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Momentive Performance Materials stewards and workers represented by [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] were joined by labor leaders and activists from around the Capital District of Upstate New York in a wide-ranging discussion of labor strategy and tactics on Wednesday, March 31 in Waterford, New York.

Momentive workers, formerly employees of General Electric, suffered 25 to 50 percent wage cuts in early 2008, and are now engaged in a two-front struggle with a case before the National Relations Board (NLRB) and contract negotiations with Momentive that face of June 2010 deadline. The meeting was co-sponsored by the Troy Area Labor Council, which has taken on solidarity with IUE/CWA 81359.

The meeting, chaired by Local 81359 President Dominick Patrignani, crowded into the dining room of Costanzo's Restaurant to hear Steve Early, former Communications Workers of America (CWA) international representative, and author of several books on labor issues, discuss the question of how unions could fight back in a period of deep recession and general retreat by organized labor.

Early drew on his experiences in a number of labor battles during the eighties and nineties fought by the CWA against the large telecom employers like Verizon and its predecessors.