CHARLESTON, Illinois, USA -- Union members locked out for five months at Trailmobile Corporation here have ratified a new contract which turns back all company demands for concessions and makes gains in wages and other improvements. Members of United Paperworkers (UPIU) Local 7591 on July 1 approved a new three-year pact which marks a decisive victory against Trailmobile's demands for severe rollbacks in the 1200 workers' standard of living.

"The unity of Trailmobile workers in Charleston, coupled with the UPIU's strategic campaign against the company's owners, has proven that union workers can stand up to corporate greed and win", said Local 7591 president Gary Collins.

The workers defeated management's central demand which led to the lockout -- to extend a four-year wage freeze from the previous contract for three more years. With the increases, Trailmobile workers' hourly wages will continue to be among the highest in the trailer industry.

The agreement reverses every management demand for contract concessions, including proposals to eliminate seniority in overtime rosters and to combine job classifications which would have forced wage cuts of up to $1 per hour. The contract grants a general amnesty for all employees for alleged picket-line misconduct.

The pact also drops the company's demand that the local union formally "apologise" to Trailmobile owner Edward Wanandi for the union's campaign linking the Wanandi family to Indonesian military atrocities in occupied East Timor. Throughout the lockout, Trailmobile denied it was controlled by the Gemala Group, a privately held Indonesian conglomerate with long-standing ties to that country's brutal armed forces.

UPIU research demonstrated that Trailmobile was indeed controlled by Gemala and the Wanandi family, which has amassed a vast fortune through its association with key Indonesian generals. Workers and activists of the Chicago-based East Timor Action Network joined forces to expose these links.

The UPIU's campaign featured actions throughout the United States, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and Canada, where the Wanandis also have business interests

The union also campaigned against Century Battery, a battery manufacturer controlled by the Wanandis in Australia and New Zealand, and targeted western corporations with business links to the Wanandis, including Exide batteries, Glaxo pharmaceuticals and Australia-based Pacific Dunlop.

"We are proud of the unity demonstrated by our members in resisting Trailmobile's demands for concessions, and grateful for the tremendous solidarity of union members and so many others around the world which led to this victory against corporate greed", said Collins.
[From LaborNet.]

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