BY ANGEL LARISCY
PEORIA, Illinois - For the first time since April 1992,
members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) are about to hear a
new contract offer from Caterpillar Inc., the world's
largest producer of heavy earth-moving and construction
equipment.
The fight by union members for a contract with the company has lasted for more than four years. The UAW has been on strike for the past 17 months against the company.
The union and the company both issued statements noting progress in negotiations on November 17. Caterpillar's statement said that "few issues are yet to be resolved" and announced the company will have a new proposal for the union "in the near future."
UAW officials said the company will announce a new offer on November 28. "We will promptly take the proposal to our members for their action," said the union statement, issued after its bargaining committee met in Chicago.
Caterpillar officials said that when an agreement is ratified and strikers return to work they will participate in a three-week phase-in training period. Union members will also be required to abide by a "code of conduct" the company has implemented, which bans "offensive" T-shirts, bumper stickers, and language. Included in this ban are union slogans and use of the word "scab."
Throughout the recent strike, Caterpillar has continued production in its plants with union line-crossers, office and managerial employees, and new hires. The company has maintained that the strike has had no impact on its operations, but it has not succeeded in wining either union members or financial analysts to this view.
"After a while, keeping a jury-rigged work force has got to cause problems that will ultimately have some long-term impact on the company," said Frank Manfredi, an industry analyst.
Likewise, most workers are not expecting that once a contract offer is signed the strife will end.
Louis Hall, an assembly line worker from Cat's Mossville plant north of Peoria said he had only been back to work three weeks after a lengthy layoff when the strike was called in June 1994.
In those three short weeks, Hall said, he saw "a lot of people fired for things like chanting or just standing up for themselves."
While there is much speculation about how returning workers and scabs will get along when they begin to work together, Hall said, "I'm sure some of the replacements [who weren't in the union before] can be won to the union."
Hall acknowledged he and many other union members have suffered serious hardships because of the nearly one-and-a- half-year strike. But despite the difficulties, Hall, who has been working part time in an area restaurant, said he never thought of crossing the picket line. "I stayed out because I'm union," he said.