Nothing Human Is Alien
4th January 2009, 03:04
Background:
Stella D’oro workers continue months long strike
More than 100 workers at the Stella D'oro cookie factory, in the Bronx borough of New York City in the United States, are continuing a strike that started more than four months ago.
The workers, members of Local 50 of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco workers and Grain Millers union (BCTGM), walked off the job on August 13, 2008, after the new owners of the factory walked away from the bargaining table.
The Stella D’oro Biscuit Company was acquired by Brynwood Partners in 2006. The company is known to buy up businesses, drive down costs, and then sell them off. One of its senior partners, Hendrik Hartong Jr., left the notorious union busting Pittston Coal Company in 1984 to found the company.
Brynwood is demanding that every worker take a $1 an hour pay cut every year for the next five. It is also demanding that workers give up on hard won gains like sick days, holidays, vacation time and overtime.
The company has already forced union truck drivers out of the plant and replaced them with “independent contractors.” It is currently operating the Bronx cookie plant at around half-capacity with scabs that it recently referred to in a letter to the union as “permanent replacement workers.”
http://revper.org/news.php?extend.10
* * * * *
PoWR perspective on the strike:
A strategy for victory at Stella D’oro
Sisters and brothers:
This is a message from the Party of World Revolution, an international organization which fights for worker control of production.
You have been on strike for over four months with little progress to speak of. At the very moment we draw up this statement, scabs are inside of the factory, doing your jobs. While your struggle is doubtless one that needs to be waged, and an inspiration to workers everywhere, it’s clear that changes in strategy must be made if you are to move forward.
It is for that reason that we are reaching out to you. We hope the following will help you in your battle against your bosses.
The problem with unions
The unions in this country were created out of militant struggles by the working class. But over the years, the militancy that gave birth to them has been beaten out of them. A combination of interference, anti-communist witch hunts and union busting has left the unions weak and in the hands of privileged bureaucrats who have more in common with your bosses than you. And this shows!
The bureaucrats at the tops of unions bind workers to the bosses and their representatives in government. They push the myth that you have interests in common with those who exploit you. The fact is you and your bosses share no common interests. The bosses want to get as much labor out of you as they can for as little as possible. You want to get what you deserve for your labor, as you should.
In this struggle, your hands are being tied by the very bureaucrats that claim to represent you.
You are corralled off to the side of the plant gate, under the watchful eye of the NYPD (whose presence makes scabbing possible), all with the union leadership’s approval. Your struggle is kept quiet. While the AFL-CIO was happy to give $1,138,368 away to rich politicians in the last election, it can’t come up with enough money to publicize your strike or keep you and your family financially stable today. Even in the December edition of your union’s newsletter “BCTGM Report,” your strike only received two sentences of coverage. Several supporters who came to your last rally said they had no idea you were even on strike!
It is you, the workers who are on strike, who must wage it, independently of those who are limiting your ability to do so.
A city-wide boycott
Nearly every grocery store in this city is unionized. A boycott of all Stella D’oro products should be launched for the duration of your strike. You should make a list of grocery stores in the city then divide them up amongst yourselves. Each worker can visit several stores directly, to appeal to the workers there to refuse to handle any Stella D’oro products. In return, you can promise to back any struggles of theirs which may come up in the future.
You should also reach out to any and all workers who bring materials into the plant or take finished products away. Do whatever you need to do to convince them not to carry anything to or from the plant.
Leafleting and informational picketing should also be done outside the biggest grocery stores, as well as those in working class neighborhoods. This can boost the visibility and effectiveness of a boycott, and pressure the stores into dropping Stella D’oro products.
Outreach
You should elect groups from amongst yourselves to go to the meetings of every other union in the city and appeal to the rank-and-file for support.
Plan a real mass rally. Reach out to every union and pro-labor organization in the tri-state area for support. Show the bosses where your fellow workers stand.
Your strike and the boycott should be widely publicized. Fight to get your union to shell out the necessary funds to place high profile ads in publications. Demand it! Your dues are what makes the union go!
Shouting doesn’t stop production
Every day you are forced to witness scabs crossing your picket line and entering the plant. They are doing your jobs and keeping the plant running. The bosses and their government have laws and enforcers in place that keep you off to the side, unable to prevent the scabs from entering and exiting. Your only recourse is to shout at them as you watch them come and go. But your shouts don’t stop them.
Your power as workers lies in your position in the process of production. A strike is powerful because by withdrawing your labor, you bring production to a halt. The bosses can’t make a profit when their plants are shut down.
But when scabs freely cross your picket line, the power of your strike is seriously undercut. Scabbing must be prevented if you are to win.
Your livelihood is at stake. You must do what you have to do to win!
You should reach out to all workers in the city, union and non-union alike, and call for mass picketing in front of the plant. Workers are fed up with being kicked around and many are awakening. Well publicized calls for mass picketing have the possibility of bringing a large number of your fellow workers to your aid.
Take care of yourselves
You must keep your collective well being in mind. Don’t let any of your members fall into dire straits.
Work together as a group to solve individual problems.
We stand in solidarity
We in the Party stand in unfaltering solidarity with you in your struggle. We are more than willing to mobilize our members, supporters and allies for your cause.
We propose that a public meeting be held to discuss your struggle. Such a meeting, held under the title “Workers Are Fighting Back,” could draw in a number of workers from around the city. The meeting could consist of conversations on your strike as well as the recent occupation of the Republic Windows factory in Chicago and the current wave of strikes in Italy. You all could elect one or two workers from your own ranks to give a talk about your fight, and a hat could be passed around to collect donations. We would cover all expenses and hand any donations that come of the event directly to you, the rank-and-file workers.
We are also more than willing to help you publicize any boycott efforts or carry out other required work.
As well, our websites and publications are open to you. We welcome your comments, letters, articles, etc., and we would be glad to interview any of you either in print or on video.
If you are interested in our assistance or want to discuss any of this, please do not hesitate to contact us.
http://revper.org/news.php?extend.12
* * * * *
Donate to help the workers out:
Appeal for assistance to striking workers
NEW YORK—Workers at the Stella D’oro baking factory here in the Bronx have been on strike for over four months.
The strike, which began in August, was forced upon the workers by the plant owners’ attempts to slash their wages by as much as $4.74 an hour, impose crushing healthcare premiums, and eliminate holidays, vacations and paid sick days.
A large portion of the workforce is made up of mothers and grandmothers who rely on their jobs to support their children and grand children. All of the workers rely on their jobs at Stella D’oro as their primary source of income.
Urgent assistance is required to aid these workers while they remain on strike.
Make a donation here (http://intredaid.org/122008.html)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
International Red Aid / Socorro Rojo Internacional (IRA/SRI) is an independent, non-profit social-service organization which aims to alleviate the suffering of working people and all oppressed people around the world.
Stella D’oro workers continue months long strike
More than 100 workers at the Stella D'oro cookie factory, in the Bronx borough of New York City in the United States, are continuing a strike that started more than four months ago.
The workers, members of Local 50 of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco workers and Grain Millers union (BCTGM), walked off the job on August 13, 2008, after the new owners of the factory walked away from the bargaining table.
The Stella D’oro Biscuit Company was acquired by Brynwood Partners in 2006. The company is known to buy up businesses, drive down costs, and then sell them off. One of its senior partners, Hendrik Hartong Jr., left the notorious union busting Pittston Coal Company in 1984 to found the company.
Brynwood is demanding that every worker take a $1 an hour pay cut every year for the next five. It is also demanding that workers give up on hard won gains like sick days, holidays, vacation time and overtime.
The company has already forced union truck drivers out of the plant and replaced them with “independent contractors.” It is currently operating the Bronx cookie plant at around half-capacity with scabs that it recently referred to in a letter to the union as “permanent replacement workers.”
http://revper.org/news.php?extend.10
* * * * *
PoWR perspective on the strike:
A strategy for victory at Stella D’oro
Sisters and brothers:
This is a message from the Party of World Revolution, an international organization which fights for worker control of production.
You have been on strike for over four months with little progress to speak of. At the very moment we draw up this statement, scabs are inside of the factory, doing your jobs. While your struggle is doubtless one that needs to be waged, and an inspiration to workers everywhere, it’s clear that changes in strategy must be made if you are to move forward.
It is for that reason that we are reaching out to you. We hope the following will help you in your battle against your bosses.
The problem with unions
The unions in this country were created out of militant struggles by the working class. But over the years, the militancy that gave birth to them has been beaten out of them. A combination of interference, anti-communist witch hunts and union busting has left the unions weak and in the hands of privileged bureaucrats who have more in common with your bosses than you. And this shows!
The bureaucrats at the tops of unions bind workers to the bosses and their representatives in government. They push the myth that you have interests in common with those who exploit you. The fact is you and your bosses share no common interests. The bosses want to get as much labor out of you as they can for as little as possible. You want to get what you deserve for your labor, as you should.
In this struggle, your hands are being tied by the very bureaucrats that claim to represent you.
You are corralled off to the side of the plant gate, under the watchful eye of the NYPD (whose presence makes scabbing possible), all with the union leadership’s approval. Your struggle is kept quiet. While the AFL-CIO was happy to give $1,138,368 away to rich politicians in the last election, it can’t come up with enough money to publicize your strike or keep you and your family financially stable today. Even in the December edition of your union’s newsletter “BCTGM Report,” your strike only received two sentences of coverage. Several supporters who came to your last rally said they had no idea you were even on strike!
It is you, the workers who are on strike, who must wage it, independently of those who are limiting your ability to do so.
A city-wide boycott
Nearly every grocery store in this city is unionized. A boycott of all Stella D’oro products should be launched for the duration of your strike. You should make a list of grocery stores in the city then divide them up amongst yourselves. Each worker can visit several stores directly, to appeal to the workers there to refuse to handle any Stella D’oro products. In return, you can promise to back any struggles of theirs which may come up in the future.
You should also reach out to any and all workers who bring materials into the plant or take finished products away. Do whatever you need to do to convince them not to carry anything to or from the plant.
Leafleting and informational picketing should also be done outside the biggest grocery stores, as well as those in working class neighborhoods. This can boost the visibility and effectiveness of a boycott, and pressure the stores into dropping Stella D’oro products.
Outreach
You should elect groups from amongst yourselves to go to the meetings of every other union in the city and appeal to the rank-and-file for support.
Plan a real mass rally. Reach out to every union and pro-labor organization in the tri-state area for support. Show the bosses where your fellow workers stand.
Your strike and the boycott should be widely publicized. Fight to get your union to shell out the necessary funds to place high profile ads in publications. Demand it! Your dues are what makes the union go!
Shouting doesn’t stop production
Every day you are forced to witness scabs crossing your picket line and entering the plant. They are doing your jobs and keeping the plant running. The bosses and their government have laws and enforcers in place that keep you off to the side, unable to prevent the scabs from entering and exiting. Your only recourse is to shout at them as you watch them come and go. But your shouts don’t stop them.
Your power as workers lies in your position in the process of production. A strike is powerful because by withdrawing your labor, you bring production to a halt. The bosses can’t make a profit when their plants are shut down.
But when scabs freely cross your picket line, the power of your strike is seriously undercut. Scabbing must be prevented if you are to win.
Your livelihood is at stake. You must do what you have to do to win!
You should reach out to all workers in the city, union and non-union alike, and call for mass picketing in front of the plant. Workers are fed up with being kicked around and many are awakening. Well publicized calls for mass picketing have the possibility of bringing a large number of your fellow workers to your aid.
Take care of yourselves
You must keep your collective well being in mind. Don’t let any of your members fall into dire straits.
Work together as a group to solve individual problems.
We stand in solidarity
We in the Party stand in unfaltering solidarity with you in your struggle. We are more than willing to mobilize our members, supporters and allies for your cause.
We propose that a public meeting be held to discuss your struggle. Such a meeting, held under the title “Workers Are Fighting Back,” could draw in a number of workers from around the city. The meeting could consist of conversations on your strike as well as the recent occupation of the Republic Windows factory in Chicago and the current wave of strikes in Italy. You all could elect one or two workers from your own ranks to give a talk about your fight, and a hat could be passed around to collect donations. We would cover all expenses and hand any donations that come of the event directly to you, the rank-and-file workers.
We are also more than willing to help you publicize any boycott efforts or carry out other required work.
As well, our websites and publications are open to you. We welcome your comments, letters, articles, etc., and we would be glad to interview any of you either in print or on video.
If you are interested in our assistance or want to discuss any of this, please do not hesitate to contact us.
http://revper.org/news.php?extend.12
* * * * *
Donate to help the workers out:
Appeal for assistance to striking workers
NEW YORK—Workers at the Stella D’oro baking factory here in the Bronx have been on strike for over four months.
The strike, which began in August, was forced upon the workers by the plant owners’ attempts to slash their wages by as much as $4.74 an hour, impose crushing healthcare premiums, and eliminate holidays, vacations and paid sick days.
A large portion of the workforce is made up of mothers and grandmothers who rely on their jobs to support their children and grand children. All of the workers rely on their jobs at Stella D’oro as their primary source of income.
Urgent assistance is required to aid these workers while they remain on strike.
Make a donation here (http://intredaid.org/122008.html)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
International Red Aid / Socorro Rojo Internacional (IRA/SRI) is an independent, non-profit social-service organization which aims to alleviate the suffering of working people and all oppressed people around the world.