Next time you poke through the shrink-wrap on a package of Maruchan Instant Lunch, stop and think. The guys who made that wrap might’ve belonged to ILWU warehouse Local 26. They might’ve been among the 100 gutsy Local 26 members who struck for two weeks in March after American Extrusion Products (AEP) made them a contract offer they had to refuse.

Local 26 members walked the line 24/7 for two weeks and beat back AEP’s demands for take-backs.

“These members put a lot on the line,” said Local 26 President Luisa Gratz, who served as spokesperson for the negotiating committee. “They very courageously stood up for what they thought was right.”

Pulling together after years of divisions and apathy, the AEP workers fought off the company’s demands for take-backs and scored some modest gains.

The Chino, California branch of multinational AEP makes and ships bags for dry-cleaners and supermarkets, trash bags, industrial-strength wrap for palettes and shrink-wrap for fresh produce and packaged foods. Maruchan is one of its main clients.

The company’s modern machines have the packers doing twice as much work as they did when he started 23 years ago, shop steward Jesus Vazquez said. The work is hard, but until recently his co-workers did little to fight the heavy load and low pay.

“We were very disorganized and no one would do anything,” he said.

Then new Local 26 Vice President/Business Agent Rick Cortinas came on the scene. A 32-year ILWU veteran, Cortinas had been chief steward at Pacific Coast Recycling before taking over as BA last summer.

Cortinas started meeting with all the shifts. (AEP works people 11a.m. to 11p.m. and 11p.m. to 11a.m., with three days on, four off, four on, three off.) He ran the meetings in Spanish, the first language for some 80 percent of the workers. He brought together workers from shipping and manufacturing, who had no communication before.

“They began understanding their needs and wants are the same,” Cortinas said.

“We went through the contract an article or two at a time,” he said. “I advised them to make a paper trail when the supervisors were harassing them, then bring the issue to the stewards. When the supervisors see you doing this, they’ll take you seriously.”

In January the focus turned to new contract proposals. People wanted more pay, maintenance of health benefits and a pension plan. The members decided to send Vazquez, Shipping and Receiving shop steward Larry Fernandez and Chief Steward Sal Basurto to the negotiating table along with Gratz and Cortinas.

AEP hired a union-busting law firm that was looking for a fight. Talks were scheduled to start Feb. 19, but management stalled till the 24th and didn’t come in with a proposal till March 1.

“That offer was a joke,” Vazquez said. The company wanted to take away two holidays and impose three pages of management rights, including language that would keep people from calling their stewards. They put only pennies on the wage line.

The next day, all the workers turned out for meetings at the VFW hall near the plant. They voted 99-1 to reject the offer and strike. Local 26 gave management the required 72-hour strike notice.

At 7p.m. March 5, AEP gave their last, best and final offer. Cortinas and the negotiating committee activated the phone tree. By 10:30 p.m. every member who wasn’t working had arrived at the plant parking lot. They voted unanimously to start the strike. Shouts broke out.

“What do we want? Respect! When? Now!” they yelled. Everyone who was still working walked off at 11p.m. and joined the line.

The members held that line round the clock at the manufacturing plant and 12 hours a day at shipping. At first the picket teams followed their 12-hour work shifts. Later they broke down into six-hour segments. With no sidewalks near the plant, they were confined to a 12-foot easement by the side of the road. Management turned sprinklers on the pickets once—unintentionally giving some relief from the hot sun.

When the plant manager drove in and out, the pickets would yell, “More pennies!” but that was as rowdy as they got. No Local 26 members scabbed and no scabs went to work. When people showed up in response to newspaper ads, pickets would explain what was going on, and point out the shop down the road that was hiring.

“We turned them away with kindness,” Cortinas said.

Supervisors tried to work the plant, putting in such long hours that two quit from exhaustion. One later admitted to the workers, “Now we know how hard your job is.”

ILWU International Organizers Carlos Cordon and Rudy Gutierrez came in to help coordinate the pickets. Teamster truckers honored the lines, which were sanctioned by IBT Joint Council 42 and the San Bernardino County Central Labor Council. LA Labor Community Services helped out by stocking the food bank Local 26 set up for the striking workers.

The employer came back with a new offer March 19. As soon as she had it in hand, Gratz drove to the plant and gathered everyone quickly for a meeting.

AEP had dropped its concession demands, offered a substantial bonus in the first year and better hourly increases in the second and third years. As unanimously as they decided to strike, the members voted to accept the offer and go back to work.

The two-week strike also brought benefits beyond the contract package.

“We are more united now to fight for the things we need,” Vazquez said. “We will be more organized for our next contract.”

—Marcy Rein