BY CAPPY KIDD
MOSSVILLE, Illinois - On Nov. 8, 1997, dozens of members of UAW Local 974 walked off the job at Caterpillar's engine plant here. The walkout was sparked when management denied a worker's request to talk to a union steward over the issue of forced overtime. The protest ended 20 hours later when Caterpillar agreed to the workers' right to union representation and to take no disciplinary measures for the job action.

In September a similar walkout occurred at Caterpillar's seal ring plant. The shift that walked out there is made up overwhelmingly of new hires. These are skirmishes in the battle between UAW members and Caterpillar that has continued since the union suspended a 17-and-a-half-month strike in December 1995. UAW members have been without a signed contract since 1991 at Caterpillar, the world's largest manufacturer of heavy earth-moving equipment.

Since the strike, the company has continued its efforts to housebreak the union and drive down the wages and working conditions. Caterpillar has announced plans to close its unionized plant at York, Pennsylvania, and is in the process of opening five smaller nonunion plants.

Several unionized plants in Peoria, Decatur, Aurora, and Pontiac, Illinois, remain central to Caterpillar's production. Workers resistance to the company's attacks in these plants remains unbroken. For example, Caterpillar management tries to prohibit workers from wearing T-shirts with pro-union slogans. However, union members have found a way to express solidarity by designating Black Mondays for those injured on the job and Green Fridays for union solidarity. On these days the workplaces are a sea of black or green.

Former line crossers join the union
A significant number of the former line crossers have begun to join the union. Tom Smith, age 43, who worked most of his 25 years at Caterpillar at the Mossville engine plant, told the Militant that 350 former line crossers have now joined the union. "Cat thought they had these people in their hand, but then they started treating them the same way they had been treating us," he explained.

UAW members are debating this development. Several Local 974 members used the phrase, "Once a scab always a scab." Others recognize that the treatment former line crossers receive from Caterpillar has forced many of them to reconsider their antiunion stance.

Jan Chance, the wife of illegally fired Cat striker J.R. Chance, told the Militant, "The union's position is that eventually [due to retirements] the line-crossers will be the only force in there; therefore they have to be won to the union. I do agree with that. Caterpillar is the enemy. The scabs were simply their tools. However, I make a distinction between the new hires and our own people who crossed, because if they crawled back in there once, they will do it again."

When asked if he thought the former line crossers could become good unionists, Smith responded, "Some of them will someday make some fine union people. It's too bad that they had to make such a huge mistake to learn these lessons."

Since the strike ended in 1995, Caterpillar has continued its war against the union through outsourcing and through hiring outside contractors to come into the Caterpillar plants and perform production work ordinarily done by union members. Working under the same roof on the same production line you have members of UAW Local 974, those hired by Caterpillar in its attempt to break the strike, and employees of several different subcontractors. The rates of pay, benefits, and work rules vary widely.

Fight of the `illegally terminated'
Over the course of the strike, Caterpillar utilized scabs, threats of closing the plants, thugs organized by the Vance Security Agency, and threats to permanently replace all strikers. They also carried out arbitrary dismissals in their attempt to intimidate the unionists and break the strike. Without any due process, review, or appeal, company officials would inform workers by letter that their employment (or if retired, their medical insurance and pension benefits) had been terminated because of their activities in support the strike. In the Peoria area alone, 67 members of the UAW were terminated during the strike.

"I'm really proud of the stance my union has taken on this issue," said illegally terminated worker John Schmidt. "The union has made the full resolution of all the cases a precondition for any contract settlement." Schmidt, now 53, had worked for Caterpillar for 31 years and was four days away from retirement when he received his letter of termination from Caterpillar.

He and a co-worker had been arrested for allegedly "keying" (scratching) a Peoria county sheriff's vehicle at a UAW rally at Cat's Mapleton facility on Oct. 24, 1994. In addition to the termination, Cat officials stripped him of two-thirds of his pension. The pension benefits have not been reinstated even though Schmidt and his coworker were cleared of all charges by a Peoria County court.

J.R. Chance, a 44-year-old welder with 27 years' seniority, was fired on Feb. 8, 1995 by Caterpillar for hand-billing during the strike. Chance told the Militant that on Aug. 27, 1997, he received a call from Caterpillar telling him his case had been settled and instructing him to return to work. Nine minutes after his return, he was shown to the door once more because he refused to sign a statement declaring that all the time he had been suspended was to be considered disciplinary time.

The union organizes weekly informational meetings to keep everyone up to date on union affairs, including the terminated and their families, and to plan benefits and other fund raising activities.

One of the most successful of these events took place November 22, when more than 350 UAW members and their families raised over $5,000 for the continuing legal expenses for Ozzie Cranford, a terminated UAW member. The announcement of the partial victory that Cat had been forced to restore medical benefits for Cranford and his wife drew loud and sustained cheers.

The cases of the illegally terminated are among hundreds of grievances and unfair labor practice complaints filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Caterpillar by the UAW. A sign outside the headquarters of Local 974 tallies the current number of unresolved cases at 352.

In the midst of their own struggle, the union members at Caterpillar have extended solidarity to 76 members of UAW Local 844, forced on strike at the Mahoney Brass Foundry in Vermont, Illinois. According to Jim Fisher, fellow members of Local 974 collected more than $2,000 cash along with food for Thanksgiving dinners and toys for Christmas.

Cappy Kidd is a member of UAW Local 890. Danny Booher, a member of the United Transportation Union, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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