A talk with 3 striking women

By Stan Goff

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - There were three of them, all African-American women, each carrying lunch trays in the cafeteria at the General Assembly Building. Striking women with strong hands and a direct look - each proudly wearing the same jackets - big USWA logo on the back and "Local 850" embroidered proudly on the breast.

And they really are striking. In more ways than one. Local 850 has been on strike against Continental General Tire in Charlotte since September. They talked to the World about their struggle.

Nellie Stevenson, Ginnie Watson, and Pamela Foxx were in town for the AFL-CIO convention, but when the convention is over, it's back to the picket lines. "There's people on that picket line with me who have 33 years in, and looking to try to live on a $900 a month pension - if we can save their pensions," said Stevenson.

"We started giving concessions in 1990. There hasn't been a single general wage increase since then. We gave up our cost-of-living allowances (COLA) over three years ago. Since 1995, each worker has given up $30,000 apiece in concessions," Watson said. "The company said we had to tighten our belts because they were in trouble, but in 95, when we gave up COLA, they built a $4,000,000 executive building. They were preparing to buy out several other companies."

"And since we gave up COLA, every year the salaried employees have received a 5 percent COLA, while the execs got 10 percent," added Foxx. "Now they've contracted out 600 jobs in a plant with 1,450 employees. They want to keep these inexperienced workers instead of getting union labor. It's just an attack on seniority and a way to bust the union."

Stevenson went on. "And they've set up a three-tier pension system. But we're asking for across-the-board," "Now they act like we betrayed them by striking. But we've had enough of their lies. They want to cut our jobs, so they can get into more mergers," explained Stevenson. "There are German companies that aren't allowed to do this stuff to their workers, so they come here to do it to us. The management thinks we're stupid, but we'll see who's stupid."

Watson joined in. She was animated now. "They had press conferences giving the company line when we struck. They hired Vance Security to come down and paint white lines around the plant and snap pictures of us, trying to scare us. They canceled all our health insurance in retaliation. But our communities are behind us. And the other locals around Charlotte are supporting us."

"We're solid," said Stevenson. "We're strong. The whole time, they only had 11 scabs, and only six of them are cross-overs. No one goes back until every one of us goes back."