Shipbuilders under by bureaucracy
1989Roland Peterson 1989-11Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 7 →
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La Civil war at Local 6 The past period of concession bargaining led by the AFL-CIO international leadership has also led to the housebreaking of local unions opposing the policies of their international Union.
Local 6 of the Industrial Union of Marine Shipbuilding Workers of America (IUMSWA), in Bath, Maine, is one of the few local unions that has not been housebroken. It has successfully fought off the two-tier and other concessionary schemes of the trade-union bureaucracy and the employers.
Local 6 is under attack by IUMSWA President Arthur Batson. Although the local pays the majority of the per-capita taxes in the IUMSWA, it has a minority of the votes in the international union, making it difficult to oppose Batson within the structure of the IUMSWA and to change his concessionary policies. Nevertheless, the membership is putting up a fight to defend their union.
Batson's cronies have come into the area and have removed the president of the local, Ainsley McPhee, on charges of "dual unionism." McPhee's real crime was that he did not allow backroom concessionary settlements of grievances that the international and the Bath Iron Works bosses had worked out behind the backs of the local union.
Greg Guckenburg, Local 6 financial secretary, was also tried for "dual unionism" when he, too, refused to OK the sweetheart grievance proceedure.
In response, the Local 6 Committee for Union Democracy has been formed by the officers and members of Local 6 to oppose the actions of the bureaucracy and to explain the issues of the dispute to the rank and file. They have, in accordance with the local's bylaws, collected over 3500 signatures calling for a special meeting to reinstate McPhee.
As the membership of Local 6 becomes more and more aware of the role of the International union, President Batson may very well come to the realization that he has bitten off more than he can chew.
AFL C0
By LAWRENCE E. LOCKMAN We reprint the following article, "Civil war at Local 6," from the Brunswick, Maine, Times Record of Oct. 9, 1989, to provide background to the dispute in the shipbuilders union. Lawrence Lockman is a shop steward of Local 80, United Paperworkers International Union (UPIU).
In the aftermath of a hotly contested election battle between rival labor unions at Bath Iron Works, workers are getting a close-up look at how organized labor deals with dissidents.
It's not a pretty sight.
The dispute at Local 6 began in 1987 when the international union representing BIW workers—the Industrial Union of Marine Shipbuilding Workers of America (IUMSWA)—voted to merge with the International Association of Machinists (IAM). Actually, the only ones who voted were delegates to the conventions of the international unions; there was no rank-and-file vote of the 7000 shipbuilders at BIW.
As a result of the merger, union dues required of Local 6 members increased substantially, and more increases are in the works. In the view of many disgruntled BIW shipbuilders, all they gained from affiliating with the IAM was "extra baggage" and higher