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| Des Moines |
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| Erie, Pennsylvania |
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| Santa Ana, California |
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| La Crosse, Wisconsin |
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| Milwaukee |
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| Raleigh |
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| New Haven, Connecticut |
In 25 locations from coast to coast, UE members participated in “We Are One”, a massive wave of protest rallies on April 4 by labor and its supporters against the attacks on working people. The events were scheduled to coincide with the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who died in 1968 in Memphis fighting for the rights of workers – specifically public employees, specifically the Memphis sanitation workers who were on strike against low pay and lack of respect, and for the recognition of their rights and their dignity through a collective bargaining agreement.
UE played a prominent role in a big labor march in Pittsburgh, home of the union’s national office. Some 40 leaders of eight UE public sector locals were in town for a three-day conference on challenges facing public employee unions. Together with UE staff and officers, a delegation from Pittsburgh-area Local 610 at Wabtec, and even members from Erie Local 506, the UE contingent comprised some 60 people. Over 600 unionists rallied outside the downtown headquarters of Equitable Gas, a highly-profitable utility company and gas driller that has avoided paying its fair share of taxes. Speakers included Leo Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers, and John Wilhelm, president of UNITE HERE.
The crowd then marched to the building housing the Pittsburgh office of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican who is slashing funds for education while giving more tax cuts to corporations. There Angaza Laughinghouse, president of UE Local 150, presided over a “people’s tribunal” that shouted out unanimous “guilty” verdicts against Corbett, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Maine Gov. Paul LePage (who removed a labor mural from a state building and wants to bring back child labor) and Mexico’s union-busting President Calderon.
WISCONSIN: GROUND ZERO
The current national fight started in Wisconsin, and UE members in the Badger State were in the thick of the fightback on April 4. Members from UE Locals 1103, 1135 and 1172 participated in a Milwaukee rally at that city’s memorial to Martin Luther King. A group from Local 1107 in Necedah attended a big rally in Madison, to which Rev. Jesse Jackson brought two of the 1968 Memphis sanitation strikers. UE Local 1121 members in La Crosse turned out for a rally there, but they were also busy gathering signatures for the recall of Republican State Sen. Dan Kapanke. (This week Kapanke’s opponents went over the top with enough signatures to force a recall election in which voters can remove the anti-union La Crosse Republican.) UE also had a presence at a union rally in Kenosha.
UE locals across Wisconsin also turned out their members the following day -- April 5 -- for state election in which labor sought the ouster of Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, a Republican and ally of union-busting Gov. Scott Walker.
In Connecticut, members of Local 243 at Sargent and Local 222 Sub-local 71, representing city workers, joined Teamsters, Communications Workers and members of other unions in a rally on the New Haven Green. Addressing the rally, Local 243 President Ray Pompano blasted greedy corporations and banks who blame workers for the economic crisis. He called the attacks on public workers’ rights “a wake-up call to all of us.” The union members then marched on the office of Bank of America, which continues to foreclose on working-class homeowners after receiving a gigantic federal bailout, and last year paid zero in corporate taxes to Connecticut.
A few miles away, UE members in the public works department joined other municipal workers in a rally in Stamford, a wealthy city whose mayor is trying to wreck public employee pensions and healthcare. UE Northeast Region President Peter Knowlton said the city administration is taking advantage of right-wing political gains nationally to attack its own employees.
More than 300 people rallied in Raleigh, an event organized by the Labor, Faith and Civil Rights Coalition in Defense of the Public Sector, which UE helped initiate. Speakers included UE members Kerry Bigelow, a Chapel Hill sanitation worker; and Rebecca Hart, a healthcare technician at Central Regional Hospital. Elsewhere in North Carolina Al Locklear, a city sanitation worker and president of UE Local 150’s chapter in Charlottte, was among the speakers at the rally in that city. A rally in Chapel Hill was addressed by George James, a steward and housekeeper at University of North Carolina, and UE members also particpated in a rally in Greenville and a teach-in at East Carolina University.
UE Local 170 members who work in Disability Determinations Services in Clarksburg, West Virginia rallied outside the federal building where they work. They were joined by other Local 170 members from the Department of Health and Human Resources and from a Veterans Administration nursing home. A bigger “We Are One” rally is planned for Sunday, April 10 in Charleston.
In Joliet, Illinois, members of the UE-initiated Warehouse Workers for Justice organized a midday rally at the Will County Courthouse. Workers organizing against the rampant wage theft and denial of rights in the logistics industry were joined by church leaders, members of UE Local 1110, UE Western Region President Carl Rosen, and other labor activists and community supporters.
Two warehouse workers described how they’ve been abused by temporary labor agencies. Speakers from the clergy said such mistreatment and exploitation of workers is immoral, and invoked words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The demonstration took place the day before Joliet’s mayoral election, and candidates for mayor addressed the rally, pledging support for the struggle of Warehouse Workers for Justice. The event ended with the crowd singing labor’s anthem, “Solidarity Forever.”
Union members in Erie, Pennsylvania rallied in front of the headquarters of the daily newspaper, the Erie Times-News, which is shutting down its press and outsourcing the printing of the paper. This is costing the jobs of 40 members of the Communications Workers of America. UE was represented at the protest by members from Locals 506, 618, 683 and 684.
In Iowa UE Local 893 members were part of a big rally in Des Moines, and UE took part in labor rallies in Davenport, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Sioux City. UE locals in South Dakota joined other unionists to raise the labor banner in Sioux Falls. Southern California locals joined in a rally in Santa Ana in Orange County. Local 735 was represented at the “We Are One” rally in Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Local 796 in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
TAKING SOLIDARITY TO WORK
Local 506 President Roger Zaczyk reports that the Erie GE plant – a big manufacturing complex of several large factory buildings – was “a sea of red” on April 4, with workers wearing red T-shirts to work. At noon, workers on their lunch break stepped outside in a mass show of solidarity.
Other UE locals took similar actions. The Freudenberg plant in Necedah, Wisconsin was also filled with red shirts and UE buttons as Local 1107 members showed their sentiments. Loal 150 members work arm bands on the job across North Carolina. Local 1166 members wore stickers at APL, outside Chicago, and Local 106 members at Hess Oil in New Jersey posted union materials throughout the plant, and put union stickers on their hard hats. Local 155 members in the Philadephia area phoned their lawmakers from their workplaces; at Tinius Olsen members assembled to hear a reading of the UE national officers’ statement on the attacks on labor, and members at Stepan posted union protest signs in the workplace and in their cars. Out in California, UE Local 1008 members at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Center wore Workers' Rights stickers at work.
We Are One rallies are scheduled later in several locations, including Chicago on April 9 and Charleston, West Virginia on April 10. Check back here for updates.