I don't watch much tv news but yesterday, Labor Day, I switched on PBS just in time to see the Newshour piece on the union strike at the Mott's apple products plant in Upstate Williamson, New York, near Rochester.
If you didn't see it, you should. Just click the link & watch the video. Mott's spokesman VP Robert Callan is a corporate sleaze-ball villain right out of central casting. Here he is rationalizing wage & benefit cuts in a regional market more than usually depressed by Xerox & Kodak layoffs:
The Williamson employees have enjoyed wages that exceed 50 percent of the market for a very long time. The best example I can give you is, one of our forklift drivers at the Williamson facility makes $20 an hour. Local market in the Williamson area, a forklift driver will make $9.90 an hour.
But a forklift operator at Mott's who makes $19.00 an hour (maybe it's the same worker & Callan just rounded up) has been there 15 years. And $20.00 an hour only comes to $46,000 a year, hardly a King's ransom for feeding kids, paying bills & putting a roof over a family's head after payroll deductions are taken out.
While Callan's happy to pontificate on wages Mott's workers should be willing to "enjoy", talking about executive wages is another kettle of fish:
This is a red herring by the union. Executive pay is completely irrelevant to the discussion. We're talking about 300 workers in Williamson, New York, and how we can maintain a competitive and flexible work force manufacturing Mott's applesauce to satisfy the needs of the Northeast and the East.
Hmmm, maybe that's because the CEO of Mott's parent corp Dr Pepper Snapple, made $6.5 million last year, 113% more than just 3 years ago. No, Mr. Callan, executive compensation is no red herring. But something sure does smell at Mott's.
Okay, so the diary's title says "Support the STRIKE". How do we do that? Here goes:
- Everybody, EVERYBODY donate to the strike fund. A little today, a little tomorrow, a chunk today, some moola next week. This strike, these strikers, need our support.
- Everyone, EVERYONE visit the Mott's Workers site& get to know who you're fighting for -- folks just like us.
- Nobody, NOBODY purchases Dr Pepper/Snapple Group & Mott's products ever until this strike is won. Here's the products list. Nothing we all can't do without.
- Write CEO Larry Young, Dr Pepper Snapple Group's $6.5 Million Dollar Man, & tell him what you think of opportunistic profiteering during a national economic crisis. And let him know you won't be using his company's products any time soon.
- Spread the word about the strike and your boycott. Orchard growers crossing picket lines should know better. Nobody wants to see rotting fruit growers need to rethink their allegiances. Bullying workers leads to bullying suppliers, too.
- WRITE MORE DIARIES. There should be strike diaries on Daily Kos every day. There's lots more info about the strike at the links I used & lots more links out there, too.
The folks at Mott's have been on strike since May. They looked pretty lonely in that Newshour segment. Union fights should never mean standing alone.
