Strikers: 'We have a lot to be thankful for'

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By HILARY KINDSCHUH / Lincoln Journal Star

The aroma of turkey, dressing and mashed potatoes permeates the room while a football game plays on a TV in the background. Mo Anker sits at the table on Thanksgiving Day, finishing a slice of pumpkin pie.

While Anker is not at home with relatives on this holiday, he is spending the day with a different kind of family — brothers and sisters of United Steelworkers Local 286.

“Delicious,” Anker says, pushing away his plate after he finishes a slice of pumpkin pie at the union office a block away from the plant. “Hit the spot after walking the picket line for two hours.”

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Larry Rerucha (left) sits with Rick Freeman (middle) and Brent Keller as the two eat a Thanksgiving dinner provided by United Steel Workers Local 268 in a lean-to behind the Goodyear plant in Lincoln. Goodyear employees have been on strike since Oct. 5. (Gwyneth Roberts)

Larry Rerucha (left) sits with Rick Freeman (middle) and Brent Keller as the two eat a Thanksgiving dinner provided by United Steel Workers Local 268 in a lean-to behind the Goodyear plant in Lincoln. Goodyear employees have been on strike since Oct. 5. (Gwyneth Roberts)

Union members have been keeping constant vigil at Lincoln’s Goodyear plant on North 56th Street since Oct. 5, when thousands of workers represented by the United Steelworkers at 16 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plants in 10 states and Canada — including more than 500 workers in Lincoln — went on strike after the company and union negotiators failed to agree on a new labor contract.

Thanksgiving Day was like any other day for those on strike — except, of course, for the sumptuous holiday feast.

“The only typical thing about this Thanksgiving is we have more food than we know what to do with,” said Ucinda Sims, financial secretary of Local 286.

The Nebraska AFL-CIO brought turkey and dressing, union members and friends brought pies and other dishes, and union members of Lincoln’s Quebecor printing plant donated turkeys their company had given them for the holiday, Sims said.

This strike is different from the four-month strike in 1976, when the media and politicians seemed to exhibit an anti-union sentiment, Anker said.

“This time around I haven’t seen anything but support,” he said.

Negotiators for Goodyear and the United Steelworkers had resumed talks Nov. 14, but they broke off again days later.

“I’m thankful they were talking, and hopefully they will be talking again,” Anker said.

Union members are “never not hopeful,” Sims said.

“I think I’m just really, really thankful that in a battle like this I have all these people with me,” she said.

“Our strength just comes from being together. Because if you sat at home by yourself and worried about how you’re going to pay the mortgage without a job, you’d go crazy.”

Still, everybody would rather be working again, Anker said.

“But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.”

Many who showed up to the picket line on Thanksgiving were filling in for other picketers who were home with their families, Anker said.

“That’s what it’s all about,” he said. “I enjoy being here with my brothers and sisters.”

Those who were outside on the picket line during the day were thankful for the mild weather.

“But if it were snowing, we’d be here,” said David Smith, a retiree who worked for 35 years at Goodyear.

Smith was standing with several other picketers in front of a newly constructed wooden shelter.

“If things don’t go well, we’re ready for the long haul,” said Wayne Mart, who has worked at Goodyear for 37 years.

The picketers said the strike wasn’t about wage increases, but rather preserving benefits for workers and retirees.

“We care about our company,” said Duane Dvorak, who has worked at Goodyear for 33 years. “We’re just trying to maintain a decent level of living.”

Smith said he gave over half his life to the company.

“Everything I have, I owe to Goodyear,” Smith said. “But I earned it.”

Mart said he was thankful they had the right to be there picketing in the first place.

“A lot of places in the world, you couldn’t do this, stand up for what you think,” Mart said. “You’d think maybe with this going on, we don’t have a lot to be thankful for, but actually we have a lot to be thankful for.”

Reach Hilary Kindschuh at 473-7120 or hkindschuh@journalstar.com