UPS Teamster ranks still fighting

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NEW YORK CITY-Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a national rank-and-file organization, won a victory last month when a federal court judge ordered a new vote on the contract recently negotiated with United Parcel Service. The TDU charged that Teamster president Jackie Presser had collaborated with UPS to deny union members their right to have input into the contract. The TDU suit revealed that Presser had met secretly with company officials and had accepted their offer to extend, with some modifications, the 1982 concessionary contract covering 90,000 employees.

The 1982 contract has meant a twoand-a-half- year wage freeze-while company profits climbed from $327.8 Hal Lundford is a member of TDU and of a Teamster freight local in New York City.

12 SOCIALIST ACTION million in 1981 to a record $489.8 million in 1983. Although the negotiated extension offers a $1000 "bonus" ($500 for part-timers), the cost-of-living payments will continue to be diverted into paying for health, welfare, and pension benefits. The two-tier wage structure, which was begun in 1982, is extended to a three-tier structure in the new contract, further weakening the union by dividing the ranks and giving UPS an incentive to fire senior employees. There are no improvements in benefits, nor measures to curb UPS's contract violations and productivity drive.

In an attempt to railroad the contract through, Presser began mailing out ballots for an immediate ratification vote only hours after he informed the surprised local officers that negotiations were over. He sought to preempt any battle against extension of concessions. A Teamster official explained that "Both sides were deathly afraid that otherwise we'd have 90,000 on strike for no telling how long."

OCTOBER 1984 Teamster President Jackie Presser In other words, the bureaucracy's priority is on labor peace and keeping the membership demobilized at any price.

Presser was trying to avoid another discrediting defeat like last year's 88 percent vote rejecting his proposed relief-rider to the master freight contract. At that time TDU had provided the information and organization to

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SOCIALIST ACTION OCTOBER 1984 The skyscraper towers of corporate America loom over town and city much as the medieval cathedral spires soared above the humble homes of burghers and peasants.

No doubt many corporate managers savor this comparison as they are whisked by limousine and high-speed elevator to their executive suites high above the milling throngs. Are they not the 20th century priesthood ordained by capitalism to preside over the system that creates the necessities and luxuries that keep the people happy? Are they not dedicated to their corporations' welfare 12 or 18 hours a day?

Before our corporate manager wraps a cloak of sanctity about himself we should take a closer look at life in the executive suite. This is not easy to do. A guard at the door will make it plain you are not welcome there. You will even have trouble learning who the executives are.

At one time you could identify a major company with a single person. When Henry Ford said you could have your Model T in any color so long as it was black, you knew exactly where to register your protest.

Today you try to get satisfaction over a defective General Motors car and you find, with few exceptions, that a curtain of anonymity has fallen on every official who has any responsibility in the corporation.

An unkind critic might claim that these faceless people must have something to hide. Judging by reports in the daily press, the unkind critics are right. These high priests of corporate power are not the dedicated stewards of stockholders' and consumers' interests they claim to be. Their overriding concern seems to be their own personal wellbeing and enrichment.

Recently a group of top-level executives of the auto industry were considering the allocation of $50 million of their companies' resources. Were they thinking of investing in a safer seat belt or a more fuel efficient engine? Not at all. They were deciding how to divvy up $50 million in bonuses among themselves.

They had forgone bonuses for the past few years because of plunging sales. Workers down on the shop floor had given up $4 billion in wages and A tentative settlement was reached Sept. 21 between the United Automobile Workers (UAW) and General Motors, ending a week-long selective strike. The strike had affected one-third of GM's workforce and had stopped half of GM's total production.

The pact has been hailed by economists and industry sources as being beneficial to the automobile industry and to the U.S. economy. It calls for annual 2.25 percent wage increases, which is less than the average 2.7 percent increase in other major contract agreements. Furthermore, it gives GM virtually free rein in reorganizing its workforce to eliminate jobs. GM has already announced plans to eliminate 60,000 to 120,000 jobs in the next two years.

In return for work-rule concessions, the UAW won a commitment from GM to establish a $1-billion fund to provide retraining for workers laid off as a result of technological improvements and "outsourcing" from foreign and nonunion companies.

The $1-billion fund is to be built up was to share any them.

After all it was top management that had pulled the industry out of its slump through a brilliant strategy. They had persuaded the administration to pressure the Japanese to restrict the export of their popular and efficient cars. Then all the auto moguls had to do was to sit on their hands and wait for desperate motorists to shell out big bucks for overpriced American cars they did not want but were forced to buy.

Just like Marie Antoinette For helping devise this brilliant strategy Phillip Caldwell, chairman of Ford Motor Co., received a bonus of $7 million. When a tactless reporter asked Mrs. Caldwell whether she thought her husband deserved a bonus of that size she replied, "How can I answer that without sounding like Marie Antoinette?"

Bonuses like these tarnish the image of corporate managers as dedicated guardians of our national resources. It also makes them vulnerable to takeover bids.

An example of a takeover bid was seen at Walt Disney Productions last Spring. Saul Steinberg, head of Group Holdings Inc., wanted to try his hand at movie-making and running amusement parks, or so it seemed. With millions in hand and more millions borrowed, Steinberg bought up all the Disney stock he could find. As the price of the stock rose many holders were willing to sell and take a profit. Others loyally held onto their stock because they thought Steinberg knew zilch about movie-making and would only run a good company into the ground.

Disney management saw things differently. If Steinberg got voting control their jobs would be in jeopardy. This had to be prevented at all costs, especially any cost to be paid by Disney Productions. First they diluted everyone's stock by issuing $525 million in new shares to buy a greeting card company that served no corporate purpose, except that Steinberg would have to buy more stock to get control.

When this maneuver failed to stop Steinberg they decided to meet the problem head on. They would borrow the money and pay Steinberg any price he wanted for the stock he held. The price Steinberg wanted was $70.83 a share for by annual payments of $167 million over six years. The total cost of the entire agreement is expected to ada 20 percent to GM's costs over the life of the contract. By contrast, the 1979 UAW-GM contract added nearly 40 percent to GM's labor costs.

GEORGE CRANSTON FAIRMONT, W.Va.—The United Mine Workers (UMW) signed a contract with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association (BCOA) on Sept 21. that provides for a 10.25 percent ($1.40 an hour) pay increase over the life of the new 40-month contract.

The contract includes increases in pensions and benefits, including a new 50-percent pension for spouses of miners who die before retirement.

The contract tightens up loopholes that allowed companies to circumvent the contract by leasing mines and subcontracting out some mine work. The contract requires operators who sublease mines from union companies to give first-hiring rights to union members a total of $325.5 million, which gave Steinberg a profit of $31 million for a few weeks work, mainly on the telephone.

The loyal shareholders who held onto their stock were not invited to participate in this bonanza. In fact after the dust had settled on this high-level operation the little stockholders found the value of their shares had fallen from $65 to $50, and it is likely to plunge further.

What about Mr. Steinberg's desire to make movies and run amusement parks? It seemed his only desire was to make money. Some would say his operation was blackmail. But blackmail is a crime, so they call it greenmail—all perfectly legal. The con men take their YOUR PROBLEM IS THAT YOU MANAGEMENT TYPES Jim Morin profit and the executives hold on to their lucrative jobs. The losers are the stockholders who have been fleeced by the high priests dedicated to serving them.

Sometimes management can find no way of saving its jobs. The company is on the skids and about to founder. The executives' ethic does not include going down bravely with the sinking ship. Rather it means save yourself and let the rest go under.

laid off by pany.

The agreement covers about 75 percent of the union's 160,000 members. About 12,000 miners are not covered by the BCOA agreement. UMW President Rich Trumka said selective strikes against the Island Creek Coal Co., the National Mines Corp., the A.T. Massey Coal Co., and the North American Coal Corp. will begin Oct. 1. The union has amassed its first strike fund, estimated at $45 million, which will be put to use to force the remaining, operators to abide by the BCOA master contract.

The union leadership had proposed for the first time in 20 years that the union depart from the "No ContractNo Coal" position that has governed negotiations in the past.

Trumka had maintained complete secrecy as to the union's strategy, supposedly to avoid unfavorable press coverage. But it is likely that layoffs will occur in the near future as companies have been stockpiling coal and pushing overtime in preparation for a strike.

CLEVELAND-Last year, Kroger Co., a grocery chain, threatened to close all of its northeastern Ohio stores unless members of the United Food and UAW U.S. AUTO In the jet age the executive does not desert the sinking ship, but bails out of the plunging airplane. For this he needs a parachute, preferably a golden parachute that will land him on easy street with stacks of greenbacks to cushion his fall.

Last spring Roger E. Anderson was an executive officer in the high-flying Continental Illinois Bank that went belly-up at a cost to the taxpayers of $7 billion.

Anderson saw rough-flying weather ahead and prudently arranged for his golden parachute. As a "reward" for years of gross mismanagement of the bank Mr. Anderson has retired on a lifetime pension of six figures, plus a cash severance payment of $280,000. As frosting on the cake his club dues have been paid up for a year.

Multimillion dollar bonuses, greenYES, WE DO... THI UNEMPLOY LINE EXECUTIVE mail, and golden parachutes indicate that many executives have lost faith in the stability of the corporate structure. They believe they must get in, get rich, and get out.

Workers are also losing faith in the corporate structure. Since they have no golden parachutes, they must organize to kick the parasites out of their executive suites and make the corporate towers belong to all the people.

Commercial Workers (UFCW) agreed to concessions. Through these blackmail tactics, the company succeeded extorting a 70 cents-per-hour wage cut and stealing three paid holidays.

This year the company has demanded that workers accept a $2-per-hour wage cut and benefits reductions. The bosses claimed failure to approve the new concessions would result in store closings.

On July 29, the clerks' division of UFCW Local 880 voted to accept a oneyear contract including these concessions. The meat cutters' division, however, refused. The union has withstood company pressure to force a new vote by the meat cutters.

When the contract expired, Kroger unilaterally imposed the rejected settlement on the meat cutters. At midnight on Sept. 10, the 250 meat cutters at 15 Kroger stores in northeastern Ohio set up picket lines. This is the first Cleveland grocery strike since 1952.

Kroger has gone all out to break the strike. On Sept. 12, the company began hiring scabs. Although the company has successfully intimidated most clerks into crossing the meat cutters' lines, the new wages and working conditions have caused some clerks to demand a revote.

Most delivery drivers are honoring the UFCW picket lines. Pickets report great success in persuading customers to shop at other grocery stores.

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benefits in the same period, but there UAW calls off selective strikes

UMW signs pact with coal bosses

DON'T KNOW WHERE THE U.S. AUTO WORKER IS COMING FROM!

Workers strike at Kroger chain