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Defend The Right To StrikeBy VVAWOn Feb. 9, 950 workers of Local 487 of the Textile Workers Union of America struck Borden's Columbus Coated Fabrics plant in Columbus, Ohio, presenting the list of demands, the most important of which are a cost of living pay increase and an improved health care plan. According to Corwin Smith, president of Local 487, "The average industrial wage in Columbus is $4.10 an hour. The average wage at Coated Fabrics is $.49 below that. We desperately need a cost of living increase." The workers at the Coated Fabrics plant, facing production speedups, receiving low wages to begin with, hit with an 8% rise in the cost of living last year and facing an even greater rise in the cost of living this year, began their strike when their old contract ran out and the company offered only a token wage increase because it knew the union was financially unprepared for a strike. In addition to low wages the members of Local 487 face a threat to their health and ability to continue to support their families. Throughout the country industrial workers are faced with unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, but at the Coated Fabrics plant the reality of the unhealthy working conditions became immediate. It was discovered that several workers were suffering from a nerve and muscle conduction deterioration because of exposure to a toxic substance or substances in the plant. Six workers were hospitalized, and an investigation revealed that 187 of the 950 employees had abnormal nerve and muscle conduction responses and 40 of these people had suffered crippling effects of varying degrees, Union officials appealed to the director of the agency administering the occupational Safety and Health Act Laws, the Ohio Department of Health and the company. Because the toxic substance could not be identified neither the agencies nor the company acted. Union officials then recommended that the workers no longer expose themselves to these dangerous working conditions, and the plant was practically shut down for two months. The company then agreed to implement recommendations to improve the atmosphere and working conditions in the factory in order to reinstitute normal production. However, the double edged sword of low wages and inadequate health care continue to oppress the Borden workers. While on strike because of their inadequate wages it was discovered that 12 of the people with the nervous condition showed signs of regression. Because of this other employers are afraid to hire Borden workers, and the workers find themselves facing the possibility of becoming unemployables with the company's threat to close in the face of the strike. The Borden workers are fighting back. They have called for a boycott of the Borden Burger chain and Borden stores in Columbus and of Borden products nationwide. According to Corwin Smith, ?We have a relatively small union, but the morale is good. The company is really working us over...mentally. We will not be broken. We will not be beat- even though we're small". The struggle of the Borden workers will not be easy. They will not sign a contract that doesn't include an adequate pay increase and an adequate health care plan. They are faced by a company which desperately wants to break the strike as an example to Borden workers elsewhere. Borden is using every tactic it knows to break the strike. It has tried to intimidate the workers by hiring a K-9 security outfit to guard the plant and has salaried foremen taking photographs of the pickets. Borden has also cut off a worker's compensation payments which were being given as a result of the nervous disease. The Borden workers face a difficult struggle against this company on strike pay of $22 a week. They deserve our support. We should boycott all Borden products including Mary Jane pickles and Cracker Jack. Contributions for the worker's families and letters of moral support can be sent to Local 487 Textile Workers, 1441 North Grant, Columbus, Ohio 43201. BOYCOTT BORDEN!
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