtis of the East Police escort scabs out of AP Parts in Toledo, Ohio.

tance of the unemployed employed working together.

Two chants expressed the mood of the crowd. They were: "Sun Oil Strike— We're Going to Win" and "AP Strikers, They're Not Guilty- Drop the Charges Now." A collection to aid the striking workers at Sun Oil, Interstate Trucking, and AP Parts raised $727. Numerous strikers from all three plants attended the rally. There was also sizable participation from other Toledo UAW organized plants.

Unfortunately, the top officials in the Toledo AFL-CIO, UAW, and Teamsters failed to support the rally. They urged several speakers not to attend. A representative of the striking AP Parts workers, UAW Local 14 President Oscar Bunch, citing fear of court injunctions, was among those who declined to speak at the last minute.

Despite the opposition from the top labor officialdom, the size and composition of the rally and speakers' platform, and the number of local unions which supported it, showed a receptivity to the necessity of building active, visible support to striking unions. Growing numbers of working people are becoming convinced that past gains cannot be preserved nor future gains won by relying on a few skilled negotiators making back-room deals with the bosses. This sentiment is summed up by the Toledo Area Solidarity Committee brochure: "No longer should any worker in the Toledo area feel that they are alone when contract time comes around. The companies certainly don't-they bring in $200-an-hour, union-busting law firms to handle negotiations and any resulting strikes. They determine which isolated union is to be next, and go after it like a pack of wolves. The Toledo Area Solidarity Committee's goal is to tell any union-busting corporations and their hired guns: take on any union in Toledo, and you take on all of us."

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"It is only together that we will survive."

detailed the gains of the civil rights movement and how they were won in

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