First Published: Workers Viewpoint, Vol. 5, No. 30, August 18-24, 1980.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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“WHEN you’re making $21,000 a year; and still can’t buy a house–something’s gotta be wrong!” (Todd Shipyard worker)
“25 cents for your benefits–that’ll only cover the rising cost of the premium on Kaiser/Blue Cross, and they’re already lousy benefits!” (International Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, Union Steward)
“We can’t take 9, 5, 5 percent cuz you don’t know what inflation’s gonna become next year, the year after.” (Everybody in the Todd yards is saying)
“What Todd is offering us and if we accept, given our present situation, is like slow suicide. The pay scale of 90 cents. 40 and 40 cents and the benefit money of 25, 20, and 20 cents is totally no good. It would leave you and the union broke, in deeper financial problems than ever. There is no real language changes in a contract that had more loopholes than swiss cheese. We need to launch a strong unified strike like the members of Local 2 in the San Francisco hotel strike who have brought the hotel barons to their knees for paying them lousy wages and benefits for decades.” (Excerpt from the Communist Workers Party leaflet passed out at Los Angeles Sports Arena on July 28 to Todd Workers)
NO CONTRACT, NO WORK, NO MORE BUSINESS-AS-USUAL at Todd Shipyards, San Pedro, California. On July 28, 2000 of the 3500 workers at Todd came out to the Los Angeles Sports Arena to vote on Todd’s contract proposal. As people entered the Arena, they were greeted with agitation by a CWP team on rejecting the sell-out proposal and fighting for workers’ rule, to end sell-out contracts and the crummy system we live in. Sick of their sell-out from 1977, and pissed off at the new take-aways Todd wants to get over in the 80’s, the workers have been ready for a strike for months.
The old union hacks and known sellouts in the old negotiating committee were kicked out and replaced by a new slate of more militant rank-and-file workers. The new negotiating committee had issued the call for rejecting Todd’s offer to the membership. As the bureaucrats started the meeting, some workers were still reading the CWP leaflets they got from the team.
The meeting proved to be a victory against the whole red-baiting campaign that had gone down before the contract expired. It could not stop the workers from applauding their approval of what Jonathan Newsome, CWP member, had to say. “The issues are clear – we want more money and we want benefits. We have to go on strike to show our strength. We must go on strike to show our support to brothers and sisters up North (Seattle). We need to push for a coastwide strike against Todd.”
As Jonathan got one of the bigger rounds of applause, speaking straight to the sentiments of Todd workers, the sellout position of working day-by-day until the contract gets settled got booed in the corner. While Todd workers in Seattle have been working without a contract since June 30th, under the misleadership of the Pacific Coast Metal Trades Council, Todd workers at San Pedro weren’t about to follow suit. The 2 positions on how to move were clear: “Either sell yourself out, or go out.” The overriding sentiment was “We have to go out and strike now, and strike as long as it takes to get what we want.” The almost unanimous show of hands kicked off the strike.
The last strike by International Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, Local 9 (Todd workers) was in 1971. The strike lasted 6 weeks. Looking at the strike now, today’s conditions have to be considered. The economy continues downward. War preparations are stepping up as the government has already kicked off draft registration. One hundred percent of the production at Todd, San Pedro is Navy contracts. There has even been rumor among the workers that the government might step in with the Taft-Hartley Act–condemning the strike as “jeopardizing the national security.” But workers have stayed out. And it shows that more and more, workers fighting to defend their falling standard of living will be confronted with going against the political aims of the U.S. government, and getting clearer whose side the government really on. Why shouldn’t national security mean that workers be able to have a decent living?
National defense at Todd means extremely dangerous working conditions, working on the sides of ships at 50 feet high, descending wages and crumbling benefits. Todd’s competitive edge with shipyards on the East and West Coast in building fast guided missile frigates (FFG’s), – “delivered by Todd ahead of schedule and within the budget” (Glenn Anderson, Congressman of California, quoted in Todd Topics, Company Newsletter),–is done at the expense of workers lives and families. One worker who’s stuck with improver wages while doing mechanics work (improvers make half of what mechanics do) has to do all the overtime he can hustle to pay the mortgage on his new house.
Communist Workers Party supporters working at the shipyards are giving the sharpest direction and preparation on what to expect and what we have to fight for. While the Todd Negotiating Committee agrees to the need for a coastwide strike and has talked to Seattle workers about taking the lead from San Pedro, the CWP is going to make sure all the Seattle Todd workers hear about San Pedro’s strike and are called to enforce “No Contract, No Work.” At the same time, CWP is giving warning that because of the overall economic crisis, how good a contract can you really get? What may seem good today could and will mean hitting the dust tomorrow, as the capitalist economy declines downward. Everything around us becomes more and more convincing that the U.S. government does not stand on the side of the everyday American people. The “no-choice” Carter-Reagan-Kennedy-Anderson or KKK/Nazis is no platform for democratic change in this country.
Some things to think about. . . Can Carter use the Taft-Hartley Act if the strike lasts, with the elections fast approaching? Can Todd remain competitive for Navy contracts if it gives in to a “good” contract? What is the best thing that can come out of this strike if a decent contract has the whole system going against it?
We say, organize, strengthen the union by getting clear on who you friends, and who your enemies are–fight for workers’ rule in the union, in the yards, in the whole damned country. There is only one party that really represents U.S. workers and minorities – The Communist Workers Party. You may think the answer is too hard to swallow, but what else is there?