Carhaulers beat back bosses' two-tier offer

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NEW YORK-Carhaul Teamsters have shown not only the willingness but the ability and self-organization to fight the employers effectively, despite the role of the Teamster bureaucracy.

The industry, which is quite profitable, was demanding big concessions and the union negotiators tried to sell a concessionary pact. The July issue of Teamster quoted Teamster Vice-President Shea, who said that it was the "best contract we could possibly get....It may be the single best contract in the entire International."

President Jackie Presser strongly praised the deal in a letter to carhaulers. Officials tried to sell it on the West Coast on the basis that the West did not get hit as bad as the East. The vote was structured so that everyone voted on other divisions' conditions: Owner operators, clerical, driveaway, mechanics, and yard employees-none got a separate vote.

Despite all of this, in a tremendous show of solidarity, the contract was voted down by 81 percent, the first time the membership managed to overcome the undemocratic rule requiring a two-thirds no vote to reject an employer's "final last offer" recommended by the officials. This shows how out of touch the bureaucracy is with the membership.

In the aftermath of the vote, the employers forced a strike by refusing to bargain in good faith. They demanded even more takeaways after the 81 percent no vote. Dealers had been stockpiling American cars for months as the contract was extended, until finally on July 26, 22,000 carhaulers struck.

As a result, as of Aug. 1, the dealers still had an average of 55 days' inventory, the highest level in years. Nevertheless, it was soon apparent that the Lundford member of I.B.T. carhaulers were winning this strike despite the opposition of top officials, who hoped a weakly organized strike would backfire on the militants.

One of Presser's associates, Wendell Quillen, even ordered his Local 957 to scab during the strike. In its time-honored tradition, the officials would have to lose at the bargaining table what the membership was winning on the picket line.

Much improved settlement

On Aug. 15 a new proposed settlement was announced. Whatever its shortcomings, it was a big advance over the previous "best contract, proving the rank and file right. Major giveaways in the earlier pact—such as the automatic half-rate or 59 percent for brokers, loss of transfer rights, two-tier for drivers, and smaller wage increases for Western Conference workers-were dropped.

How ever, some concessions remain, such as allowing back-hauls from terminals with layoffs (which would cost jobs during a downturn), the cost-of-living clause remains gutted, and hourly employees still face a two-tier.

As a result, the largest carhaul Local 299 in Detroit and the rank-and-file Carhaulers Coordinating Committee of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) are calling for another no vote.

While the latest offer makes significant improvements, another no vote is needed to halt all concessions and to win back what was lost in the 1982 concessionary contract. While the carhaulers were ordered back to work before the new ballot, in case of a second no vote they will still be in a strong position to strike with the new car models being shipped.

In any case, the strike and no vote showed the changing mood and tremendous unity in the ranks. The members organized themselves to stop workers, held solidarity rallies, and sent flying squads to beef up the picketing at key areas.

New leaders emerged, and a national rank-and-file network, TDU's Carhaulers Coordinating Committee, won authority. These are big gains for the future as well. Whatever the upcoming vote, to be completed by Sept. 12, the membership will be in a much better position to enforce the contract.

Further tasks ahead

Beyond the current rank-and-file campaign for another no vote are other tasks posed by this fight. A serious organizing drive is needed aimed at the growing nonunion, driveaway, heavy-truck delivery sector.

Carhaulers can join other Teamsters in the runup to the May 1986 I.B.T. Convention to campaign for: establishing rank-and-file bargaining councils, abolishing the two-third rule on contracts in favor of the principle of majority rule, and putting the union on record against two-tier contracts.

Carhaulers also need to focus on winning job security. For a start, the practice of working 70 hours during eight days while others are on layoff should be stopped. Together we can bring the day when no one hauls anything if there's even one on layoff.

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AUSTIN, Minn.— By a vote of 1261 to 96, members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local P-9 here rejected the George A. Hormel Company's "final" contract offer last Aug. 14 and decided to go out on strike.

The overwhelming opposition of the membership to Hormel's concession drive resounded through the city at a demonstration a few days later as striking workers chanted, "They say giveback, we say fightback!"

Local P-9 rejected a contract which would have set pay scales back to pre1978 levels. Only last October, Hormel, the country's ninth largest meatpacker, slashed P-9 members' wages from $10.69 to $8.25 per hour.

On Aug. 21, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Hormel's 1985 third quarter earnings were $9.5 million, an 83-percent increase over the previous HORMEL UFEW STRIKE HORMEL ON ON STRIKE ments for striking workers in two weeks.

Hormel has erected a chain link fence topped with barbed wire around its corporate offices and is employing ostentatious "security" measures on the property.

The corporate giant's attempts to prejudice the public against the local took a sinister turn just six days after the strike vote. Company officials announced plans to move their families out of town for their "protection" and have charged an individual with making a death threat against Hormel Chairman Richard Knowlton.

More credible to anyone familiar with the open and public nature of the union's campaign for a just settlement are P-9 members' reports of threats and tire slashings they have experienced.

The best answer to Hormel's violence-baiting tactics is contained in the activity of P-9 members themselves,