Communist
2nd March 2010, 03:36
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5,500 Protest: Community, Labor Unite with IUE-CWA at Whirlpool Rally (http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/02/28/community-labor-unite-with-iue-cwa-at-whirlpool-rally/)
By James Parks
AFL-CIO Blog
February 28, 2010
When more than 5,500 workers and community and
religious activists from at least six states
converged in front of the Whirlpool plant in
Evansville, Ind., members of IUE-CWA led the way to
deliver the message to "Keep It Made in America."
Local 808 President Darrell Collins said:
We have had small rallies before and Whirlpool ignored
us! They will not ignore us today! This is just the
beginning of something big. We will carry this fight on
till it changes. There is no limit to what we can
accomplish as long as we work together.
One of the Whirlpool workers who stands to lose her job
is Natalie Ford. A member of Local 808, Ford told the
rally:
This doesn't just affect us, it affects everyone in our
families..This is the only life we've known-now it's
gone. The questions run through my mind: Am I going to
lose everything I've worked my entire life for? I try
to be strong for my family, but deep down I'm scared to
death, not knowing what the future holds for us.
Speaking amid an increasing crescendo of cheers and
applause, Communications Workers of America
Vice President Seth Rosen told the energized crowd that
although some people "blame us for what they call
`legacy costs': union wages, health care, pension for
retirees":
There is a legacy from those things. You know what that
legacy is? Every firehouse in Evansville, Ind., is a
legacy of the tax dollars of union workers making a
middle-class wage. Every school house is a legacy of
the people who work in this plant.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, along with 40 people,
including children and grandchildren of workers, clergy
and retirees, used a Whirlpool refrigerator to wheel
petitions with 70,000 signatures to the plant's locked
front gate. At the same time, as coordinated with the
Michigan AFL-CIO, the Machinists delivered more than
40,000 signatures on petitions to the Whirlpool
headquarters in Michigan. The petitions urged Whirlpool
executives to reconsider their decision to shutter the
Evansville plant, laying off 1,100 people and moving
jobs to Mexico. Union members also made more than 1,700
phone calls in one day to Whirlpool headquarters in
Benton Harbor, Mich., and the Evansville offices with
the same message. IUE-CWA Local 808 represents 900
of the 1,100 workers.
The fight for jobs at Whirlpool is part of the union
movement's nationwide jobs campaign. The AFL-CIO is
calling on Congress and the Obama administration to
take five steps now to care for jobless workers and
put America back to work.
Recognizing the broad spectrum of unions who traveled
to Evansville to support the workers at Whirlpool,
including workers from the General Electric plant in
Louisville, Ky., IUE-CWA President Jim Clark said:
We've had some bad weather, and in this weather here
for union people to come from all the different states
on a Friday evening, that means they're ready to fight
and they're ready to fight for you.
Tom Vinnedge, a local restaurant owner, said:
More unemployed neighbors means less customers who can
afford to enjoy a meal out, plain and simple. It's just
madness that Whirlpool is abandoning our community like
this, and nobody has the courage to stand up to them
and other greedy corporations and say it's got to stop.
The Rev. Phil Hoy, a longtime local minister and former
state legislator, said the workers and the region
deserve better:
I am appalled by Whirlpool's disregard for the
community that has done so much for them throughout the
years and by the apathy and disdain that many
politicians show toward our nation's working families.
We deserve better.
As Trumka said:
American workers should not be reduced to stocking
shelves down at Wal-Mart with stuff made in Mexico and
China. We don't have to accept second class status for
America. We can lead the world economy again if the
leaders we elect step up and insist that we invest in
America again.
You can check out photos from the rally here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/labor2008/
including speakers such as Rosen, Clark, Collins and Hoy.
_____________________________________________
5,500 Protest: Community, Labor Unite with IUE-CWA at Whirlpool Rally (http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/02/28/community-labor-unite-with-iue-cwa-at-whirlpool-rally/)
By James Parks
AFL-CIO Blog
February 28, 2010
When more than 5,500 workers and community and
religious activists from at least six states
converged in front of the Whirlpool plant in
Evansville, Ind., members of IUE-CWA led the way to
deliver the message to "Keep It Made in America."
Local 808 President Darrell Collins said:
We have had small rallies before and Whirlpool ignored
us! They will not ignore us today! This is just the
beginning of something big. We will carry this fight on
till it changes. There is no limit to what we can
accomplish as long as we work together.
One of the Whirlpool workers who stands to lose her job
is Natalie Ford. A member of Local 808, Ford told the
rally:
This doesn't just affect us, it affects everyone in our
families..This is the only life we've known-now it's
gone. The questions run through my mind: Am I going to
lose everything I've worked my entire life for? I try
to be strong for my family, but deep down I'm scared to
death, not knowing what the future holds for us.
Speaking amid an increasing crescendo of cheers and
applause, Communications Workers of America
Vice President Seth Rosen told the energized crowd that
although some people "blame us for what they call
`legacy costs': union wages, health care, pension for
retirees":
There is a legacy from those things. You know what that
legacy is? Every firehouse in Evansville, Ind., is a
legacy of the tax dollars of union workers making a
middle-class wage. Every school house is a legacy of
the people who work in this plant.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, along with 40 people,
including children and grandchildren of workers, clergy
and retirees, used a Whirlpool refrigerator to wheel
petitions with 70,000 signatures to the plant's locked
front gate. At the same time, as coordinated with the
Michigan AFL-CIO, the Machinists delivered more than
40,000 signatures on petitions to the Whirlpool
headquarters in Michigan. The petitions urged Whirlpool
executives to reconsider their decision to shutter the
Evansville plant, laying off 1,100 people and moving
jobs to Mexico. Union members also made more than 1,700
phone calls in one day to Whirlpool headquarters in
Benton Harbor, Mich., and the Evansville offices with
the same message. IUE-CWA Local 808 represents 900
of the 1,100 workers.
The fight for jobs at Whirlpool is part of the union
movement's nationwide jobs campaign. The AFL-CIO is
calling on Congress and the Obama administration to
take five steps now to care for jobless workers and
put America back to work.
Recognizing the broad spectrum of unions who traveled
to Evansville to support the workers at Whirlpool,
including workers from the General Electric plant in
Louisville, Ky., IUE-CWA President Jim Clark said:
We've had some bad weather, and in this weather here
for union people to come from all the different states
on a Friday evening, that means they're ready to fight
and they're ready to fight for you.
Tom Vinnedge, a local restaurant owner, said:
More unemployed neighbors means less customers who can
afford to enjoy a meal out, plain and simple. It's just
madness that Whirlpool is abandoning our community like
this, and nobody has the courage to stand up to them
and other greedy corporations and say it's got to stop.
The Rev. Phil Hoy, a longtime local minister and former
state legislator, said the workers and the region
deserve better:
I am appalled by Whirlpool's disregard for the
community that has done so much for them throughout the
years and by the apathy and disdain that many
politicians show toward our nation's working families.
We deserve better.
As Trumka said:
American workers should not be reduced to stocking
shelves down at Wal-Mart with stuff made in Mexico and
China. We don't have to accept second class status for
America. We can lead the world economy again if the
leaders we elect step up and insist that we invest in
America again.
You can check out photos from the rally here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/labor2008/
including speakers such as Rosen, Clark, Collins and Hoy.
_____________________________________________