A YEAR ON THE LINE

...The assets of the Citizen's National Bank increased a mere 2.5 per cent in the past year, while other Willmar banks averaged almost 20 per cent increases...

...The strike had left its mark on the bank and on Willmar...

...The large contributions from the Minnesota Educational Association and the United Auto Workers, which had carried them through the summer, had run out...

...And the remaining seven women were notified they had been permanently replaced...

...The others, too, have experienced harassment: A Cub Scout den headed by a bank vice-president refused membership to a striker's son...

...Early in September, the women filed an offer of "unconditional reinstatement...

...dwindled to the point where WBEA was able to pay each of its members a strike benefit of only $69.00 for the month that ended on September 15...

...Although the strike is "officially" over, the struggle continues...

...In recent weeks contributions have begun to increase again, with significant support now coming from many locals of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employes — especially the Willmar State Hospital Employes — and the Minnesota chapter of the National Organization for Women...

...When asked whether the strike was a mistake, one of the women, probably speaking for all of them, replied, "No, I'd do it all over again...

...The bank responded by recalling Doris Boshart, former head bookkeeper and the striker with the most seniority...

...But it was also a demotion: She was placed in a teller's position...

...She returned to work with the blessing and support of the WBEA women, who viewed her reinstatement as a partial victory...

...I really grew up and learned the meaning of responsibility...

...This action, which indicated their willingness to return to work, was required to make them eligible for unemployment compensation, and it "officially" ended the strike...

...The city recently replaced the parking meters in front of the bank with no parking signs, preventing the women from parking a car in front of the bank to serve as a warming house and mobile strike headquarters...

...I have a new perspective on life...

...Since returning to work, Doris Boshart had been subjected to name-calling, anonymous notes, and other petty recriminations...

...Emboldened by the example of the WBEA women, ten women employes of a local beauty shop retain John Mack, the WBEA attorney, and filed a successful lawsuit over violations of wages-and-hours regulations...

...But this support, wide as it was in liberal, labor, and feminist circles, has not sufficed to win the strike...

...They continue to make speaking and fund-raising appearances before women's groups and labor organizations...

...Support for the strike, and the strikers' morale, sank to a low point in September...

...Although the women have suffered in many ways during their year-long struggle, they have grown and gained confidence...

...The Citizens' National Bank and its supporters continue to retaliate against WBEA members in various ways...

...Part of that perspective is the understanding that justice is attained through community and struggle...

...December 16 was the first anniversary of the day they went on strike against the Citizens' National Bank to protest sex discrimination and failure to negotiate a union contract...

...They have filed additional unfair labor practice charges against the bank over the demotion of Doris Boshart and the permanent replacement of the strikers...

...A year on the line The women of Willmar still walk and wait Joseph Amato, David Nass, and Thaddeus Radzialowski Winter has come again to Willmar, Minnesota, and still the eight women of the Willmar Bank Employes Association (WBEA) walk their picket line...

...The women still walk the line daily, engaged now in "informational bannering" rather than "picketing...

...As we wrote in The Progressive last summer ("The Women of Willmar," August issue), the strikers have gained an education in unionism and feminism, in friendship and in struggle...

...Though the women themselves have changed dramatically, their situation remains, at this writing, essentially what it was six months ago: They walk outside the bank and await rulings from the slow bureaucracies of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB...

...The uniqueness of their strike and their persistence in it won them, in their first six months, support and recognition throughout Minnesota and around the country...

...The beauticians are now in the process of seeking union representation...

...Funds had Professors Amato, Nass, and Radzialowski teach history at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minnesota...