Three workers locked out at an Oklahoma carbon black plant for more than three years made a dramatic move against their oppressors when they traveled to Taiwan to stage a hunger strike and confront plant owners at its global headquarters. When 86 members of PACE International Union rejected concessions in May 2001 that would have cost each worker around 13,000 dollars a year, Taiwanese-owned Continental Carbon (CCC) locked them out at its Ponca City plant. Three years later, the workers are still locked out and the company has gone through the roof with its concessionary demands. Continental Carbon now wants each worker to give up as much as 20,000 dollars a year in pay and benefits. Even more damaging is the company's contract language proposal to subcontract jobs and take workers out of the bargaining unit. If the company has its way, there will be only 20 union members left.
展开▼
