NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #19/NN_1992_19.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/6052

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Via The NY Transfer News Service ^ All the News that Doesn't Fit

                        Labor NEWSBriefs
                         August 19, 1992

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if
source is cited.)


San Diego drywall workers strike

An Aug. 14 mass picket line at Great Western Drywall in San Diego
demonstrated wide support for some 4,000 workers on strike against
racist discrimination, mistreatment, harassment and exploitation.

There are thousands of Latino drywall workers in southern
California, many of them undocumented immigrants from Central
America. Over the last decade building contractors have used
threats of exposure and deportation to impose wage and benefit
cuts. The workers are expected to survive on slave wages and
without any benefits.

Instead, they've organized, and they're fighting back.

For six years they tried to get justice by filing complaints with
the state labor department and National Labor Relations Board.
Finally, the organizing group Justice for Drywallers called a
strike. The walkout began June 1.

The next week 500 drywall workers marched through downtown San
Diego. Since then, the strike has become, if anything, more
militant. Strikers have both picketed and occupied construction
sites and drywall company offices. Although police have attacked
several strike rallies, arresting and brutalizing strikers, the
rallies continue. And they're drawing more and more community
support.

The Justice for Drywallers Support Committee is endorsed by a range
of groups including the Interfaith Task Force on Central America,
U.S.-Cuba Friendship Society, CISPES, Hermandad Mexicana Nacional,
Union de Lucha del Pueblo, Casa Nicaraguense de Espanol, and Peace
and Freedom Party. The Committee asks that those who want to
express solidarity or make a donation call [phone] or write
P.O. Box 232713, Encinitas, Calif. 92023 c/o Antonio
Hernandez/Drywallers' Fund.


Pittsburgh strike hits three-month mark

After three months on the picket lines, striking delivery drivers
at Pittsburgh's two daily newspapers remain strong -- especially
since they won another round against the press barons.

After the Teamsters and other unionists squashed the newspapers'
attempt to use strikebreakers, the bosses went to court to try for
a court order okaying scabs. The E.W. Scripps Co., which publishes
the Pittsburgh Press, argued that its interests -- profits -- would be
irreparably harmed if the picket lines remain unbreached. On Aug.
15, a federal judge refused the newspapers' request he suspend the
Pennsylvania law that bars hiring "replacement workers" to break a
strike. Unionists, who had threatened to shut down Pittsburgh if
the papers tried to run with scabs, said the judge is a wise
fellow.

So the strike goes on. The bosses have trimmed the number of
drivers' jobs they want to cut, but their demands are still
unacceptable. A bargaining session with a federal mediator was
scheduled for Aug. 18.


Settlement at U.S. West, none at Bell Atlantic

Two unions representing 37,000 telephone workers in 14 western
states reached a tentative contract settlement with U.S. West Aug.
16, a day after the old contract expired. Spokespeople for the
Communications Workers and Electrical Workers said the agreement
features a 12 percent wage raise over three years, a 13 percent to
15 percent pension increase, and no cuts in retirees' health
benefits. The company, however, won language weakening workers'
control over work rules and scheduling. A mail ratification vote
will be conducted over the next two to three weeks.

But as of Aug. 18 there was still no settlement at Bell Atlantic,
although 52,000 workers remained on the job after the midnight
strike deadline passed. The old contract expired Aug. 8, and union
representatives told reporters no settlement appeared imminent.
Bell Atlantic workers provide telephone service to 18 million
customers in Eastern Seabord states from New Jersey to Virginia.


Chinese workers demand N.Y. construction jobs

Trade unionists and other supporters joined Chinese workers at an
Aug. 12 rally in New York to demand an end to racist discrimination
in hiring in the construction industry. The protest was called by
the Campaign for Justice at Foley Square.

It focused on two federal government construction projects under
way on the edge of the downtown Chinese community. Organizers have
been fighting for two years, since planning for the projects first
began, to demand jobs for Chinese workers. "Today," according to a
leaflet issued by the Campaign, "the number of Chinese construction
workers hired is less than 1 percent of the total."

The campaign demands an end to the racist hiring practices that
shunt Chinese workers into low-paying jobs, mostly in the
restaurant and garment industries. "We will not wait for the
government to grant this to us," the statement asserts. "We will
take the initiative to fight for this. ...

"We must let the federal and city governments know that Chinese are
not second-class citizens. Breaking into the construction industry
is just the beginning. We demand equal access to all industries in
New York City.

"1992 marks the 110th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act. We
must combat the new forms of Chinese exclusion. ... Let's come
together to fight for fair access to jobs and contracts. Let's turn
a new leaf in the history of the civil rights movement."


Farm workers get sinks

On Aug. 13 the federal government finally issued a set of rules to
protect the country's 2.5 million farm workers from exposure to
pesticides. Union leaders say the new regulations, which came after
a years-long struggle spearheaded by the United Farm Workers, are
a partial victory. They require field owners to train workers in
how to handle hazardous substances, and to post Spanish and English
warnings about risks. They must also provide protective equipment
like gloves or goggles. And, for the first time the bosses must
actually provide water for farm workers to wash the pesticides off
their hands.

Agribusiness fought hard against any rules, arguing the expense of
providing for farm workers' safety would cut into profits too much.
But the UFW's campaign revealed that farm workers and their
children suffer horrible health problems as a result of unlimited
pesticide exposure in the fields. Government figures estimate
10,000 to 20,000 pesticide-related illnesses and injuries a year,
but the union says the figure is far higher.

The rules will not go into full effect for two years. Farm workers
and their advocates called the delay, along with the weak language,
disappointing. And the agricbusiness lords are still not required
to provide toilets or drinking water.

 -- Shelley Ettinger

                                  -30-

For more info contact Workers World,46 W. 21 St. New York, NY 10010
"[e-mail]"

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