Drywall workers uphold fight for jobs with dignity

Scan page 19

On June 1, over 4000 drywall workers in Southern California went on strike.

These workers, who are mainly immigrants from Mexico, install boards into home building frames at five cents a square foot. This is down from nine cents a decade ago.

The following interview was given to Socialist Action reporter David Cooper by Sixto España, a member of the Drywall Workers Strike Committee.

Socialist Action: What demands are you raising in this strike?

Sixto España: The main thing right now is to raise the price of labor, medical insurance, vacation pay, and retirement.

SA: What caused this labor dispute? SE: We started this strike because the companies started to cut the wages they pay us, and we have no insurance-we have no benefits at all.

SA: What was the wage 10 years ago? SE: About 10 years ago, we were making 7 1/2 cents a square foot.

SA: I understood it went up to about 9 cents.

Yes, but we didn't sign a contract with the companies.

Catholicism Dear editors, Being a socialist (non-communist) means sharing, communicating, being tolerant—not dogmatic and controlling. American socialists today are being short-sighted and opportunistic. This is something new. The socialist party is Catholic bashing. Catholics, Jews, and Blacks have suffered enough in this country (e.g., the KKK). We do not need to go through that again in another form.

For 100 years, the Catholic Church has fought for civil, human, and economic rights. Capitalists will never forgive or forget the U.S bishops' pastoral letter on the U.S. economy or the Pope's letters "On Human Work," "Social Concerns of the Church," etc. During the civil rights movement (with Dr. King) priests, bishops, and nuns marched for justice and peace.

But read the March 1992 issue of Socialist Action, and you see nothing but negative reporting Socialist Action has SA: You weren't unionized at that time, right?

SE: We joined the union because the company was supposed to join the union, too. But they didn't join.

SA: When you approached the employers-or the Drydock Employers Association did they make any attempt to negotiate with you?

SE: The first time, no, they did not want to negotiate with us. They just said we could work without the union. But they were wrong. They found out there was no labor to do the jobs, to finish the jobs.

SA: Are they negotiating at the present time?

SE: Right now, one of the biggest companies in California is in negotiations with us. But the trick is, they want to pay us just about the same wages we were making before the strike. It's not that much different-just one cent.

SA: And where are the negotiations now?

SE: The negotiations, let's say, are in better condition than before. I mean, they want to make an agreement with us.

SA: Do you think they are being forced to negotiate with you because there's been such solidarity of the workers?' SE: Yes, that's right. They have to. We have forced them to do it because most of us are on strike, and they need to finish the jobs-the old contracts.

SA : At the present time, is there a lot of solidarity among the drywall workers?

SE: One hundred percent of the group are positive, and we are sure that we can make it.

SA: Who's doing the work now?

SE: Strikebreakers. Scabs.

SA: In your experience, how are the employers using the courts and the police?

SE: Well, they are using the police against us because, let's say, they don't protect you-plus they try to keep strikers far away from the jobs.

SA: In other words, they're protecting the employers?

SE: Yes.

SA: How about the courts? Have they issued injunctions?

SE: Yes. That's because people are trying to talk to the people who are working to stop and join us. When you are hungry, when you lose your control, then you start to do wrong things. That's what everybody does everywhere in the world.

SA: But I see that the court injunctions haven't discouraged the drywall workers at all because you go right back out to direct actions on the job sites. Would you describe the situation where they arrested 149? I understand they were going to arrest six, and the others said, "You have to arrest us too!"

SE: Well, the main thing about the arrest of the 149 people—it was just to threaten us, to make our organization dissolve. They thought that 100 percent of us were "illegal aliens," so that's why they arrested us. They made up charges that don't exist.

SA: Previous to the strike, did the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) bother immigrants from Mexico among the drywall workers?

SE: They used to do that all the time. But now they're doing it to us to try and break the strike.

SA: It isn't having much effect, is it?

SE: Not really, because all of us will stay together, and as far as I know, no one has gone back to Mexico.

SA: Will the building labor unions take you in as union members?

SE: Well yes, sure, they want to. We're waiting for all the companies to sign a contract with the union. Then we'll join a union, too. Right now we are non-union.

SA: Who is helping you now?

SE: We have support from many unions in the United States, Canada, and part of Mexico.