> A - INFOS NEWS SERVICE http://www.ainfos.ca/
>
> The holidays are over for most of Brooklyn, but they never really came this
> year for 350 striking workers at Domino Sugar in Williamsburg who have been
> on the picket line since June.
>
> "There's a lot of stress out here," said striker James Barrett as he
> picketed the Domino plant on Kent Ave. "It's going to get worse once our
> unemployment benefits run out in about a month.
>
> Last month, the stress proved too much for 62-year-old striker John Alschen,
> who went home from six hours on the picket line and took his own life.
>
> "He was a good man," said Barrett yesterday as he stood next to a makeshift
> memorial. "He just couldn't take it. Sometimes I think that's what the
> company would like to see all of us do.
>
> "A lot of us have been here 20 years and more. They just want to see us go.
> There is no loyalty."
>
> According to officials at the International Longshoremen's Association Local
> 1814, which represents more than 270 of the striking workers, job security
> is what sparked the walkout last June 15.
>
> "In the first last/final offer we got back in June, we couldn't get away
> from subcontracting," said Local 1814 Vice President Joe Crimi. "The last
> last/final offer we got in November was even worse.
>
> "The company took the 59-page contract and slashed it down to five or six
> pages. It's really a mess."
>
> According to the workers on the picket line, the company wanted to bring in
> outside workers to the plant at will, eliminate seniority and make everyone
> part-time workers.
>
> "We want a guaranteed 40-hour work week, elimination of subcontracting and
> to maintain our seniority. Those are the key issues," said Carmen Serrano,
> 46. "If you can't work a 40-hour week, what's the good of the job?"
>
> Margaret Blamberg, a spokeswoman for Domino's parent company, Tait & Lyle,
> confirmed the company did alter the proposal during the last round of talks.
>
> "We have continued to operate and have learned new efficiencies regarding
> manning," said Blamberg. "The new terms we proposed reflect those new
> efficiencies."
>
> Crimi and the workers on the picket line cannot understand why the workers
> at the century-old Brooklyn plant have been targeted by the British-based
> Tait & Lyle.
>
> "I don't know why they are doing this here," said Crimi. "This plant was a
> model. I don't think we had one arbitration at the plant in the past six
> years."
>
> "The company started playing with our heads about a year ago," said Barrett.
> "We knew something was up, but we never expected this."
>
> Billie Mills, 56, who has been with the company for 30 years,
> recalled a strike in 1992 when the workers were out for more than five
> months. "It's almost like being out five, six months is normal here,"
> said Mills. "We'll stick it out 10, 12 months until the company figures out
> we aren't just going to take anything. We're going to be out here until they
> start playing ball."
>
> Both sides said no new talks have been scheduled.
>
> With the workers about to lose their unemployment benefits, Crimi and other
> Local 1814 officials have begun to reach out to other unions for help.
> "We have met with the Central Labor Council and others to try to set up
> an Adopt-a-Family program to help those families in need," said
> Crimi.
>
> "We still have about a month until the unemployment benefits run
> out. But something's going to have to happen because our people can't accept
> what is on the table. They simply can't accept it."