December 1999

Sears incites union boycott

Olive Branch, Miss.-Seven months after workers at Sears Logistic Systems (SLS) voted to be represented by IUE/Furniture Workers Local 282, contract talks have reached a stalemate. The union win on March 24, the first ever in this notoriously anti-union Memphis suburb, sent shock waves throughout Olive Branch.

SLS, a warehouse and shipping operation with about 260 workers in Olive Branch, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sears. Most workers are Black men, but white workers and women have also been active in the union effort.

Local 282 President Willie Rudd and Vice-president Ida Leachman were joined on the negotiating committee by many of the rank-and-file workers who led the union organizing drive. "SLS wants to grant a wage increase only to maintenance mechanics and janitors," Leachman said. "They are trying to split the membership, undermine support for the union, and it won't work. We want a wage increase for every worker." SLS is worried about the impact a general wage increase might have on a new Local 282 campaign at a Sears facility in Memphis.

SLS also refused to talk about the union health insurance plan. They insist that the workers have to stay with the current plan. The insurance package Sears offers now is one of the issues which got workers angry at the company in the first place. They say that the HMO abuses its power and gets in the way of good medical care. And when the union asked for a dues checkoff, Sears said that they were "philosophically against that" and would not talk about it further.

Local 282 and the IUE have asked the national AFL-CIO to impose boycott sanctions on Sears stores all across the country. Leachman said she expects the boycott to be approved. "We hope that every union member and supporter will join our fight against Sears' anti-worker, anti-union program by boycotting Sears stores and joining picket lines."

-Michael Flug

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