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VVAW, Strikers Defeat Scabs: Vets Won't Scab or Starve!

By VVAW

VVAW in Cincinnati, Ohio united with a group of striking teamsters to shut off the flow of scab labor to the Convenience Stores Distribution Company warehouse in Cincinnati on September 12. It was clear and effective case of vets joining with workers to put a stop to one of the many abuses which the rulers of this country are trying to bring down on all working people.

70 members of Teamsters Local #100 had been on strike for 10 weeks; for the last 8 weeks of that time, there had been no negotiations since the company was getting by using scab labor. The scabs came from right across the street from the warehouse at the TriState Drivers School which exists through training vets to be truck drivers and getting their money from GI Bill. Abetting the company's management, the general manager of the school had been sending student veteran drivers across the strike line.

One of the striking teamsters saw a VVAW poster proclaiming "Extend and Expand the GI Bill" and called the chapter to see if they could help. In a meeting with 25 of the striking drivers, VVAW talked about the organization, about how we stand with working people, and about war; the chapter found that 22 of the 25 drivers at the meeting were vets. And, while all the vets, from the Korean War, World War II, and Vietnam did not agree on every issue, they were united around the need to stop the scabs.

And so, early in the morning on September 12, VVAW members joined the strikers on the strike line. The impact of the new forces and the fear of bad publicity caused an immediate change in the outlook of the school. The general manager was fired the same day. And the head administrator called VVAW to pledge that no more student vets would be used as scabs.

It was a victory for the strikers and for VVAW around the demands carried on the strike line: Union Jobs from the GI Bill, Union Jobs at Union Wages, and We Won't Scab, We Won't Starve!