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Pulpworkers Strike: Black-White Unity In Deep South

By VVAW

"I have talked to people up north when we made a trip up there, and actually, the way I see it, it's the same. The same man is controlling them people there that's controlling us down here. The same man. He's the money man. And he has got the government with him, he's got the state, he's got the county, he's got it all."
-- Fred Walters, President GPA

On Sept. 7th, over 2,000 black and white woodcutters and haulers from Alabama and Mississippi went on strike against some of the nation's largest paper companies, The strike was called by the Gulfcoast Pulpwood Association (GPA) after paper companies failed to agree to the demands made by GPA on Aug. 24th. Demands the woodcutters are making include an increase of $30 per cord for the wood they cut and haul; a standard way for measuing and paying for wood to prevent buyers from cheating them; accident insurance to partially protect them from the extremely hazardous work conditions; and recognition of the GPA as their bargaining agent.

The woodcutters of GPA struck these same companies ? International, Gulfstate, Allied, Scott, St. Regis, and Masonite ? in the fall of 1971. That 3 month strike built unity between black and white workers in the very heart of Ku Klux Klan territory. The woodcutters won an increase in the price they were paid for their wood in the '71 strike by refusing to allow the paper companies to divide black and white workers.

Life for the 250,000 pulpwood workers has been a hard one. Earning only a few thousand dollars a year, they live under a system similar to sharecropping. Since it takes a substantial investment to cut pulpwood, nearly all the woodcutters have to take out a loan form one of the wood dealers (the woodcutters sell to dealers rather than directly to the companies) for the necessary equipment: trucks, tires, parts, saws, etc. Then monthly loan payments are deducted from the woodcutter's paychecks for the wood they bring in. If a worker quits, the company can repossess the equipment and keep all the money paid on it as "rent." It amounts to a form of indentured servitude.

GPA President Walters (a woodcutter for over 35 years) explained how this system works. In 1964, he bought a truck with $3400 loaned to him by a paper company. For 8 years, they took deductions out of his paycheck, only to tell him in 1972 that he still owed them $1700. He told them to take his truck back rather than continue paying. "That happens to everybody, you never get it paid up. They don't let you pay it up."

The paper companies contend that the woodcutters are "independent contractors," not paid employees. On these grounds they sought an injunction against the strike on Sept. 25th. At these hearings a partial victory was won when the court ruled that they were in fact "employees" and not independent contractors. This gave the woodcutters a legal right to strike and effectively said that GPA was their legal representative.

The paper companies introduced a system of weighing wood instead of measuring it by stick or in cords. As even a company official admitted during the hearings, the weight of a cord of wood might vary by several hundred pounds from one area to another. The GPA demands a return to the old system of measuring wood so that they can check the assuracy of measurment. Otherwise, the woodcutters are faced with being cheated $15-$30 for every load of wood they sell. The companies also admitted that they "frequently financed" the wood dealers, confirming what GPA has maintained; the wood dealers are merely overseers for the paper companies.

The solidarity of black and white woodcutters has been the key to their success in fighting the companies. By the 3rd day of the strike International Paper reported that the number of cords of wood they had received had dropped from 1039 to 273. Scott and Allied reported an 80% drop in their wood supply. Walters said of this: "Once these coloreds and these whites get together, man you better not mess with them... the paper companies have got something on their hands that they never had before...we tried to tell them, man this is not the same thing you've been dealing with, because we are all in this together." So far, GPA has organized some 19 counties in the Gulf Coast area and shortly expects ten more. As Walters said, this strike is clearly growing: "They will either have to deal with us or stop making paper. It's up to them!"

GPA is still a small organization with a meager strike fund. They need your help. Send food or money to help them eat and pay rent. Organize support to pressure offices of the paper companies to meet their demands. For information and donations, write: GPA, PO Box 53, Eastabuchie, Miss. 39436