BY ANGEL LARISCY
PEORIA, Illinois - Talk of a settlement in the more than
four-year labor dispute between Caterpillar, Inc., and the
United Auto Workers (UAW) is circulating here. Striking UAW
members on the picket lines, meanwhile, continue to
demonstrate their resolve to win a contract that defends
their union.
A high-level meeting between Caterpillar negotiators and UAW International officials is scheduled to take place during the first week in August. On July 5 and 6, Caterpillar and UAW negotiators held an "off-the-record" meeting in Chicago. It was the first time the two sides had met in four months. On July 12, the UAW central bargaining committee for Caterpillar strikers was called to Detroit for a meeting with newly elected UAW president Stephen Yokich.
This action by the union caused Peoria Journal Star business writer Bob Bouyea to pen a column entitled, "Strikers sense walkout could end by Aug. 1."
"Caterpillar knows it must offer the union something, but the union must move first," the columnist wrote, citing an unnamed source.
Larger than usual pickets have become a more common occurrence in recent weeks. UAW members stepped up strike activities in late June around the one-year anniversary of their walkout against the earth-moving equipment manufacturer. On July 6, more than 75 strikers gathered at Caterpillar's Mapleton foundry to rally as the afternoon shift of replacement workers left the plant and the midnight shift arrived.
On July 13, another 60 strikers and supporters participated in a candlelight vigil outside the same gate.
Groups have also been congregating at pickets in East Peoria, Illinois.
Tom Smith, a member of UAW local 974 in East Peoria, has participated in a number of these actions. "It shows we're still around and won't go away," he noted.
Smith recounted how last winter a news reporter interviewed him after eight workers were arrested for illegal picketing at a gate outside the East Peoria facility. Smith says what he told the reporter then still holds true: "If they think we're going to go away just because the cops come and arrest some people they're wrong." Smith says this has been the predominant attitude throughout the strike.
Caterpillar continues to claim it is the victim in the dispute. On July 12, corporate vice president Wayne Zimmerman testified before a House of Representatives subcommittee during a hearing on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Zimmerman asserts that a key NLRB official is biased toward the union. Since March 1993 the NLRB has issued 165 complaints against Caterpillar. Zimmerman claims that NLRB general counsel Fred Feinstein "seems to us, at best, to be out of touch with the realities of the factory floor and, at worst, harbors a strong pro-union bias." Of the 11 complaints that have been resolved, Caterpillar has been ruled against in six.
Glenn Zipp, NLRB Region 33 director, says that Caterpillar is advocating for the passage of legislation that would legalize joint company-worker committees that would decide issues such as workers' pay, vacation policy, and who remains an employee with a company. Zipp says this would basically result in a company union.
On July 11, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor Health and Human Services and Education voted to cut the NLRB's budget 30 percent; it also voted for a provision requiring four out of five NLRB members to vote for injunctions requested against certain company practices instead of a simple majority. Such injunctions would also be required to meet a higher standard of proof.
In related developments, Caterpillar executives had a furious reaction to a petition, signed by 500 professors across the United States, opposing passage of anti-labor legislation that Caterpillar supports. The professors' petition didn't name any particular corporation, but Jerry Brust, Caterpillar director of labor relations, responded to it.
The "unscholarly letter," wrote Brust, is "irresponsibly inaccurate and ethically questionable." University of South Carolina management professor Holt Wheeler responded, "If ever one needed evidence that employees need protection from the tender mercies of some corporate executives, [Brust's] letter would prove it."
Meanwhile, Illinois governor Jim Edgar signed into law a bill outlawing "jack rocks." Maximum penalties of up to one year in jail and a fine of $1,000 could be levied against anyone caught making or possessing the device, which can be used to puncture tires.
Caterpillar and cops from Peoria and Tazewell counties, where the majority of picket lines are, lobbied for passage of the legislation.
Other labor disputes in central Illinois continue. In Decatur, Illinois, members of the United Paperworkers International Union locked out for two years by corn processing company A.E. Staley rejected an offer by 60 percent that would allow 350 of the 750 workers to return to work.
Angel Lariscy is a member of UAW 1494 in Peoria.