Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 19, 1990 TAG: 9007190141
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Daniel LeBlanc, secretary-treasurer and the unopposed candidate for president of Virginia State AFL-CIO, said, "It's time to tell the politicians that `If you don't vote right, we'll run for office.' " He will be up for election at the AFL-CIO convention in Norfolk in August.
Praising the 63 Roanoke-area Greyhound drivers who have been on strike for about 150 days, LeBlanc said he learned as a child "to never desecrate the flag, never take the Lord's name in vain and never, ever cross a picket line."
Joe Wilson, head of the Amalgamated Transit Union drivers in Roanoke, told a cheering rally of more than 100 members of a dozen unions, "It's hard to understand [a strike] until you see scabs crossing a picket line and taking your job."
Wilson said 18 percent of the work force are union members "and the rest ride on our shirttails . . . drawing the wages and benefits we fight for."
Frank Rothweiler, an International Union of Electronic Workers representative, said the labor movement has become fragmented over such issues as abortion and gun control "and we've got to get around that." Organized labor needs to work for defeat of a bill in Congress that would permit strike replacement workers "to be effectively used to break unions."
Rothweiler said of those elected officials "who don't want to support us, we've got to get them out of office."
Jim Leaman, executive vice president of Communications Workers Local 2250 in Roanoke and an unopposed candidate to follow LeBlanc, said, "It is not fair to put them [the bus drivers] out of work after years of service. . . . We're going up against robber barons like Frank Lorenzo, Fred Curry and Paul Douglas," all recognized anti-union company heads. Lorenzo was chairman of Eastern Airlines, Curry owns Greyhound and Douglas is chairman of Pittston.
At a morning news conference, LeBlanc charged the Virginia Chamber of Commerce violated federal discrimination laws when it urged members to ask job applicants if they support a union-free work environment. He said a chamber statement in a newsletter for members violates Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act that forbids "discrimination against free Americans."
LeBlanc said the AFL-CIO "challenges the General Assembly to repudiate the Chamber of Commerce in its bias against working men and women."
His charge was later denied by E.C. Luther, executive vice president of the state chamber, and by Clinton Morse, a Roanoke labor lawyer whose article contained the statement targeted by the AFL-CIO.
The chamber was providing "legitimate techniques for our members to stay non-union. We were not suggesting any type of discrimination," Luther said. However, the chamber believes "that a business prospers best where no third party [union] is involved," he added.
Morse said his article suggested that employers hire the best candidates. Refusal to hire a person because of union activity violates the law, he said, but "it is not a violation to refuse to hire because of legitimate business reasons."
Working men and women should not be told they cannot apply for a job under questioning about their opinions on labor unions, LeBlanc said.
The AFL-CIO held the second of four sessions of its "Journey for Democracy" program to get more labor people to run for public office.
Union members "have been coaching football teams and serving as church deacons and it's time to run for office," LeBlanc said.
Leaman of the CWA listed a 10-part "Workers Bill of Rights," stating issues that he said have been eroded. Among them are rights to a job, to a democratic union and a living wage.
At the rally, Ralph Painter, retired after driving for Greyhound 46 years, said, "We've been through deep water . . . We've got to see victory when we stick together."
Gerald Meadows, new president of Roanoke United Central Labor Council and a vice president of IUE Local 161 at the Salem General Electric plant, gave the drivers a check for $900 from gate collections at his plant. Jeff Stump of the Boilermakers Union gave them $275.
Other support for the drivers came from Catherine Tompa of Cleveland, Russell County, a founder of the Daughters of Mother Jones, and Glen Anglin, president of United Paperworkers Local 675 at Covington.
by CNB