>From Eamonn McCann in Derry, Northern Ireland: Car components workers in Northern Ireland and Chicago have occupied their plants in a struggle to win what they're entitled to as their factories face closure.
Just over a hundred workers at Calcast in Derry won substantial concessions following a three-day occupation in the last week of November. Calcast made engine parts for Ford SUVs assembled in Germany. But the crisis in the US car industry led to cutbacks in Germany and a dearth of orders for Derry. Calcast's parent company, French-owned Montupet, tried to close the Derry plant as cheaply as possible, offering minimum legal redundancy and 30 days notice. The workers insisted they were entitled to 90 days. Union officials were as dumbfounded as management by the rank-and-file response of occupation and rushed to Derry to lead the negotiations. After three days, a settlement was agreed, giving higher redundancy and 74 days paid notice. Some believed more could have been won. But most workers saw no realistic possibility of saving the jobs, given the international credit crunch and environmental concerns about SUVs. What's clear is that without the occupation the bosses would have imposed the miserly terms they'd offered first day. On December 5th, workers occupied the Republic Windows & Doors factory in Chicago demanding the $1.5 million in severance and holiday pay owed to them. The bosses blamed Bank of America for refusing to extend loans to the company. Workers were angry that the bank had received a $25 billion bail-out from the Government, but wouldn't pass on a loan of a few million to the company so workers could keep their jobs. The workers in Chicago, too, know that in the current situation the chances of stopping the closure are small. But, like the Derry workers, they are determined to fight for what is rightfully theirs. The global nature of both the recession and the resistance is plain from the parallels between the two experiences. The need for workers to link their struggles on the widest possible basis has never been more urgent. -- Shaun 773.828.4336 917.755.7409 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Internet group address: http://groups.google.com/group/ChicagoMayDay To send e-mail: [email protected] To unsuscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
