Guatemalan immigrants fight for their union in Morganton

By Francisco Risso

Morganton, North Carolina, June 13—The future of the union representing the workers at the Case Farms chicken processing plant is in question following a meeting on Tuesday night to discuss a contract proposal by the company that fell far short of the workers’ demands.

About 80 workers, mainly Guatemalan immigrants of Mayan descent, gathered at St. Charles Catholic church to discuss a course of action following a fruitless four day negotiating session between union and company representatives.

The mainly immigrant workforce at Case Farms has been organized since 1996, when an impromptu walkout, in protest of unfair treatment by management and unsafe working conditions at the plant, led tto their representation by the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA). Since then, Local 700, the local union designation, has been unable to negotiate a contract with plant management and has struggled to maintain a strong presence among the workers in the face of stalling tactics employed by the Ohio-based company.

Negotiations between the parties broke down two years ago when a petition calling for an end to union representation was circulated among the workers following a company-initiated lockout. A number of the workers, most of whom do not speak English, signed the petition prompting Case Farms to withdraw its recognition of the union. In response, Local 700 filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that was settled this year when a Federal court ruled in favor of the union. The company settled, agreeing to pay compensation to workers for time lost during the 1999 lockout, and returned to the negotiating table.

In the latest round of talks, according to literature distributed by the Local 700 negotating committee, the union is asking for a seventy-five cent, across the board wage increase for its production workers and a one dollar and twenty-five cent increase for maintenance, quality control workers, and trainers. In addition, they want a twenty-five cent bonus for reaching an agreed level of production and a further twenty-five cent per hour increase in each of the following years of the contract.

Case Farms countered the proposal by offering no wage increase, the elimination of several benefits gained by the union in earlier negotiations, such as making the company instead of employees pay to replace equipment used on the job, and a ten-cent bonus for reaching levels of production. Most contentious to the union is a proposed requirement that all employees contribute thrity cents from each hour worked to a “No Strike Fund,” an insurance deposit held by the company, which will be returned to the workers at the end of the year provided there are no work stoppages. If the workers engage in any action including slowdowns or strikes, Case Farms will keep the money.

The union calls this proposal “shameful” and “outrageous” and many believe that the company is not interested in reaching an agreement with the workers.

“Case Farms has better protection against strikes than two years ago and a higher production level too,” said Michael Barrett, a Washington, DC-based lawyer representing Local 700. “Our question to the company is why won’t you agree to a wage increase from two years ago?”

The answer, according to Barrett, is that “the company doesn’t want to deal with the union for three more years and won’t sign an agreement if negotiations continue.” The purpose of Tuesday night’s meeting, according to Barrett, was to “talk about what we can do outside of bargaining.”

“As a worker, I would never recommend a contract that took away the right to strike and to work stoppages,” Yanira Merino, a LIUNA organizer, told the assembly. When asked by Merino if they wanted the contract offered by the company, many of the workers responded with cries of “Rechazamos!” (We reject it!) and “No la tomamos!” (We won’t take it!). When asked if they were willing to conduct work stoppages to force the company to negotiate a better contract, many responded in the affirmative, “Si!”.

Despite the enthusiasm demonstrated by the workers, Local 700 faces an uphill battle to secure its continued presence at Case Farms. Much of the struggle depends on the amount of support for the union both inside and outside the company. The eighty workers assembled at the meeting represented about one-fifth of the total work force at Case Farms. In addition, Local 700 is the only union in the Southeast with a membership made up almost entirely of immigrants, and is one of just two unions existing in Morganton, a town with a traditionally factory-based economy.

The future of Local 700 may be decided on June 25, two days before the next round of negotiations, when organizers are hoping a majority of the workers will turn out for a meeting to decide if they are willing to engage the company in a possible long-term struggle for a contract.

Stan Goff to speak in Asheville

By Brendan Conley

Asheville, North Carolina, June 19— A former Special Forces officer turned peace activist will speak in Asheville on Sunday. Stan Goff, author of “Hideous Dream: A Soldier’s Memoir of the US Invasion of Haiti,” will speak at Malaprop’s Bookstore, 55 Haywood St., at 3pm on Sunday, June 24.

Goff, a retired Master Sergeant in the US Army Special Forces, served in a dozen countries including Vietnam, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, and Haiti. In Haiti, Goff said he “took sides with the Haitian democratic forces over the US-supported death squad apparatus.”

Goff spent time in Colombia in the 1980s with the 7th Special Forces training Colombian soldiers in counterinsurgency tactics. In an article published in Asheville Global Report in January, 2000, Goff argued that expansion of military aid to Colombia would intensify that nation’s civil war.

Today, Goff lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, and works to reveal the realities of US foreign policy. Goff argues that US military intervention often serves the interests of powerful corporations, and works against democracy. In his January, 2000 article, Goff wrote, “I came to my conclusions through years of personal experience and through the gradual absorption of hard evidence that I saw all around me.

“I am finally really serving my country, right now, telling you this,” he wrote.

Citizens challenge city budget priorities

Statement of Committee to Elect Mickey Mahaffey

Asheville, North Carolina, June 12— At City’s Council’s Public Hearing on the 2001-2002 City budget, citizens spoke out about the priorities represented in the document, which allocates over $88 million in public monies. Questions and comments from the public focused on increased police and fire department budgets, lack of funding for an already insufficient public transit system, the problems with spending large sums of money to accommodate automobile traffic while neglecting bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, fair wages for city workers, and other issues related to environmental and social justice.

Adam Baylus of West Asheville began the public comment session with a question which neither council nor city staff could answer: What measures does the city plan if state reimbursements fall through in the coming year? The monies in question from the state total $2.3 million and are unreliable because of the state budget shortfall this year.

Horticulturist Catherine Shane raised issues about the air pollution crisis faced by our region, and questioned the wisdom of investing in a riverside parkway while the French Broad River “is so polluted, and is still being polluted.” Shane challenged the council to invest in green space and parks for the city, and to make public transportation and alternative transportation top priorities. “When I see the city spending $11 million on a new parking garage while we don’t have bike lanes, something’s wrong,” said Shane.

Representatives from the Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods asked why their organization, a public coalition, did not receive funding while the Chamber of Commerce, which only exists to serve its members, continues to receive over $100,000 in city funds yearly, and will likely receive capital funds for a new building from the city.

Local organizer Beth Trigg pointed out that the police and fire departments were the only departments receiving increased funding, and that “the police department budget alone is over four times the public transportation budget,” adding, “this budget does not reflect my priorities or the priorities of my community.” Trigg asked for a commitment from the council to finish enclosing the bus station shelter “before winter,” to which Mayor Sitnick and council members agreed.

Mayoral candidate Mickey Mahaffey opened his comments on the budget by thanking city staff for their hard work and sharing of information, despite City Manager Jim Westbrook’s policy barring Mahaffey and other candidates from speaking directly to city staff for research purposes. Mahaffey has fought for the right of citizens to speak directly to city staff without mediation from the City Manager, and thanks to the intervention of Mayor Leni Sitnick, has been able to do so.

Mahaffey thanked the council for their efforts on environmental issues, but maintained that the city is neglecting the water system and public transit. According to Mahaffey, “The financial losses incurred by the Civic Center pale in comparison to what we are losing on the water department.”

Jack Tate, chair of the Water Commission, revealed at the hearing that we are losing almost a third of our “finished product” drinking water “into the ground” because of unrepaired leaks. Mahaffey recommended “making water and air our top priorities,” and admonished Council, “If we don’t prioritize our water and air there will be serious environmental and economic consequences.”

Mahaffey also encouraged City Council to put in place more community-based policing measures such as converting to bicycle and foot patrol from cruisers, and addressed the issue of the discrepancy in wages between highest and lowest paid workers, suggesting forgoing the merit and cost of living wages for management staff who are earning well above a living wage.

Trees cut downtown — activists draw attention to city’s profit motive

By Brendan Conley

Asheville, North Carolina, June 20— Local activists responded strongly to the removal of two large trees on Patton Ave. The trees were removed in conjunction with the renovation of the Kress Building, and a sign was posted explaining that the sidewalk had been damaged by the root structure. “My replacement will have a root and bough structure more suitable for this spot,” the sign read. The Kress is home to a high-end retail space and new luxury condominiums, making it a flashpoint for activists concerned about environmental and economics issues in Asheville.

Anonymous activists responded by posting their own signs (pictured left) protesting the tree removal and the gentrification of downtown Asheville. “My opulent ‘landlords’ moved in the other week, and they cut me off at the neck, fucking bourgeoisie yuppie!” read one missive.

Tuesday night, the stumps were papered with statements such as “Despair: the city of Asheville cut down this tree to protect retail space and luxury condos,” and, “Boycott Kress, call city council, demand enviromental justice.”

According to an anonymous statement from a group claiming responsibility for the action, “Trees clean our air. To butcher trees in a city with such an air quality emergency is a travesty, and a symbol of the way that money-making is a higher priority than protecting public health and our ecosystems.”

One of the anonymous group posted their own signs to explain to the public why the healthy trees were killed— in the words of one of the fliers pasted to the tree, “to make room for profit.” One flier, pasted on the top of one of the stumps, declared: “Some kinds of green are more important to the city of Asheville than others.”