You take your kid to the dentist and go to pay the $20 co-pay.
“Oh, no,” says the receptionist. “You have to pay the whole bill—you don't have insurance.”
That’s how a member of Teamsters Local 743 in Chicago found out that his employer, SK Hand Tools, had unilaterally and without notice cancelled health insurance for the workforce.
The 70 SK Teamsters struck August 25 over this unfair labor practice, and the National Labor Relations Board will hold a trial September 2.
“A lot of workers in Chicago feel like the SK workers are a voice that’s not being heard in the national health care debate,” said Local 743 President Richard Berg—“working people who are struggling to keep their health care.”
Spirits are good on the picket line, where most workers, who make tools such as wrenches for Sears, have never been on strike before. UPS and Yellow-Roadway drivers from Teamsters Local 705 are honoring their lines. Workers from the UAW engine plant down the road have brought food. A UNITE HERE delegation from the six-year-long Congress Hotel strike paid a visit.
“I hope people learn from this,” said striker David Biedrzycki, “that in one second you could lose your insurance. Don't take anything for granted.”
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Biedrzycki, a welder-grinder-polisher with nearly 25 years in the plant, calls the workforce “a little bit of everything—a Heinz 57. At one time it used to be mostly Polish, then it turned a little Spanish, then it turned a little Asian. Believe it or not, we all work very well together.”
Maria Lesnicki, a tool packer for 33 years, said it was her first time on strike. “We were very angry, so we had to do this,” she said. “It was like a nightmare. The company said, ‘We meant to tell you guys but we didn’t have time.’ That made us more angry, when the union told us how the company thinks about us.”
Workers have been working under an expired contract since February. Management is demanding to cut their average $14-an-hour pay to just above the minimum wage, $8 in Illinois, as well as to ax their health benefits.
If the local wins at trial, SK will have to reimburse workers for medical expenses incurred since its unilateral withdrawal of insurance, and bargain with the union. The outstanding contract issues will still be on the table.
If the strike lasts, workers may receive benefits from the Teamsters International of about $140 a week. And the local will be seeking money and food from supporters to help sustain the strike.
For now, they’re asking Chicago area supporters to come to the picket lines in suburban McCook and on 47th Street. (See more on the local’s website here.)
“I’ve been having insurance all my working years over here,” Lesnicki said. “Having insurance all the time, I really don't know what it’s like not to. Now we find out.”
Mister rat i am praying so that god can give you a brain,because you got kids and they will get sick one day. By that day hopefully you will be the worst dog in the world. Maybe that day you will feel how how we feel and how your workers feel. Due to your ignorance.
On the picket line last friday before labor-day they said they got a ruling down that the health-care pull was a ULP, but no word on restitution. The line was being honored and there was much support from people passing by on 47th.
It is difficult to hold a conversation on a cool Friday night outside the brick S-K Hand Tools factory on Chicago’s South Side, because of the din of horns blaring constantly from the cars, semi-trucks and city buses that speed past on the busy street.
Nearly every vehicle is responding to the banners, held by a small crowd of machinists, saying “Honk for Health Care.” Even with the cacophony, their message gets through loud and clear.
Regards
The only way to win this strangle is to stay to togeder Mike Filippou Stella Doro local 50 BCTGM
This situation just goes to show how the US is turning into two distinct classes. The "haves" and the "have nots". Big business will hit the labor force every time to save their own fat pockets. Hang in there!
There should be laws against companies canceling health insurance without letting the workers know. It leaves the workers totally exposed. Regards Jim
SK Hand Tools Strikers Win!
“We won!” Text messages with those words went out the night of Nov. 3 from the SK Hand Tool strikers to family members and supporters. Reports went right to the fact that the SK Hand Tool workers will have health insurance. There was more than that to celebrate as the workers left the final agreement vote late Nov. 3 to go back to tear down the strike tent on 47th Street. They have been on strike for ten weeks - since Aug. 25.
It is difficult to hold a conversation on a cool Friday night outside the brick S-K Hand Tools factory on Chicago’s South Side, because of the din of horns blaring constantly from the cars, semi-trucks and city buses that speed past on the busy street.
Nearly every vehicle is responding to the banners, held by a small crowd of machinists, saying “Honk for Health Care.” Even with the cacophony, their message gets through loud and clear.
Since May, these workers have been asked to pay their own medical bills: for diabetes, high blood pressure, children’s medical tests and even a $20,000 hernia surgery. That’s since S-K Hand Tools, squeezed by the economic crisis, suddenly stopped paying their insurance premiums, without even notifying them for several weeks...
Yes Jim,
You are right there should be a law against companies canceling health insurance without letting the workers know. I agree with you.
