Caterpillar strike solidarity rally draws 20,000 in Peoria

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antees reproductive freedom, including the unfettered right to abortion.

Where we differ with the leaderships of the national pro-choice organizations (such as National Abortion Rights Action League, NOW, and others) is how to win that legislation.

These two giant marches represent the way forward for the pro-choice struggle. Pro-choice is the majority sentiment of the American people-and it must continually be mobilized through independent action.

The Democratic and Republican parties are not the vehicles for mobilizing this sentiment. On the contrary!

Most eligible voters don't even vote. Why not? Because they perceive that neither party offers any solutions to the problems we face.

Both parties represent big business. Both vote to fund the military while cutting the social services that people need education, healthcare, environmental protection, and children's services. Both parties vote to shift the tax burden onto the backs of working people and off the backs of the corporate rich.

Any efforts to work for or within either of the two capitalist political parties can only end up trading women's rights to (continued on page 19)

PEORIA, III.— "Union-busting won't play in Peoria," Jerry Brown, United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 974 told a crowd of 20,000 Caterpillar strikers and supporters who turned out here on March 22.

Workers from across the country descended on Peoria for the rally—from Caterpillar plants in Illinois, Colorado, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania, and from other UAW locals from Michigan to Missouri. A representative from the Caterpillar plant in South Africa also spoke at the rally.

The rally was a positive step in demonstrating union solidarity, as the strike/lockout of about 10,800 UAW members at the world's largest producer of earth-moving equipment stretched into its fifth month.

Last Nov. 4, the UAW started a selective strike at the East Peoria assembly plant and in Decatur, IIl., pulling out 2400 workers, to demand a pattern settlement along the lines of the modest agreement with John Deere. Union officials called for a partial strike to bring Caterpillar back to the bargaining table.

Caterpillar responded within three days by locking out another 5700 workers in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Tennessee. Its inflexible offer called for a series of 35 takeback demands. The most serious of these was a permanent two-tier wage proposal to reduce wages for new hires— and at parts plants in the Caterpillar system.

The company demanded that workers pay a $25 per month assessment for healthcare, drastic cuts in retirees' benefits, a pay freeze for the two lowest paid groups of workers, no cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), the elimination of premium pay for overtime-and concessions on other disputed issues, including holiday pay and contracting out, or outsourcing.

In exchange for these takebacks, Caterpillar offered an illusory job-security guarantee. Workers at GM and Chryslerthemselves facing massive layoffs—can testify just what such promises are worth.

Caterpillar's crocodile tears

Caterpillar has been on an aggressive propaganda campaign through newspaper ads and letters to employees to demand concessions to maintain a competitive edge in the international market. But Caterpillar, 39th on the list of the Fortune 500 companies, can hardly claim to be hurting.

The corporation made $11 billion in sales in 1990, $5.75 billion in overseas sales; $3.4 billion worth of machines built in U.S. plants were sold in other countries. Caterpillar made $210 million in profits in 1990.

While Caterpillar reported a loss in 1991, (continued on page 6)