Submitted on Wed, 05/06/2009 - 2:47pm
Featured Story 15 - NC and VA Drivers Laid Off, IWW Responds
In a move seen often by workers attempting to improve workplace conditions, trucking bosses fired 15 drivers in North Carolina and Virginia early in January this year. The companies claim it was for decreased business volumes, but most of the drivers were among internal organizers for the IWW. In addition, the companies began hiring new drivers immediately following the lay offs. "We have no doubt this was in retaliation for our organizing efforts," one driver said at a meeting held January 17.
The IWW conducted a scheduled meeting, January 17, which was originally planned to formally establish the union was altered to determine how to proceed with the organizing effort given the firings. Undeterred by the boss’s aggression, many drivers (including many of those laid off) still joined the union. A petition for charter is still being circulated.
In an outpouring of altruism, IWW members across the globe responded to the layoffs by donating money to the struggling drivers. IWW members in Cambridge, England and Cologne, Germany held fundraisers to help the drivers in NC and VA. This act indicates that Wobblies everywhere believe in this movement. The money has been an incredible help to the drivers and the campaign in general. The campaign continues in the Southeast.
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Submitted on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 7:22pm
Organizing is heating up for the
truckers in the southeastern United States. Though the independent drivers of
North Carolina and Virginia have come a long way this past year, there are still
aspects of the campaign that need attention. Right now there are a handful of
wobblies helping out, including two part time organizers/volunteer coordinators.
For efficiencies sake, we've divided up the current campaign needs into three
different teams, Organizing, Logistics, and Strategy. Many of the tasks can be
completed outside of the North Carolina area or even the United States. If you
can help we ask that you can devote a steady amount of time or a regular task,
whether big or small. We'll have organizers that will work with you. Possible
internships available. For more info about the campaign visit our website at
Truckers.iww.org
Check out our needs
below...Interested? Write to freighttruckers [at] gmail.com or call
Sarah at (847) 693 6261
Submitted on Thu, 02/05/2009 - 8:31pm
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Submitted on Fri, 01/16/2009 - 3:33pm
As many of you know the IWW has been organizing Truck Drivers in Eastern North
Carolina and Virginia for much of the past year. In response to our growing
power and planned founding convention this upcoming weekend, the bosses have
begun firing the union's leadership. Two log drivers and five container haulers
have lost their job over the past two days.
The union is already
discussing legal and direct action means to fight these unjust firing, but right
now we need funds to support our fired drivers.
These drivers have families
to support and this is a part of the country where economic opportunities are
very limited. Please offer whatever you can, drivers are counting on
you.
Checks can be sent to the Freight Truckers Organizing Committee
at
PO Box 274, Waukegan, IL 60079. Please include "emergency relief" in the
memo line.
We are in the process of setting a PayPal Acct for online
donations. You will be informed as soon as it is ready.
Thank you and
please be generous.
Past Press Releases from the Freight Truckers
Organizing Committee:
NC Truckers Form Union, Hold Work
Stoppage - United Truckers Cooperative to Picket Outside of Weyerhaeuser
Mills
http://www.iww.org/en/node/4486
NC Truckers to Formalize
Union Over MLK Weekend - Negotiating Committee Already Formed in Preparation for
Talks
Submitted on Wed, 12/17/2008 - 8:27pm
On the weekend of Martin Luther King Day, log truckers and container
haulers from Eastern North Carolina and Virginia will be gathering to formally
charter the United Truckers Union. This event will be the culmination of a
nearly year-long organizing drive that led to a work stoppage on the morning of
December 8, 2008. That action, which saw small but lively pickets outside of
Weyerhaeuser mills along coastal North Carolina, reduced the amount of logs
entering the New Bern mill by approximately 35% and shut down several tree
stands in the Plymouth area. Only six trucks left BTT's yard, one of
Weyerhaeuser's primary subcontractors and a target of the strike. Following the
mornings' stoppage, a unnamed Weyerhaeuser representative announced to local
media that management agreed to the workers' key demand: that mill management
recognize the drivers' organization and arrange a meeting between the drivers'
negotiating committee, Weyerhaeuser, and representatives of the subcontractors who employ the drivers. Accordingly,
the union has directed a letter to the Vice President for Southern Timberland in
Seattle, Washington offering several dates and places for an initial
meeting.
Community support has proven integral to the drivers' success. In
particular, local churches have vocally supported the organization. "Preacher,"
a union member and an ordained reverend, described this relationship: "The
drivers represent the community, the church represents the community. What
affects one of us, affects all of us. We're all in this together." Along much
these same lines, the solidarity shown by the larger labor movement has been a
source of moral as well as real world support. The drivers would to take this
opportunity to thank the unionists and environmental activists who picketed
Weyerhaeuser corporate headquarters on the day of their recent strike. Likewise,
they are extending their sincerest appreciations to USW Locals in North Carolina
and Washington State, UE 150, and the Northwest Log Truckers
Cooperative.
The drivers have already announced their intention to affiliate with the
Industrial Workers of the World Motor Transport Workers Industrial Union (IWW IU
530). Founded in 1905, the IWW is a democratic and militant rank-and-file
industrial union. The IWW believes that only through organization can the men
and women who carry everything our communities need break the pattern of
injustice faced by America's truck drivers.