[Blind Strike May Drag On
Workers, Company Have No Direct Contact
BY W. K. LEE JR.
Dctilv News Staff Writer
"As I see it, both sides have
I some really valid points. And I
feel if they can ever get by this
point of deciding who is to talk,
they can get some progress
This is what the situation —
the strike situation at Industries
of the Blind, Inc. — boils down
to, according to William Diggs,
counselor for the N.C. Commission for the Blind.
The strike, which if it continues, will enter its fifth week
Thanksgiving Day, has so far involved Greensboro's mayor, police, ministers, Lions Club,
black leaders and others, as well
as labor and management.
AS!ONLY*TWO whites were
among the reportedly 43 workers who on Oct, 28 struck the
Industries plant on West Lee
I Street, many black leaders see
the main issue as racism and
fear that inaction on the strike
will widen the chasm between
blacks and whites in Greensboro.
Management at the industries,
which as of Sept. 31 employed
112 blind persons — 62 black, 49
white, 1 Indian — in the production department, denies that
race is a factor in administrative policy.
Since Nov. 2, five days after
the strike began, there has been
no direct contact between the
Efforts to get them together
have involved talks on the
fringes of the strike between
interested parties and strikers,
the Industries managemnt and
its board of dirctors. So far,
these have been unsuccessful.
WHAT IS the 'strike all about?
When the decision was made
to strike, Miss Katie Nixon, a
blind employe, told a press conference that "it became clear
that the board and management
of the Industries of the Blind
had again turned deaf ears to
our plea for a resolution of our
Julius Douglas
Trust Gone
Speaking for Concerned Workers for Industries of the Blind,
. she said that for four and one-
half "years, employes Had been
working in earnest to improve
working conditions, raise salaries, acquire job descriptions and
classifications, piece rate increases, a seniority program, an
end to job and employment discrimination against black people, qualified department heads
and improved worker benefits.
Over the years, according to
strike advisor Tom Bailey and
the Rev. Julius T. Douglas, pastor of St. James United Presbyterian Church, the Concerned
Workers had approached the
State Commission for the Blind,
the American Civil Liberties Union, the Legal Aid Society, the
Greensboro Human Relations
Council and Jack Flam, presently mayor and former city attorney.
ELAM CONFIRMED that he
had been asked while city attorney and while mayor pro-tem to
look into the situation at Industries of the; Blind.
Louis Brooks
No Discrimination
"I investigated both times," he
said, "and in each case concluded' that this was a labor dispute
and that there was no evidence
Louis Brooks, executive director of the Human Relations
Commission, said the Employ-
m e n t subcommittee had also
failed to find discrimination at
the Industries.
Norman Smith of the N.C.
Chapter of the Civil Liberties
said that his group may have
done some preliminary checking
into the situation but had "taken
no steps toward any action in
that case,"
The Rev. Mr. George Gay at
an earlier, press conference
said, "in 1968-69, the blind employes acquired the assistance of
the Legal Aid attorney and the
Human Relations Commission
which ended in an agreement
with the industry to resolve the
grievances of the employes by
Jan., 1970.
HUDSON "RE PORTS that
agents of the FBI, under instructions of the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare,
investiaged the Inudstries for
racial discriination.
"They gave us a clean bill of
health," he said,
Hudson said that an employe I
group, elected by their fellow |
workers, to provide communication between management and
labor had been a direct result of
the Concerned Workers efforts
over the past few years.
In a statement this week, the
Greensboro Ministers Forum
and promises made to the workers "were never kept and fulfilled."
IT IS FOR this reason, the
workers say, the strike was
called
In his press conference Gay,
pastor of St. Stephens United
Church of Christ, described conditions at the Industries of the
Blind plant as "litte short of
slavery and an extension overt
oppression black people face in
Greensboro."
Gay listed dust in the air,
debris on the floor, unsafe
equipment and the lack of i
first aid station.
A walk through the plant re
vealed Gay's list to be largely I
true, although general manager
Hudson has an explanation for
THE BROOM ROOM, located |
on the first floor of the plant,
where blind and nearly blind I
whisk brooms, has a visible atmosphere of dust.
Hudson, admits the dust problem, but points out that a n<
dust eliminator has been i
stalled and is undergoing tests
to determine if the motor i
large enough and fast enough.
He says that the dust, which I
comes from the broom corn |
used in the department, is a
natural hazard of the industry.
He also notes that it is well i
within the limits required by the I
health department.
