L.A. rally backs Texaco strikers

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LOS ANGELES-An umbrella organization of trade unionists in the Los Angeles area, the Labor Alliance Against Concessions, organized a rally and picket in Long Beach on June 9 in solidarity with the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers (OCAW) Local 1-128, which is on strike here against Texaco. Some 250 trade unionists came out to participate in the Alliance's first public action.

The theme of the rally, held in a public park not far from the Texaco plant, was captured in the name of the Alliance's first newsletter, "Solidarity." One after another, the speakers-many of them unionists on strike-recalled the spirit of solidarity of the early trade union movement and the fighting unity of workers in the great labor battles of the 1930s and 40s.

The rally was chaired by Marc Rich, a locomotive engineer from United Transportation Union Local 1674 and one of the main organizers of the Alliance. Rich explained that the union movement needed "to stand together to build the kind of solidarity that, on the first day of a strike, could help the workers in their battle with the company." He said the experience in the Los Angeles area led the Alliance to believe that "more and more workers are aware of the need for solidarity."

Chuck Sheehan, a leader of PATCO, (renamed DEPATCO since it was decertified) decried the government blacklisting of all the striking controllers, who are now unable to get any job with a government contract. Pointing out President Reagan's hypocritical support of the Polish workers, Sheehan reminded the crowd that "the day Ronald Reagan decertified PATCO was the same day he pledged support to Polish Solidarity!"

Striking Continental pilot, Moffet Tinsley, pointed out that the airline companies are thrilled with what is happening in the airline industry, and that the "banks love it because now they've got Continental workers paying for the planes."

Acknowledging that his has been one the most privileged sectors of the CAL labor movement, Tinsley said: "Labor needs solidarity today more than anytime in our history. We've become too fat by ourselves. Continental pilots learned that lesson, and we're learning how to be union every day."

Jack Foley, district director of OCAW and vice president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor told the rally that Texaco spent $10 billion in its recent merger with Getty Oil, just at the time it said it had no money for Texaco workers. He reported that a Chevron-Gulf merger was also in the offing.

Increasing militancy of women Of the 11 speakers, five were women trade unionists. This aspect of the rally reflected the rising participation of women in the labor force and the increasing militancy of women in the face of the employers' offensive.

Janice McConnell is president of the Lynwood Teachers Association. Her union had just won a strike against the Lynwood School Board with the help of area labor, students, and parents. She credited the teachers' victory to that support, and the support of many of the same unionists who now are organized into the Labor Alliance Against Concessions.

Luisa Gratz, president of the International Longshoreman's Union, Local 26, told the crowd: "We are the majority. We have the power to pull the plug. We are the ones who built this country. What difference does it make if we fly an airplane or make shoes? We are the people who make this country run."

Warning that 'if Mondale is elected, it won't change anything; he's not a knight on a white horse, Gratz urged unions to organize a demonstration of 100,000 working people in Southern California to make a statement about labor's power.

Vicky Correa, a Latina striking garment worker at Davis Pleating, addressed the rally in Spanish. Through a translator she told the rally that the workers at her union have been on strike for 10 months, "confronting an owner who has no heart for workers who have worked for him for 20 or 25 years." Despite the protracted struggle, she said the workers "will never go back without a contract."

Lucia Morales, representing the Striking Copper Workers Tour Committee, deplored the plight of the copper miners who are up against giant PhelpsDodge. "We copper miners say, 'Si se puede!' " she said, "just like the victorious farmworkers.

Tony Carpenter, striking Continental flight attendant, also pledged her union's continued solidarity with the Texaco workers.

"Get the Alliance going"

Bob Berghoff, UAW president of the McDonnell Douglas Local 148, told the crowd that it was the work of the people in the Labor Alliance Against Concessions that had helped build a rally of several thousand in support of his local when they were on strike.

"We only got together [in the Labor Alliance] after we got burned. We want to get the Alliance going so that three years from now we'll be a powerhouse," Berghoff said, urging the audience to get involved.

The formation of the Labor Alliance was well covered by the news media. A well-attended news conference had preceded the rally by a few days. And on the night of the rally, Channel I1 News did a major piece, complete with footage of the PATCO, Continental, and McDonnell Douglas strikes and the demonstrations organized to defend those unions. Echoing the tone of the rally, the segment concluded with the statement, "This is just the beginning."

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«We have the power to pull the plug."