By Tim Wheeler
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - For the first time in 16 weeks, no pickets marched at the gates of Newport News Shipbuilding Sunday, July 25. Even so, the giant shipyard stood mostly idle awaiting a vote on a new contract by 9,200 members of Steelworkers Local 8888.
Hundreds of union members and their families gathered for a picnic at Newport News Park, a few miles north. Maybe it was the 98 degree heat, or weariness after four months of struggle, but it was a quiet crowd that sat at picnic tables under the shelters munching hot dogs, hamburgers and fried chicken.
There were divergent views on the proposed settlement - sharp enough that the ratification vote was postponed to give the union time to print the full text of the 130-page contract for any worker who wanted one. Hand-lettered signs were on display. One read, "Victory is ours! " Another said, "Don't say no. Say hell no!" to the tentative agreement.
Steelworker union members circulated through the crowd with leaflets headlined, "Don't let somebody else decide your future! Vote on our proposed agreement."
The leaflet added, "This is the contract the Shipyard didn't want us to have." It listed the gains won by the workers: a $3.11 an hour increase or 23 percent wage increase over the five years of the contract; an immediate $1.14 per hour across-the-board increase or 8.5 percent; automatic progression to Pay Grade 13 for 1,100 workers; an immediate increase in the pension to $750 per month, a 48 percent increase rising ultimately to $900 per month during the contract, a 78 percent increase.
Also written into the contract is the company's pledge to recognize Steelworkers Local 8888, not an insignificant clause in this right-to-work state where the union can be instantly decertified. The contract also legally binds any prospective buyer of the yard to recognize the union and honor the contract.
These were dramatic gains that reflected the heroic struggle by Local 8888 with its militant battle-cry, "Eighty-eight! Close the gate."
When the workers walked out April 4, they staffed their picketlines around-the-clock in a struggle to keep the scabs out of the yard. They staged marches and rallies in front of the tugboat "Dorothy" that stands outside NNS corporate headquarters. They traveled to Washington for a demonstration. More than 200 workers who own token blocs of stock, attended the June 25 NNS shareholders meeting in Richmond and confronted NNS CEO William Fricks and his "southern strategy" of paying less in wages and benefits to NNS workers, 60 percent of whom are African American.
More than a 1,000 workers marched outside chanting, "Eighty-eight! Close the gate."
Nevertheless, there was widespread disappointment - especially the five-year length of the contract with so much of the wage increase coming in later years. These are workers who have not had a raise in six years.
Louis Banks, a nuclear worker with 20 years service fueling nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines at the yard, told the World he will vote against the contract.
"On overhaul jobs, we wear a dosimeter to measure our radiation exposure," he told me as he leaned against a shade tree in the sweltering heat.
"I work inside the reactors. I got $14.53 an hour under the old contract - less than what they pay workers at the brewery down the road. I think we should have gone to D.C. for the demonstration against the Navy (cancelled because the contract agreement was reached two days before the scheduled rally). Then we could have met with the company a week later."
The Navy kept "steering contracts to this company even though they were missing deadlines during the strike. The Navy was using our tax money against us. The Navy shouldn't take sides."
Donald Manuel was the chairman of the Boat Patrol that established a water-borne picketline to keep NNS from bringing scabs in by boat.
"We picketed on the water," he told the World. "Thank God the strike has come to an end. Thank God it's a good contract. Five years is too long but we had to give something to get something. I'm going to stand by the leadership that negotiated this contract."
Leroy and Regina Gilliam, both ordained ministers of the Soul Saving Station Church who spearheaded the Local 8888 religious outreach committee, conducted a prayer service at the picnic.
Leroy Gilliam has worked 33 years at the shipyard and is a union stalwart. He expressed concern that divisions over the contract could undermine the strong unity built during the four-month strike.
"People are concerned about the length of the contract," he said. "Sometimes, when people are in the middle of a hard struggle, they can't see the beauty of what they have achieved. We have made a lot of gains in this struggle and put a lot of issues forward."
He cited the struggle to achieve parity with shipyard workers in northern shipyards like Electric Boat in Connecticut and the struggle against U.S. Navy strike-breaking.
"I hope we will continue with what we have started, continue in a spirit of solidarity," Gilliam said. "This is a step-by-step process. We are moving forward. We have to keep our eyes on the prize."
An important outcome of the strike is the decision to set up a national council of shipyard unions to carry on the fight to end the north-south wage and benefit differential and to fight for an end to Defense Department strike-breaking and union-busting.
During the prayer service, Lynda Coffey sang a heartfelt gospel song. Her husband Neil and their two sons sat on the grass listening.
"In October, it will be 20 years I've been working in the yard," Neil told me.
"I'm an electrical technician working with everything from 110 volts to 440 volts. This contract is a partial victory. It's not what we wanted but it is more than most employers in this state are willing to pay," he said.
"During the six years we went without a raise, Newport News management gave themselves salary increases of over 100 percent. Some of them even tripled their salaries," he said.
"Here I am with a wife and two children and I only hope I can save enough to send them to college. For us, it's a struggle just to keep a roof over us and food on the table."
During this strike, the AFL-CIO discovered that the Pentagon inserts into weapons contracts a standard clause permitting contractors to bill the Pentagon for the costs of "labor unrest."
I asked Coffey about the disclosures that the Navy reimbursed Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans $5.4 million to cover the legal fees of a union-busting attorney. Six years after the workers voted for union recognition, Avondale still refuses to recognize the union.
"That $5.4 million would have made those shipyard workers very happy," Coffey said.
A team of four People's Weekly World distributors from Baltimore handed out hundreds of copies with the headline, "Victory at Newport News." Many workers were reading the paper during the picnic and hundreds more had it stuffed in their back pocket. That edition also featured a page of poetry by Leroy and Regina Gilliam. Not one of the papers was left lying on the ground.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
>From the 07/31/99 edition of the People's Weekly World newspaper.
235 W. 23rd Street; New York, NY 10011 http://www.pww.org