Domino strikers spent holiday on the picketline
By Roy Rydell

BROOKLYN, N.Y. * At the Domino plant here, in the shadow of the Williamsburg Bridge today there was wet snow flying and the wind was howling but the picket trailer was full of warmth and Christmas spirit.
With the strike against Domino going into its 19th month I've got to hand it to the strikers * They've got a brightly decorated Christmas tree set up and inside the trailer Migdona Espinosa cooked up a big pot of arroz con lechon. She told me she'd decorated the tree too. All the celebration had a bittersweet air about it because the strikers were celebrating Christmas and one of the longest and most bitter strikes in the history of the New York labor movement.

The workers have been on strike because Domino, owned by the British outfit Tate & Lyle, offered them a contract loaded with givebacks, which would have made the jobs in the plant the same as working in a non-union shop. City Council Speaker Peter Vallone and Councilmember John Sabini delivered holiday gifts of food to Local 1814 members. In November 1999 Vallone and the city council approved a resolution supporting the strikers and calling on management to resume negotiations.

Sabini's father had been an employee of the company, so he understands first-hand about the need for job security at Domino.

With the holidays here I can only imagine how difficult it mist be for these displaced workers. During this season of giving, it's important that we give back to the workers "who have made our city the best union city in the United States," Vallone said.

The strikers each received $200 from the union as a Christmas gift. That came in handy because the solidarity fund set up by the New York Central Labor Council's Rehabilitation Fund has been running low. Charlie Milan, a picket line stalwart with long years of service in the plant, was looking a little down. He said he had a toothache, "but don't worry about that, we are here for the duration * as long as it takes." Local 1814 President Red (Frank) Scollo said he had received assurances from the United Food and Commercial Workers that they will do everything they can to help the strikers and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney had been in contact with Tate & Lyle in London.

"We expect to get some results in a couple of weeks," Scollo said. We're going into out 19th month and my faith is still strong," Carrie Daniels a long-time employee and a committeewoman, said. "I believe that the issues between the company and the union will be settled when [we] get a good contract. It hasn't been easy but were sticking with the union. We want Tate & Lyle to show us some respect." Hernando Gallego said, "We've been here so long * 19 months. That's how Tate & Lyle thanks you for all the years you work here. All we need is something to pay our bills with. We want a guarantee of 40 hours work a week. In the meantime, we've got to be here and keep fighting." Here's an example of what the workers could expect if they went back to work without a seniority clause, as the company proposes. Last week one of the strikers crossed the picket line and went back to work. He had quite a bit of seniority and thought he'd get his old job back. Instead the company assigned him to a much more physically demanding job than he did before. When he couldn't do the work, he was let go.
Local 1814 Vice President and strike leader Joe Crimi told me that this was the perfect example of why the workers are demanding seniority protection before going back into the plant. Tate & Lyle just doesn't want any union men in their plant