It’s May 1, the true “labor day”, St. Joseph the Worker Day,
and time for another Labor South
roundup with a look at the late Rosie the Riveter, the growing auto industry in
Mexico, and anti-unionism in South Carolina.
Rosie the Riveter
One of my favorites in my grand collection of coffee cups is
my Rosie the Riveter “We Can Do It?” cup. With her red bandanna, blue work
shirt, rolled-up sleeves, and balled fist, she’s always been a labor hero to
me, not only a symbol of World War II-era, factory-working women but also a
reminder of the wonderful legacy of women at the forefront championing
working-class folks.
One of several women associated with the Rosie legend, Mary
Doyle Keefe, died last week in Simsbury, Conn., at the age of 92. Keefe was the
model for artist Norman Rockwell’s 1943 rendition of Rosie the Riveter, which
had her in overalls with a lunch box and rivet gun close at hand, and Adolf
Hitler’s Mein Kampf under her feet.
Like another Rosie, the late Geraldine Doyle, who died at 86
in Lansing, Mich., in 2010, Keefe had never worked as a riveter. Keefe was a
telephone operator when Rockwell had her pose for him. Doyle was briefly a
factory worker but quit when she saw that the hard working conditions might
endanger her true love, playing the cello. It was Doyle whom artist J. Howard Miller used
to create the Rosie in the “We Can Do It!” poster.
Some might say the real Rosie was Rose Will Monroe, a
Kentucky native who did actually work at Ford’s Willow Run Aircraft Factory in
Michigan, which was building B-29 bombers. She came along after the poster was
already created, however, but was featured in a film promoting war bonds.
Monroe died at the age of 77 in 1997.
They’re all heroes to me, and they’re all Rosie, one tough
gal who wore a blue collar, did a good job, and was proud of her work.
Building cars in
Mexico on the cheap
A recent report from the Associated Press shows Mexico in
position to become the next “Detroit South” with plans by both Toyota and Ford
for new plants there. Most of the 18 auto factories in Mexico were built in the
past 10 years.
Mexican workers like the money. They can earn as much as $10
a day at one of the Japanese plants, or even $20 a day at Volkswagen. Those are
good wages in a country with a minimum wage of $4.50 a day.
It’s going to be hard for even auto workers in low-paying
states like Mississippi to compete with such miserable wages.
So what authors Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais in
their classic 1955 book, Labor’s Untold
Story, described as the “run-away-plant movement” continues, aided by NAFTA
and its kin, and it will continue as long as workers remain unorganized on an
international scale.
What’s encouraging, however, is that Mexican auto workers are raising complaints about poor working conditions such as long hours and
injuries on the job. If workers like them unionize around the world, eventually
the run-away plants will run out of places where they can run.
Anti-union toxins in
South Carolina
Another recent Associated Press report tells of the decision
by the Machinists union to forego a planned union vote last month at the Boeing
plant in North Charleston, S.C.
The union released a statement describing the “toxic
environment” against unions in the state. Threats and political interference
are among the toxins. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has publicly urged
workers at the 7,500-worker plant to oppose any unionization effort.
A “toxic environment” toward unions exists throughout the
South these days with the Republican takeover of the region. Workers eventually
are going to realize that the Nikki Haleys of the world don’t represent their
interests. Let’s hope that realization comes sooner rather than later.
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