Listen: Rising Up Against the Petrochemical Giants and More!

Sharon Lavigne of Rise St. James joins Rev. Dr. William Barber. Photo courtesy of Steve Tavey/the Kairos Center.

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By Bob Hennelly

On this week’s episode of the Moral Monday Labor Radio Hour with Rev. Dr.  William Barber, we’re talking about breaking the petrochemical industry’s death grip on the state of Mississippi; the weekly UAW Update; and New Jersey’s USW Local 6129 on strike against the world’s leading food can maker.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Together with the Rev. Dr. Barber, we visit with Sharon Lavigne from St. James Parish, Louisiana. St. James Parish sits on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Lavigne, one of Time’s 100 most influential people, founded St. James Rising, a grassroots community group that defeated plans to build a $1.25 billion petrochemical plant. Her story is an example of the power of collective community action. For generations, the petrochemical industry got a free ride in that part of the country. The toxic pollution generated by the vast existing complex of chemical plants along the Mississippi has not only degraded the local ecology, but earned that stretch of the Mississippi River the designation as “cancer alley” because the cancer risk there is 50 times the national average.

Sharon recounts how her faith-based grassroots activism has sparked a movement that  puts the well-being of the Mississippi River — and the people that live along its shores — ahead of the profiteering of the chemical industry that’s had it way for far too long.

We also get an update from the UAW Region 9’s Ray Jensen on some big wins by the reinvigorated union which  recently won their landmark union vote at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as well as this week’s new contract with Daimler Truck. Jensen also explains why his union is taking New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to court to try and get smoking banned in Atlantic City casinos. Jensen also reiterates his union’s commitment for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

We finish up this week’s show with a strike update from United Steelworkers Local 6129. The local is going into the second week of its strike for a fair contract at Silgan Containers in Edison, New Jersey. The profitable multinational conglomerate makes most of the cans that hold the soups, beans and vegetables we consume every day. USW member Justin Lawson describes how management’s last offer called for members to pay more for their healthcare while undermining the existing overtime structure. Management has also been working the workforce seven-days-a-week. Making metal cans is dangerous work. Back in September, a production line worker was crushed to death at the Silgan plant in Indiana.

Listen to the entire show below: