{"id":2081,"date":"2011-06-26T21:30:03","date_gmt":"2011-06-27T02:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/?p=2081"},"modified":"2018-08-16T15:51:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T20:51:38","slug":"building-illinois-iowa-solidarity-for-locked-out-roquette-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/?p=2081","title":{"rendered":"Building Illinois-Iowa Solidarity for Locked Out Roquette Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

I attended the Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice<\/em> <\/a>monthly meeting this weekend to learn about another chapter in the ongoing war on the middle class.\u00a0 Buddy \n\t\t

\n\t\t\t \t\n \"Buddy\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n Howard, a locked out worker from Roquette, a French-owned company in Keokuk, Iowa, attended the meeting to share his story.\u00a0 Buddy is one of the 240 BCTGM Local 48G members who have been locked out since Sept. 28, 2010.<\/p>\n

After the meeting, Buddy shared his story with radio host Adam Klugman.\u00a0 You can listen by clicking the link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Roquette ramps up divisive efforts and locks out workers:
\n<\/strong>In 1991 Roquette, bought out a\u00a0grain milling\u00a0\u00a0business in Keokuk, IA that produces many of the starches and sweeteners found in our food. Four years ago Roquette introduced a new employee evaluation program called PEP.\u00a0 Buddy gave an example of how PEP was used to cut wages and create division in the work place.\u00a0 During the first year with the new evaluation system, he and another worker performed the same job, but his co-worker received a $1\/hour raise while his wages stayed the same.\u00a0 During the second year, his wages were increased by $1\/hour while his co-worker\u2019s wages remained stagnant.\u00a0 Buddy asked that his $1\/hour raise be rescinded because he felt that two workers performing the same job at the same level should receive the same pay.\u00a0 The company continued to implement similar divisive measures in the work place and used the next round of contract negotiations to divide and conquer.<\/p>\n

During the 2010 contract negotiations, Roquette pushed an 11th-hour contract with new language that created a two-tier wage scale.\u00a0 The new contract allowed Roquette to hire new workers at 33% less in wages.\u00a0 The negotiations were short and one-sided.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 28,\u00a0BCTGM’s negotiating team\u00a0read the contract during a union meeting.\u00a0 By 12:00 noon, members, young and old all voted \u201cno\u201d on the proposed contract. By 2:00 p.m., the workers attempted to return to work, but barricades were already in place and armed guards greeted workers attempting to enter the plant.\u00a0 The lockout was underway.<\/p>\n

Within three days, Roquette hired out-of-state scab workers from Last, Best and Final Staffing,<\/em>\u00a0 a union-busting company from Westchester, Ohio.\u00a0 According to Mr. Howard, the workers were bussed in from all over the nation.<\/p>\n

Responding to the Lock Out:<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Roquette turned up the heat, tensions grew along the informational picket line.\u00a0 A labor rally held in October drew former Governor Chet Culver and Congressman Loebsack. By Christmas time, the rallies and pickets continued in front of the plant, but BCTGM decided to take the fight to the streets.\u00a0 Twelve workers traveled to the gated communities of Quincy, IL to share some Christmas carols with the wealthy Roquett executives who lived just across the river.\u00a0 They visited the homes of Dominique Baumann (VP), Paul Janicki (CFO) and Dominique Taret (CEO).\u00a0 They also visited some of the VIP\u2019s neighbors to hand out flyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"christmas-carol-flyer\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"christmas-carols\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"christmas-carols-2\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inside the plant, scab replacement workers have experienced numerous injuries to include severed fingers and cuts.\u00a0 One worker nearly lost an arm.\u00a0 The company has also had numerous EPA violations.<\/p>\n

Outside the plant, community support continues to swell.\u00a0 Over 72 businesses have put signs up supporting the locked out workers and many of those businesses have brought food to the picket lines.\u00a0 Other community organizations have pitched in to help with poker runs, church dinners, and endless fundraisers to support the locked out workers and their families.<\/p>\n

Solidarity Builds in Illinois to Support BCTGM:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here in Illinois, Jobs With Justice voted unanimously to support BCTGM Local 48G.\u00a0 It turns out that the wealthy French Roquette family received healthy state and local tax breaks to build their shiny new training center in Geneva, IL.\u00a0 Former Governor, Rod Blagojevich gave Roquette an $825,000 grant (that would be a tax-payer funded bailout) as an incentive for Roquette to come to Illinois.\u00a0 The Geneva City Council also voted to give a total of $52,000 in tax breaks to Roquette if the company would settle in Geneva.\u00a0 See supporting documents:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t \t\n \"illinois-bailout-for-roquette\"\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n <\/td>\n
 \n\t\t
\n\t\t\t \t\n \"geneva-city-council\"\n\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

After hearing today\u2019s presentation, Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice voted to form a support committee to help organize the next action at the Geneva-based Roquette University.\u00a0 Roquette University is partially funded by tax-payers and serves as the facility where Roquette brings new customers and conducts product research.\u00a0 By joining the fight, Jobs With Justice will help mobilize area activists and send a clear message that we don\u2019t want our taxpayer-funded company locking out Iowa workers.<\/p>\n

To join the committee, contact Bill Barclay at chocolatehouse at sbcglobal dot net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I attended the Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice monthly meeting this weekend to learn about another chapter in the ongoing war on the middle class.\u00a0 Buddy Howard, a locked out worker from Roquette, a French-owned company in Keokuk, Iowa, attended the meeting to share his story.\u00a0 Buddy is one of the 240 BCTGM Local 48G […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[78],"tags":[2877,2869,558,552,553,281,555,557,2878,556,158],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2081"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2081"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7156,"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2081\/revisions\/7156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}