Staley Struggle

[Larry Duncan <lduncan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From lvpsf  Thu Jan 25 22:21:10 1996
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 22:21:10 -0800
From: Labor Video Project <lvpsf>
To: conf:labr.decatur
Subject: Jan96 Update From The "War Zone"
Cc: fzoom@xxxxxxx, lduncan, lundshep

                    UPDATE FROM THE WAR ZONE

    Written by a UPIU Local 7837 Organizer and "Road Warrior"

James Shinall, the newly president of the United Paperworkers
International Union Local 7837, representing locked-out workers
at A.E. Staley in Decatur, IL, site of a three (3) year struggle
that gained worldwide focus, has assumed "control" of the Local
with what rank and file members term "an iron fist." Shinall, who
ran on a platform of democracy against Dave Watts, former Local
7837 president who led a courageous struggle for over three (3)
years, is "running amok" according to Campaign for Justice
organizers.

On January 10, 1996, one day after being sworn into office,
Shinall, accompanied by a locksmith, ordered a member in good
standing and his wife, both of whom had worked full time at the
Campaign For Justice of over two years, out of the building and
changed the locks without executive board approval in defiance of
a decision to keep the office open until the end of the month.
The office was reopened a day later only to be closed again.
Thursday, January 11, Shinall demanded to know what members were
doing in the union facility and threatened to call police and
have them removed. At 5 P.M. that same day, at a special called
executive board meeting. Shinall broke the tie vote to
permanently close that office after refusing to allow two (2)
absent board members (who were at their jobs) to vote by phone, a
past policy. The various programs that were being phased out are
now unfinished.

Shinall, who led a negative and questionable media campaign
against Watts for election, is credited by unionists all across
North America (in conjunction with UPIU international president
Wayne Glenn) with leading the local to a horrible defeat.
Shinall, after learning of the passage of the contract, vowed he
would retire. In a strange twist, according to executive board
sources, the UPIU international and the Staley Company have
agreed to cut him a deal, allowing him to remain in office weeks
after his retirement window has expired. Questions from the floor
concerning his pay and length of time he will be available have
been repeatedly ignored from the podium. (Sources say that Staley
will also be paying Shinall a salary during those weeks.)

In addition, elements of the newly elected leaders led by
Shinall, have made a decision to keep those members who are not
returning to Staley from entering union meetings, even though the
transition to return to work is not complete. Sources on the
executive board have said that the new leaders want to "keep
trouble-makers" off the floor, referring to those that fought to
win and have differing opinions. So much for democracy!

Sources close to the battle view Shinall's attempt to close the
Campaign office as a means to cut off communication with the
Local 7837's supporters throughout the nation, thereby covering
up the International's complicity in this defeat. His efforts,
sources feel, are being directed by the UPIU International
leadership.

Friday, January 12, 1996, members, spouses, a child of one
member, and other unionists from other unions, both in state and
out of state, picketed UPIU headquarters in Nashville, TN as
security personnel guarded the door. Signs and chants filled the
cold, windy air surrounding the "grand palace," calling for Wayne
Glenn, UPIU International president, to resign. A young boy's
sign said it all--"You betrayed my dad, you betrayed me and you
betrayed my union!: A similar picket on December 18, 1995, at the
UPIU office, raised Glenn's ire enough that he locked out Local
7837 members from entering the building and resorted to name
calling.

Against protest, The AFL-CIO paper has issued an article on the
settlement that is unbelievably inaccurate in their customary
effort to shield the labor movement from the truth of what the
leadership of UPIU has done and the horrible degree of defeat the
majority of our families have suffered.

Correct documentation regarding our struggle's end was sent to
Michael Byrne, AFL-CIO News and to AFL-CIO president John
Sweeney. Communication from the AFL-CIO was cut off prior to the
contract being made and now, we no longer exist to those who made
so many unfulfilled promises.

On Tuesday, January 16, 1996, at a 7 A.M. membership meeting
called for by Shinall, he repeatedly refused motion after motion
from the floor and after being challenged for the chair, refused
to leave the podium. Much of the following meeting was conducted
from an adjacent table by Vice President Gary Lamb and the
majority of motions were passed overwhelmingly. During the
meeting however, Jim Shinall ordered the police called and they
responded but did not remove anyone from the floor. At the close
of the three and one-half hour meeting, Shinall immediately
contacted the international office.

At the second meeting of the day, at 7 P.M., Dan Wirges,
Assistant Director of UPIU Region 9, and Robert Beyers, other
Decatur UPIU Locals representative, were present. Equipped with a
letter from Wayne Glenn, UPIU International President, Shinall
tried to force a seating arrangement for the severed members and
not allow them to speak, though the letter from Glenn did not
make reference to their voice. When Dave Watts introduced a
motion to allow them to speak, Shinall refused the motion and
refused to relinquish the chair. Shinall then called on Wirges
who declared the motion illegal and would not allow the floor to
vote. Wirges then declared the meeting adjourned after a protest
rose from the floor.

The police, who had been notified prior to the evening meeting
and then activated during the meeting, moved into the hall from a
location less than two blocks away. Denton Larimore, an AIW
building board member and a Shinall follower, went to the "mike"
and ordered the hall cleared and had police usher the members
from the hall.

A petition for Shinall's removal as president was then circulated
and will continue. Charges were filed against Jim Shinall and
Steven Haseley, both members of the executive board.

At question now is the authority of Wirges and the international
to overrule the membership and to close the meeting. Additional
charges may be pending. In a regional newsletter from Vice
President Glenn Goss, false information is being distributed.

Those who have fought hardest for everyone to win are not only
still out at Staley, but are now locked out at UPIU headquarters
and the Campaign For Justice office, and now their own union hall
and meetings.

_______________________________________________________________
                     For Further Information
                Please Electronically Post To The
            Labor Decatur Conference on LaborNet-IGC
                        You Can Write to:
                    labr.decatur@xxxxxxxxxxxx
                           Or Write to
            Bay Area Staley Workers Support Committee
                     2940 16th St. Suite 307
                     San Francisco,CA 94142







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