24 Sep It’s Now or Never in a Small Town’s Fight to Put People Over Corporations. – Roxanne D. Brown
Catina Price watched the government lavish billions over the years on the corporations that descended on Ascension Parish, La., to build petrochemical factories on old sugarcane fields.
But none of the prosperity ever trickled down to Donaldsonville, the parish seat and small town that a financial website once ranked the second-worst place in America to live because of the lack of opportunity and high poverty rate.
Now, as yet another corporation moves in, Catina and a growing coalition of neighbors intend to change all of that.
Good Neighbors Louisiana wants a community benefits agreement that puts people first and ensures that a development gets done the right way for once.
The coalition—made up of residents and allies including the United Steelworkers (USW) and civil-rights groups—seeks written assurances that Hyundai Steel will hire residents of the Donaldsonville area for the 1,700-acre mill the company is building to supply its auto plants.
Other demands include honest communication with residents, health and safety protections for residents and workers, and Hyundai’s long-term commitment to a stem-to-stern revitalization of Donaldsonville.
The group also wants guarantees that Hyundai will treat workers with dignity and obey labor law, including workers’ right to form a union.
“I love this community,” explained Catina, who moved here during her high school years. “I want everybody to win.”
The state touts the economic impact of the petrochemical plants clustered in Ascension Parish in the southeastern part of the state. But as Catina points out, the math never added up for the people of Donaldsonville.
They saw none of the good-paying petrochemical company jobs, no higher quality of life, no benefit of any kind.
“Why?” Catina asked. “That’s not fair to us.”
“They don’t pour into the community,” she added of most local companies. “It’s frustrating.”
The town of 7,000 struggles with a poverty rate of about 45 percent, more than twice the state rate. The median household income, $23,618, is less than half of the state figure and just a quarter of what it is nationwide.
The financial website 247wallst.com cited these and other factors in 2020 when it ranked Donaldsonville the worst place to live in Louisiana and second worst in the nation, behind Yazoo City, Miss.
Yet the people of Donaldsonville and nearby Modeste celebrate their neighborly, family-oriented ways. They’re proud of their museum showcasing Black history and their 50-block historic district.
They share a strong sense of community, which is what now empowers them to stand up to Hyundai and demand a fair share.
“It’s either now or never,” Catina said.
Coalition members have good reasons for demanding a written community benefits agreement enshrining Hyundai’s commitment to stewardship and union rights.
Among other concerns, they cited the deadly working conditions at a Hyundai battery factory, built by nonunion workers in Georgia, and allegations that companies in the Hyundai supply chain violate child-labor rules, use prison labor and violate labor laws in the South.
They also insist on transparency after learning that the state and company cut them out of planning for the mill, already under construction on the outskirts of town. The deal included showering the company with billions in secret taxpayer-funded incentives.
Catina and fellow activists refuse to be kept in the dark or muzzled again. They see a unionized work force as critical to holding Hyundai accountable, inside and outside of the mill, especially after their own elected officials let them down.
“They’re not fighting for us,” Catina said of Louisiana officials. “They’re not looking out for us. I know the union would.”
“This is the future,” she said, noting the opportunity to move Donaldsonville forward for generations to come. “We’re going to fight until the end. We’re not giving up.”