BY JOHANNA RYAN
DECATUR, Illinois - Members of the United Paperworkers International Union (UPIU) at A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co. here began returning to work January 22 under the terms of a company back-to-work offer. The members of UPIU Local 7837 accepted Staley's offer by a vote of 280 to 220 the week before Christmas. This marked the end of the fight against the company lockout of the unionists which began on June 27, 1993.
The new contract offers jobs to no more than 350 of the over 750 workers who were locked out in 1993. According to some of the workers, Staley reserves the right to contract out any jobs it sees fit, with maintenance workers and the labor pool being the first targets. The provision for 12-hour rotating shifts, which had been the biggest point of opposition among Staley workers, will remain, although rotations will now occur every 28 days rather than every three days as the company had first demanded.
As of mid-January, only about 180 union members had signed up to return to their jobs. Workers who are not reemployed have been promised lump-sum severance payments of roughly $18,000 under the agreement, reported unionists who had been locked-out.
Local 7837's fight against the company's attempts to worsen conditions for workers in the plant goes back to October of 1992, when Staley, a corn processor, unilaterally imposed a "final offer" the members had rejected. Rather than striking, the local decided on an in-plant strategy of "working to rule" coupled with a publicity campaign against Staley and its corporate parent, British-based Tate & Lyle. After eight months the company locked out the union, accusing it of sabotage and moved rapidly to restart production, using both local temporary agencies and about 500 workers recruited from several states.
Over the next two years the fight at Staley became known to unionists across the United States and internationally. Dozens of locked-out workers became "Road Warriors" who spread the word about their struggle in union halls, churches, and college campuses.
In 1994, workers at Caterpillar's large heavy equipment plant in Decatur and at Bridgestone/Firestone tire plants joined nationwide strikes against union-busting moves by their own employers, and the Staley workers gained some important allies. "The solidarity among those three unions was a powerful thing for a time," recalled Frankie Travis, a former Staley worker who has traveled around the country speaking on the fight against Staley. "We need more of that kind of unity." Thousands of union supporters from other cities came to Decatur for three sizable solidarity marches called by the three unions.
After being locked out for 18 months, union members received the news in January 1995 that the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., ruled that A.E. Staley was justified in locking out the union and hiring permanent replacements. As the fight for a contract dragged on, members of the UPIU voted on March 14, 1995, to rescind the union bargaining committee's authority to decide what might be an acceptable Staley offer and direct negotiators to bring in a proposed contract as soon as possible for vote by the membership.
A July 1995 offer from Staley that contained a few changes from the "final offer" was rejected by 60 percent of union members. By December 22, when UPIU members were set to vote on the company's latest offer, members of the United Auto Workers at Caterpillar had been sent back to work by the union heads under the company's 1992 imposed contract. At Bridgestone/Firestone, where the union had made an unconditional back-to-work offer six months earlier, hundreds of workers were still waiting to be rehired. A boycott campaign against Pepsi, the single largest customer for Staley's corn sweeteners, had not forced Pepsi to drop Staley after a year of efforts.
Local 7837 also held elections in December 1995. The new union president, Jim Shinall, ran as a challenge to the local's leadership, claiming that their "militant" tactics had antagonized the company, and promising to win something for workers with a more flexible approach to bargaining. Shinall and his efforts to end the fight against the lockout were featured on the front page of the Sunday edition of the Herald & Review, Decatur's big-business daily. Ten days after Shinall was elected, a contract almost identical to the one rejected in July was ratified.
Staley workers express different views on why the lockout ended this way. While most union members I spoke with agreed that the new contract registered a defeat, opinions varied as to how this happened or what else could have been done.
On picket duty a few days before the vote, Gary Still remarked that unions would keep losing as long as the labor laws were stacked against them. "We need to put some money in some pockets and get some legislation" to outlaw permanent replacements, he said.
All three pickets on that shift said that they would probably vote to accept the contract, although they felt the local had been right to take the company on and fight.
Other workers blamed top labor leaders, including the UPIU international tops, who had publicly pressured Local 7837 to settle. Gary Lamb, the local's incoming vice president, pointed out that despite lavish promises made at the October 1995 AFL-CIO convention, little aid had been forthcoming from the federation's leaders, old or new.
"There's no way I can call this a victory," commented Dan Lane, a leading union activist, "but there were some things we achieved, like just setting the example of a fight. That's what kept bringing people back to Decatur." Boycotting Staley's corporate allies like Pepsi and State Farm Insurance, he said, "could at least enhance our chances, but it couldn't give us the decisive victory." The real solution, Lane said, had to involve mass picketing and reaching beyond the union membership to involve all working people. "If you're going to win, there's got to be a commitment to making the community part of the struggle from the start. Because really, the community is workers."