Labor union women blast U.S. war drive

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SOCIALIST ACTION DECEMBER 1986 5 like?

Halverson: The company took the position that once the strike was over anything and everything could be changed exactly as they wanted it. In other words, the contract that had taken us years to develop was thrown out the window. We contend that only those things which were on the table during negotiations should be allowed to change.

Since it was a union "closed shop," we contended that after the offer to return to work, the scabs should now all have to be union members and pay dues. The company wouldn't go along with this.

We had to take them to court. We won a ruling that all active flight attendants must pay their union dues. It was appealed and we won the appeal.

We feel a lot of other poor working conditions will eventually be tossed out by the courts, but it takes a long time. TWA's attitude is: "We do whatever we like while you have to take us to court and prove us ST. LOUIS-On the weekend of Nov. 89, over 1000 trade-union women assembled here for the sixth annual convention of CLUW (the Coalition of Labor Union Women).

A major theme expressed by the CLUW leadership, as well as many guest speakers, was the need to organize women into unions. Statistics show that unionized women earn 34 percent more than their non-union counterparts, while the differential among men is only 21 percent.

Delegates had the opportunity to hear from the striking TWA flight attendants, who have been out since March. Some 3000 still remain on [See interview above.] Twelve years after CLUW's founding, the organization displays a more enlightened posture on many social issues than the trade-union officialdom has demonstrated. A composite of peace resolutions submitted by several chapters throughout the country came to the floor with little debate and almost total support. One resolution calls for organized pressure on Congress and the Reagan administration to abide by the overwhelming public sentiment against military interference in Central America.

Another resolution states that CLUW supports putting pressure on Congress to oppose all military, economic, and political efforts to destabilize or overthrow the elected government of Nicaragua-or to attack the trade-union movement there in any way.

"We now have an opportunity to persuade our legislators to reconsider aid to the contras and support true humanitarian and economic assistance," the resolution states.

A third resolution on peace and disarmament calls for a ban on nuclear testing, including a ban on testing the Strategic Defense Initiative, which would spread nuclear weapons into outer space.

The CLUW convention also adopted resolutions on child care, for support to the Shell Oil boycott, against South African apartheid, for full amnesty for all immigrants in this country, for a shorter workweek, and against sexual harassment in the workplace.

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OAKLAND, Calif.—On Nov. 14, over 3000 people joined a rally here in support of striking workers in the 27 hospitals and clinics of the Kaiser Foundation in management's stress on productivity has