Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, spoke in support of labor and urged workers to go to the polls in November



Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, spoke in support of labor and urged workers to go to the polls in November

WORKERS PICNIC, PICKET

Striking Graniterock workers rally

By KEVIN HOWE

Herald Staff Writer

Union members formed a Labor Day convoy to support striking quarry workers, traveling from a picnic in Royal Oaks Park to picket Graniterock's Aromas quarry Monday.

The picnic drew upwards of 200 union members from Santa Cruz and Monterey counties to the park, where Assemblyman Simon Salinas, D-Salinas, and Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, spoke in support of labor and urged workers to go to the polls in November.

A voter registration booth staffed by members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union stood ready to sign them up, but most of those of voting age had apparently already registered. A "Peace Van" festooned with slogans was parked nearby, brought in by the United Nations Association of Santa Cruz County.

Signs supporting Proposition 72 on the Nov. 2 ballot, requiring employers with 50 or more workers to provide health insurance, were everywhere.

The picnic was organized to show support for members of four Graniterock unions -- Teamsters, Operating Engineers, Machinists and Laborers -- who have rejected the company's contract offer and gone on strike, said Jodeen Olguín-Taylor of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council.

Executive director Paul Johnston said 60 labor organizations are represented in the Labor Council.

On stage, musicians playing a guitar and bandolin sang various anti-Bush anthems set to popular tunes. After dining on barbecued chicken and hamburgers, revellers convoyed in their cars from the park to the quarry entrance where they joined union pickets at 3 p.m.

Jack Compton of Elkhorn, who served for 14 years on the Moss Landing Harbor District commission and worked 30 years in construction, said he was able to retire because of the economic gains made possible by the labor movement.

"I hate to see Graniterock go nonunion," he said.

Graniterock striker Kenneth Larson of Aromas said he can't understand why his company's biggest competitor, Granite Construction Co., can open a new quarry within 30 miles of Aromas and pay union wages and benefits, when Graniterock says it can't afford to.

"It's hard to understand they have an economic problem," he said.
Kevin Howe can be reached at 646-4416 or khowe@montereyherald.com.

When this story was posted in October 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

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