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As Caterpillar strike drags on, donations mount for union workers

Aug, 08 2012

(Illinois) -- One day after U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin visited the picket line, members of the SEIU Health Care Illinois and Indiana presented Local Lodge 851 Machinists Union officials with a check for $25,000 Tuesday.

The donation by SEIU, which represents 91,000 health care and child care providers, boosts the strike fund to more than $90,000, machinists union president Timothy O’Brien said.

“Our core membership is still holding strong,” O’Brien said. “And things like this (donation) really help.”

Flora Johnson, chairwoman of the SEIU executive board, addressed machinists on the picket line.

“Solidarity is the golden rule of the labor movement,” she said as cars and trucks whooshed by her on U.S. 6.

“It means that a threat to workers anywhere is a threat to workers everywhere,” she said. “Let’s make no mistake these Caterpillar workers are fighting not just for their own future, they’re fighting for the well being of working families who have been shortchanged by corporate greed.”

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