Bal Harbour, FL
Thousands of courageous trade unionists from three AFL-CIO affiliates -- the United Paperworkers International Union, the United Auto Workers and the United Rubber Workers -- are engaged in long and bitter struggles with four manufacturing companies at plants located in several states. We continue to stand with them and pledge to sustain the support of the entire labor movement toward helping them go back to their jobs -- with their heads held high -- under fair and decent contracts.
Some 760 UPIU members have been locked out of the A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co. for nearly two years, while about 14,000 UAW members have been on strike against Caterpillar, Inc. since last June and about 5,000 URW members are on strike nationwide at Bridgestone/Firestone and Pirelli Armstrong.
The conflicts have become the longest in each company's history because, in each case, management has refused to engage in good-faith efforts to settle them. On a wide range of issues, the employers have held to a hard line and demanded that union members capitulate -- all in the name of "global competitiveness." Each company has brought in scabs to continue production.
The situation is especially critical for the local trade union movement in Decatur, Illinois, where all three unions have large locals. Nearly 4,000 trade unionists -- seven percent of the community's work force -- are off the job at local Staley, Caterpillar and Bridgestone/Firestone plants. We salute the AFL- CIO Central Labor Councils in Decatur and nearby Peoria for their active involvement in supporting the strikers with donations of food, fundraising and media outreach. We urge these councils, and others across the country, to continue their good work on behalf of the workers.
The AFL-CIO will continue to offer the services of our Strategic Approaches Committee and other resources of the federation to bring the support of the entire labor movement behind the efforts of these three unions to settle their disputes. The federation and the Industrial Union Department will continue to work, both at home and abroad, to bring pressure on these multinational employers, wherever they do business, to negotiate in good faith and settle these disputes.
Our brothers and sisters at Staley, Caterpillar, Bridgestone/Firestone and Pirelli Armstrong are on the front lines of a broad attack on working people that has far-reaching implications for union members throughout the country. United in solidarity, labor can win these struggles and build a better future for all working people. We call on all affiliates, state federations and local central bodies to be active in these critical struggles -- and to give desperately-needed material and financial support to the strikers -- until these dedicated trade unionists achieve justice and fair contracts from their employers.