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NEWS & LETTERS, August-September 2001 Chicago-V&V Supremo workers rallied alongside representatives of a number
of Chicago-area Teamster locals downtown here on July 31. The workers have been on strike to assert their right to affiliate with Teamsters Local 703.
According to Teamster organizer Pat Bruno, the company has now spent an estimated two million dollars over the last ten weeks on union-busting
lawyers as well as on uniformed security to beat back the workers' demands for unionization. They are using about 50 security officers per day,
equipped with cars and cameras for intimidation of workers, at their various facilities at a cost of $280 each. Pickets and rallies at the The owners of V&V Supremo have yet to sit down at the table with workers or union officials. They are determined to beat back their efforts in order to preserve a situation in which the mainly immigrant workforce is made to labor six days a week for up to 14-15 hours straight time. The threat of deportation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service is held out against them, as well. If the workers' effort to unionize were successful, the company would first of all have to cut hours and hire a lot more workers. Workers say they have seen the effect of their strike and boycott of the company in the fact that Brinks trucks have been bringing money into the facilities to pay security expenses, rather than bringing it out. With less drivers, less deliveries of product-as they say, "No justice, no cheese! -Gerard Emmett |
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