Staff report
CLEVELAND ó Trade unionists, labor supporters and community activists are expected at a rally for the Freightliner Five in Cleveland at 11 this morning.
The group seeks reinstatement for five UAW 3520 union leaders who were fired in April 2007. The plant is one of the largest unionized plants in the state.
The fired workers and their supporters see this as “not only about their cases but the future of organizing in the South for working people,” according to an e-mail sent to the Post on Thursday afternoon.
Allen Bradley, one of the Freightliner Five and an electronics technician for 11 years at the Cleveland plant until being fired, said Thursday the rally is expected to bring 200 to 400 supporters to Cleveland Park from as far away as Germany. The park is on Clement Street.
He said picketers are expected to be at the plant site today also.
The company announced it was cutting 1,500 more jobs and shutting down its second shift just as Freightliner Five members set up pickets at the plant in April.
Bradley said among his concerns is that even as Freightliner announces cutbacks here, construction continues on a new plant in Mexico, which he fears eventually will swallow all jobs from north of the border and leave workers with the same fate textile workers suffered.
The group has a Web site at www.justice4five.com.