Labor Briefing

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• Big Three Done—Many observ­ ers put emphasis on the number and duration of major strikes as a gauge of worker combativeness. It’s an impor­ tant measure to be sure, and it’s been very low for years. But it misses some major shifts underway in the labor movement.

Between the Sept. 14 expiration of UAW national contracts with General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler until the announcement late Nov. 20 that a new Ford contract had been ratified, not a single day of work was lost. Yet it was anything but smooth sailing for the bosses and UAW bureaucracy.

A New York Times story opened, “After five months of bargaining and divisive ratification votes, the United Automo­ bile Workers … completed new labor contracts covering more than 140,000 workers at the three largest American automakers … finalizing the agree­ ments proved to be a painstaking pro­ cess, because many workers opposed the terms negotiated by UAW leaders.”

The workers at Fiat Chrysler reject­ ed a first Tentative Agreement by a 2-1 margin but later ratified a second deal that rearranged the total pack­ age. An overall majority voted for the TA at General Motors but skilled trades workers rejected it—causing some de­ lay before the UAW leadership finally declared it ratified. At Ford, the out­ come was unknown until literally the final hour. The results announced were “yes” votes of 51 percent of production workers, 52 percent skilled trades, and 92 percent salaried.

Clearly, these workers are no longer just happy to have a job. The industry is thriving, profits have been swelling. They expected to share in this recovery after a demoralizing decade of major give-backs—super-sized at GM and Chrysler by a White House-dictated bankruptcy.

While these new four-year contracts, especially at Ford, were the first in more than a decade with some im­ provements, there was still much dis­ appointment with the stinginess of their “partners.” Many believed it was time for: their first general wage in­ crease in 10 years to be even bigger; a quicker path than eight years to elimi­ nating divisive two-tier wages; hourly raises every year instead of lump sums every other year; and restoring cost-of-living adjustments. The skilled trades at GM were upset about new changes in classifications and work rules.

There was bitterness at Chrysler over hated Alternative Work Schedules, which remain essentially unchanged. But this sentiment has not yet pro­ duced an effective organized opposi­ tion within the union, and it fell short. The time to start building a class strug­ gle alternative to the failed strategy of “partnership” is now. Valuable lessons can be found in the formative history of their union as well as current examples in the teacher unions and Teamsters.­ • Kohler Has Begun—As Big Three bargaining was winding down, 2000 workers at two Kohler plants in Wis­ consin walked out after a 94 percent rejection of the plumbing products maker’s “last, best, and final offer.”

In 2010, when new housing construc­ tion had bottomed out, UAW Local 833 reluctantly followed the giveback pat­ tern set by their International union at the Big Three and agreed to a two-tier wage structure. According to the lo­ cal, under the expired contract veteran workers earned an average of $22.50 an hour while 400 workers hired since 2010 get about $12.50 on average. With plenty of work today, the workers are united and determined to achieve wage parity. A Green Bay TV station reported that thousands of strikers, family members, and supporters from other unions,held a Saturday mass march and rally in Kohler Village out­ There’s a strong tradition in Local 833 of lasting “one day longer.” In fact, they set a record for the longest strike in U.S. history. A 1954 strike for a first contract was met with scabs and strike­ breakers, and there were frequent company complaints of violence on and off the picket line, as each side dug in. It wasn’t until 1960 that the NLRB finally found Kohler guilty of bad-faith bargaining and ordered all discharged strikers reinstated with back pay. It took five more years to reach agree­ ment on the monetary award—$3 mil­ lion in back wages to 1400 workers and 1.5 million to their pension fund.

Since then there had been only one strike—16 days in 1983. It will prob­ ably take more than 16 days to win a just settlement this time—but not as long as 1954.

• Rejection by Car Haulers—There is yet another important battle shap­ ing up. A giveback agreement cover­ ing 4000 Teamsters at two car-hauling companies was shot down by an 87 percent vote in October. The Teamsters bargainers have said they want to hear what problems the ranks had with their deal before going back to the ta­ ble. They feign surprise that a contract that would have cut wages, messed with driver’s work hours on the road, and allowed job loss through subcon­ (continued on page 10, in “NDP identity crisis deepens over ‘what went wrong’”)

SOCIALIST ACTION DECEMBER 2015 9

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