McDonnell Douglas strikers gain steam

by John Pappademos

This article was reprinted from the August 17, 1996 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

ST. LOUIS - AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, flanked by leaders of half a dozen international unions, led a solidarity march and rally in support of Machinist Union members on strike against McDonnell Douglas (MD) here on Sunday, Aug. 11.

Some 6,700 members of IAM Lodge 837 struck the St. Louis facility of the nation's number two arms producer on June 5 in a dispute centering on out sourcing of union jobs to non-union facilities in the U.S. and abroad.

At the rally at MD World Headquarters, Jerry Oulson president of Lodge 837, told cheering demonstrators, "What we do or fail to do here will have tremendous impact across the nation. We're fighting for all U.S. jobs," he said as participants whistled and waved placards.

George Kourpias, IAM president, said the fight in St. Louis "is for everybody - for our children, that's what it's all about." Kourpias said things have changed "dramatically." "Just one generation ago," he said, "one person could earn enough to raise a family. Today it takes at least two."

Kourpias was joined on the speakers platform by George Becker, president of the Steelworkers Union, and Roy Wyse, secretary-treasurer of the Auto Workers, all leaders of the three unions that are scheduled to amalgamate by the year 2000 to form the largest industrial union in North America.

In his remarks Becker said, "Unification starts today, right now!" He contrasted the huge MD profits and the $44 million paid CEO Harry Stonecipher last year. Becker said these obscene salaries were "typical of Corporate America," and compared it with the growing sense of despair felt by working class families facing an insecure future.

MD has eliminated 16 percent of its union work force since 1993, while corporate net profits have zoomed 439 percent. MD workers have gone for four years without a raise, and the company wants them to go another four years with only one raise.

Richard Trumka brought cheers from the crowd when he predicted that this year we will take Congress back and that the 13 million members of the AFL-CIO will stand by the McDonnell-Douglas workers as long as necessary to win this fight.

William Lucy, president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and secretary-treasurer of the State, County and Municipal Employees, called the battle in St. Louis a "classic struggle between the greedy and the needy."

Several speakers emphasized that the issues at stake at MD - job security, outsourcing and downsizing - were faced by workers everywhere and that the MD workers were fighting for all American workers and their families.

Andrew McKenzie, president of the Leather Workers and an AFL-CIO vice-president, emphasized that unless a fight against export of jobs is waged everywhere. "We can all profit from past mistakes," he said. "St. Louis used to be the leading center for production of shoes, luggage and ladies' handbags. No fight was waged to prevent export of those jobs, and today, there is not a single factory in St. Louis making shoes," he said.

Other labor leaders present at the rally included Bob Kelley, president of the St. Louis Central Labor Council, and Duke McVey, president of the Missouri State AFL-CIO. St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosely was represented by 22nd Ward Alderman Kenneth Jones, one of 18 members of the St. Louis Board of Alders who cosponsored a resolution calling upon President Clinton to "use the powers vested in his office to support the striking workers [at Md] and their families."

Government support was made more tangible on Aug. 1 when the State of Missouri ruled that striking MD workers are eligible to collect unemployment insurance benefits.