BY JOHANNA RYAN
PEORIA, Illinois - On March 19, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge ordered Caterpillar Inc., the world's largest heavy equipment manufacturer, to reverse disciplinary actions taken against 179 members of the United Auto Workers in the aftermath of their 1991-92 strike. The workers had been disciplined for wearing buttons or T-shirts reading "Permanently Replace Fites" and other slogans criticizing the company and its chief executive officer, Donald Fites.

The ruling upheld Caterpillar's disciplining of other workers who displayed messages aimed at those who crossed picket lines during the strike. NLRB judge James Rose also ruled against one worker fired for wearing a button that said "One more drink and I can run Caterpillar," calling that "a personal and vicious attack" against Fites. "Depicting Fites as a lush cannot conceivably advance the union's cause in the labor dispute," Rose stated.

Both the company and the UAW called the ruling a victory; however, each indicated that the appeals may continue on aspects of the nearly five-year-old case.

The March 19 ruling is the latest in a string of NLRB rulings on the over 300 charges of unfair labor practices filed against Caterpillar to date. Many have upheld the UAW's complaints, while others have backed the company. The bulk of them remain tied up in appeals which may take several more years.

The current battle between Caterpillar workers and their bosses goes back to September 1991, when the last contract with the UAW expired. Workers struck from November 1991 to April 1992. That walkout ended when UAW officials ordered the unionists back to work, after the company threatened to permanently replace strikers. In June 1994, after a series of walkouts and in-plant protests of worsening company harassment, an "unfair labor practice" strike was launched. Chief among the complaints the workers wanted settled were the firings of over 100 prounion workers on trumped-up charges.

In the 17-month battle that followed, over 9,500 of Caterpillar's 13,000 unionized workers stayed on the picket lines. But the company was able to maintain production using the 25 percent of workers who crossed the lines, joined by replacement workers and salaried employees. In December 1995, Caterpillar workers again returned to their jobs at the direction of their union tops. At the same time they overwhelmingly voted down the company's contract offer.

By January 1996, Caterpillar had recalled all the strikers except the 100-plus "illegally terminated" workers and laid off most of the scabs, but harassment of the union didn't end. From January to August, 79 workers were suspended and 22 were fired, mainly for violations of a company-imposed "code of conduct." Billed as a measure for keeping the peace between returning strikers and line- crossers, this code placed sharp restrictions on freedom of speech and union organizing. The wearing or display of slogans related to the strike was prohibited, and a ban was imposed on any use of the word "scab."

In the past months Caterpillar has sought to pressure its Illinois workforce using a barrage of publicity around the outsourcing of jobs from its York, Pennsylvania, plant, which is scheduled to close for good this year. The company has announced plans for four new nonunion parts plants in Kentucky, Mississippi, and the Carolinas, which will employ a total of about 500 workers.

Workers at the big Mossville, Illinois, engine plant charge that Caterpillar management has used the news to press the UAW for wage and benefit cuts as the price for preventing the outsourcing of jobs there. On March 24, the company announced plans for a fifth new plant in West Plains, Missouri, to take over production of high-pressure hoses currently being made by 113 workers at the Mossville facility.

Johanna Ryan is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 787 in Bloomington, Illinois.  
 
 
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