Struggle enters sixth month Jay paperworkers build support for strike battle
1987George Kepler 1987-12Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 5 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 5
JAY, Maine-On Nov. 21, 4000 people participated in a rally here to support the paperworkers on strike against the International Paper Company (IP). The strike began on June 16 in response to IP's unjustified demands for concessions in overtime pay, plant shutdown times, and staffing schedules for paper machines.
The strike by Local 14, United Paperworkers International Union (UPIU), and Local 246 Boilermakers is no closer to a settlement than it was at the beginning. The strike continues to occupy the center of the fight to oppose the corporate attack on the unions in New England.
Locals 14 and 246 have consistently reached out for public and union support throughout upper New England. They have a committee which contacts unions and public organizations to set up speaking engagements.
A centerpiece of union strategy has been regular Wednesday night meetings. Every week since the strike began, a crowd of at least 1000 has gathered to listen to news of the strike, hear supporters speak, and sing labor-solidarity songs.
The union has also proved that they, not IP, are the recipients of public support. The town of Jay passed several resolutions designed to restrict IP's use of scabs. Unfortunately, these laws are still unenforced because the union has not forced the town to follow up.
Coordinated bargaining
Local 14 is one of four UPIU locals locked out or on strike against IP. DePere, Wisc.; Lock Haven, Pa.; and Mobile, Ala., mills are also out. But the Jay strikers have taken the lead in pressing for a coordinated bargaining strategy for IP, urging that all locals settle before any one does.
Leaders of Local 14 have been crisscrossing the country, imparting what they have learned in strike strategy and winning public support for other locals. In this they have played the role of coordinator for all the strikes.
The call for public rallies has played an important role in buoying the spirits of the strikers while showing the depth of the support they have gathered. A rally in Jay on Aug. 1 drew more than 8000, and a Labor Day March in September in Waterville, Maine, drew about 5000.
A massive publicity campaign by IP and its allies in the media-designed to intimidate and demoralize the strikers and their supporters—has failed to bring the union to accept the company's demands. Only a couple more union members have crossed the picket line in the last month. This makes only about 50 scabs from the By HAYDEN Largest labor demonstration Maine unions, out of 1250 union members.
However, the company's campaign has had an effect on supporters who are not close to the strike, and has dampened support activities throughout the state.
Scabs run the mill Nevertheless, the mill continues to operate with management personnel. Working in the plant are about 50 union scabs, about 250 scabs from B.E. & K. (an Alabama strike-breaking outfit) and, probably, about 250 scabs hired from all over the country.
Although the activities of Locals 14 and 246 have far surpassed any other strikesupport activities in the recent period in New England, they keep themselves at a disadvantage as long as they allow the mills to operate.
The failure of the unions to confront the SmIT history was organized by Paperworkers company at the point of production-that is, the operation of the mill itself-is the basic flaw in the Jay strike. In fact, the longer the strike goes on, the harder it is to raise the issue because much of the membership is demoralized and support is dispersed.
The union recently hired Ray Rogers, a key figure in the Hormel packinghouse workers' strike in Austin, Minn. But the "corporate campaign" that Rogers proposes will not compensate for the scabs working and the continued operation of IP's mills.
A mounting confrontation American business has shown, over the past decade, that they are willing to go to any lengths to confront and defeat the unions. The leadership of the union movement has not faced confrontations like Liz Green/Impact Visual:
on Aug. 1, 1987.
those of today for generations.
The union movement, however, has depended so long on the Democratic Party and the rule of the American legal system that they are unable to organize and mobilize to confront the corporations.
It is obvious, in strike after strike, that the membership believes in militant action—in doing whatever is necessary to win their battles. But time after time, union leaders counsel the workers to depend on lawyers and politicians instead of organizing themselves to confront the system that binds them.
It is clear that the courts and the politicians of both the Republican and Democratic parties are not on the side of the workers.' It is time for workers to organize themselves independently if they are going to successfully beat back the corporations.