Support builds for SK strikers
looks at solidarity efforts for strikers at SK Hand Tools who are fighting to restore health care benefits unilaterally cut off by their employer.
IN A reflection of the growing solidarity effort for this important strike, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has promised she will have her office "look into" the cutoff of health care benefits at Chicago-based SK Hand Tools that forced 75 workers onto the picket line.
Solis' comment came after a luncheon address to Chicago union leaders and employers as she spoke to Emilio Lunar, a shop steward for the striking union, Teamsters Local 743. The event, hosted by the Union League of Chicago, was a forum for Solis to discuss her policies with the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) and employers, and Local 743 activists were on hand outside to appeal for solidarity from Chicago labor leaders.
Local 743 declared an unfair labor practices strike August 25 when SK Hand Tools CEO Claude Fuger refused to restore health care benefits that were unilaterally cut off last May amid ongoing contract negotiations. The local is seeking redress before the National Labor Relations Board, but called the strike to force Fuger to move faster.
The situation is urgent. Many of the workers at SK Hand Tools--which makes the popular Craftsman brand for Sears--have serious health issues that have put them tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
The Union League event highlighted widespread labor support for Local 743.
CFL President Dennis Gannon introduced Lunar to the coordinator of the federation's Labor in the Pulpit events for the Labor Day weekend. Midwest Region AFL-CIO Senior Representative Ramon Becerra, a regular on the picket line, is working on building wider support, as is Jesse Rios, special assistant to the president of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.
Larry Spivack, the regional director of AFSCME Council 31, promised to turn Labor Day into a fundraiser for the strikers, urging Lunar to bring as many of his co-workers as possible to a labor rally in Pullman, the center of the great railway strike of 1894. That same day, a delegation of strikers--many of them immigrants--plan to join the Labor Day March for Immigrant Rights in downtown Chicago.
In addition to this solidarity from immigrant rights organizations and labor officials, the strikers have benefited from the revitalization of Chicago's labor activist network, which got a big boost when the Republic Windows & Doors workers occupied their closed factory and won severance pay--and, more recently, went back to work in a reopened plant under a new owner.
The Local 743 strikers also reflect a new, fighting spirit in their local, thanks to a new reform leadership led by President Rich Berg, which last year ousted a corrupt leadership after years of stolen elections.
AS HEALTH care reform dominates the national political scene, the struggle at SK Hand Tools has shed light on the plight of those who lose their coverage--a problem that is only increasing with widening unemployment.
Just as the Republic Windows & Doors occupation here 10 months ago captured popular anger over bailouts for banks as workers lost their jobs, the fight at SK Hand Tools is quickly becoming a symbol of the urgent need for fundamental changes in the health care system.
In this context, it's no surprise that the picket lines--at the plant on West 47th Street on Chicago's Southwest Side and a distribution center in suburban McCook--have become a focal point for union members and supporters, as well as community groups and a wide range of activists.
Two strikers, John McHale and Dejan Gavatsky, got a warm reception August 30 at a meeting of 300 people featuring LGBT rights activist Cleve Jones, sponsored by Join the Impact Chicago. Jones, who works for UNITE HERE, called for solidarity with the strikers and stressed the economic justice agenda as part of the National Equality March set for October 10-11 in Washington, D.C.
Local 743 has its own activist agenda as well. It's planning to take the fight to Sears' corporate headquarters in suburban Hoffman Estates, so that company executives feel the pressure to take action over one of their more popular brands.
But even if the labor board rules in workers' favor and forces a reinstatement of their health care coverage, the struggle won't end. The strike is limited to the health care issue, and SK Hand Tools CEO Fuger is still seeking a permanent 20 percent wage cut and a temporary $4 per hour wage reduction--which would leave the workers earning just over minimum wage.
So while the strikers need urgent help to win back medical coverage, they remain in the midst of a long-term fight.
And while the number of workers involved is relatively small, the issues couldn't be bigger. By taking a stand, the SK Hand Tools strikers have given the labor movement a chance to live up to one of its oldest--and most important--slogans: An injury to one is an injury to all.
