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Derby, N.Y.-Communications Workers Local 14177 is going into the fifteenth
week of our strike against New Era Cap. (See October N&L.) The weather's
turning, but the members are ready. One girl brought chicken noodle soup
for everyone on Tuesday because it was so cold.
The company thinks we'll give up when winter comes. But the workers are
already talking about shoveling out picket lines. We've got people saying
"I'll plow," and others saying "I'll shovel." People are
joking about
building snowmen while on the picket line.
The 211 strikers just finished writing individual letters to over 700 major
league baseball players whose baseball caps we made, asking them to support
us and to put pressure on the owner to bargain. The letters talked about
what's going on in their lives. One woman who has been there for 30 years
wrote about what it was like when she first started.
Next week there's going to be a meeting between the company and a federal
mediator who will try to get us to the point where we can talk to each
other again, to work an agreement out, although it's not binding. Hopefully
something positive will come out of it. But so far the company hasn't made
any moves to resolve this. They are so arrogant. This company has refused
to talk with the Workers Rights Consortium, United Students Against
Sweatshops, and politicians and religious groups who support us.
Other unions have been helping a lot. They've set up food banks. Because
there are a lot of single women out here, some unions have given cereal for
the kids and diapers. For the first seven weeks people were struggling,
trying to live off of a third of their income. But now we're getting
unemployment and strike benefits. Spirits are high.
Charles Kernaghan from the National Labor Committee, with assistance from
the United Steel Workers, is bringing in workers from Bangladesh to speak
on the conditions workers face there. They're doing a tour through major
cities in the U.S., and will be in Buffalo on Nov. 5, speaking at the
University of Buffalo and at New Era, outside the plant. We are inviting
other local union members to come, which is something we do for all our
rallies.
We usually get up to 300 people. It shows we're not alone out here. These
issues affect everyone. Civil Service Employees of America, UAW, Teamsters,
Iron Workers, AFSCME and others have come out. People in the community come out,
Jobs with Justice carries a banner. We're getting tons of support, but the
company is not moving. The students did a major campaign yesterday
across the country, sending faxes and petitions to get us a good contract.
I think we have so much support because a lot of people are losing their
jobs in Buffalo, so people tend to group together to save them. Buffalo has
a strong labor community and they want to stick together. We support each
other and do our best to keep each other abreast of what's happening.
-Jane Howald, President, CWA Local 14177, P.O. Box 62, Derby, NY 14047
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