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28 March, 2011
A strike by 450 mostly Hispanic foundry workers in the US enters its second week today. The strike by members of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers’ Union (GMP) is against Pacific Steel Castings in Berkley, California.
Workers began the strike at midnight, March 20, at contract expiration after the privately-held company refused to move from a concession-laden contract offer that contained skyrocketing increases to the share of employee-paid health care. A leading American trade union journalist, David Bacon, reported that the out-of-pocket increase in health coverage to US$300-per-month would mean a 10% drop in workers’ salary earnings.
The company also seeks to increase the yearly deductible for health coverage from the current US$1,500 to US$6,000.
Bacon reported that Pacific Steel Castings is seeking a two-year wage freeze, with only miniscule raises after that. Workers of GMP Local 164B have gone without pay raises for the past two years.
Pacific Steel also wants work-rule changes that will inhibit seniority and promote job speed-ups, discrimination, and favouritism. GMP International Vice President Ignacio De La Fuente told Bacon that wage freezes over the past two years were meant to offset rising private health insurance costs.
On 22 March, Berkeley police in riot gear used force to disperse strikers who were attempting to discourage truck drivers from making deliveries into the plant. A seven-month pregnant worker, Norma Garcia, was pushed to the ground and hospitalised.
Pacific Steel’s customers are in the petroleum, truck assembly and repair, and heavy equipment industries. It is one of the largest steel casting foundries in the US with revenues totalling US$100 million annually. It is wholly-owned by the holding company Tri-Pacific & Pvt.
GMP was a long-time affiliate of the ICEM but dropped global union activity in the early 2000s. The ICEM has been encouraging the Media, Pennsylvania-based union to return to the ICEM family because of joint work being done in the glass industry in Colombia.