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Work in factories, fields, ports
at a stand-still
By Andrew Pollack / May 2006 issue of Socialist Action
newspaper
Several hundred protesters in Tijuana, Mexico, closed
the world's busiest border crossing, which leads to San Diego. Border
crossings at Tecate in California and Brownsville, McAllen, Laredo and
Hidalgo in Texas were also temporarily closed.
The combined southern California ports of Los Angeles
and Long Beach, which handle more goods than any other in the country, were
largely shut down by trucker strikes. Demonstrating truckers parked their
rigs to block roads leading into the port.
Even though it was harvest time, fields in California
and Arizona, which contribute more than half the nation's produce, were
largely empty. Almost all of the 60,000 farmworkers in Monterey, Calif.,
and surrounding counties were absent. About half of Florida’s farm
workers struck, according to the Florida Fruit and
Vegetable Association.
Industry analysts estimated that less than half the
normal number of cattle and hogs for a Monday were slaughtered. The world's
largest meatpacker, Tyson Foods, closed about a dozen of its plants and saw
"higher-than-usual absenteeism" at others. Bosses at Cargill were
forced to give 15,000 workers in several states the day off, and Perdue
Farms, the nation's third-largest chicken producer, closed eight plants.
Other manufacturers closing included Atlanta’s Mohawk
Industries, a major manufacturer of carpets and flooring. Factories and
warehouses in the garment district in L.A. were nearly deserted, including
the largest garment factory in the country, American Apparel, which employs
3000. In downtown L.A. about one in three small businesses closed, and the
wholesale produce markets supplying city restaurants and supermarkets were
virtually empty.
Hundreds of stores along largely-Latino Mission Street
in San Francisco were closed. Heavy retail closure rates were also seen in
Latino neighborhoods on Long Island, in all boroughs of New York City, and
in Chicago. In Camden, N.J., almost all independent grocery stores, mostly
Dominican-owned, were closed.
McDonald's shut some of its outlets and reduced
operating hours or tried to operate short-staffed at others. Also shut down
were 29 branches of the Chipotle Mexican Grill chain.
Goya Foods suspended delivery everywhere except Florida.
The Malone's Cost-Plus chain, which owns over 800 restaurants and nine
Dallas supermarkets, closed down.
The Associated General Contractors of Greater Florida
said more than half the workers at Miami-Dade sites did not show up. The
vast majority of day laborers on Long Island—who have faced repeated
harassment from the fascist Minutemen—stayed away from sites where they
gather to find work. According to the American Nursery and Landscape
Association, 90% of workers in the landscaping industry took off.
Despite demands by casino owners in Las Vegas that
workers show up on May 1 (which UNITE-HERE Local 226 failed to oppose),
tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered on the Strip during mid-day.
Scattered reports appeared of firings of workers who had
walked out during the March or April protests. But here repression was met
with resistance. Workers at Excel meatpacking in Dodge City walked off the
job after several workers were disciplined. After they marched into the
company cafeteria and announced they wouldn't return to work, management
backed down.
In Chicago and Wisconsin hundreds of workers won
reinstatement after protests. The most publicized case was that of 15
Mexican immigrant women fired from their meat-cutting jobs at Wolverine
Packing in Detroit. After protests, some were rehired with back pay, but
others hated the working conditions so much they turned down the offer.
Other firings included 10 restaurant workers in Bonita
Springs, 22 welders in Tyler, Texas, employees of an asbestos removal firm
in Indianapolis, a restaurant in Milwaukee, and a factory in Bellwood, Ill.
Activists building the boycott argued that a coordinated defense campaign
for such workers needed to be launched.
One component of such a campaign appeared on May Day itself,
when Change to Win announced it had filed a nationwide Unfair Labor
Practice Charge (an NLRB procedure) on behalf of any worker unlawfully
disciplined during any of the recent days of action.
CtW said any firings or other victimizations would be a violation
of the right under federal labor law to engage in "protected concerted
activity," and that the protests must be considered such as they are
political actions related to policies affecting employment conditions. CtW
has asked all movement groups to forward names of victimized workers.
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