BY DANNY BOOHER AND FRANK FORRESTAL
EAST PEORIA - By a narrow margin, United Auto Workers (UAW) members voted March 19-21 to ratify a six-year contract with Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of earth moving and construction equipment. The agreement was approved by 54 percent of the membership nationwide in a hotly contested vote. Unlike a proposal that was voted down a month earlier, the pact includes reinstating all 160 UAW members who had been fired by Caterpillar for union activity over the last six and a half years.

UAW members have gone through two long strikes, lasting a total of two years, and have been without a contract since 1991.

UAW Local 974 president Jim Clingan and Bargaining Committee chairman Jerry Baker announced at a press conference here that Local 974, the largest union local at Caterpillar, approved the contract by 55 percent. Local 2096 in Pontiac, Illinois, approved it by 55 percent. It passed with 75 percent of the vote in Aurora, Illinois, and by 54 percent in York, Pennsylvania. UAW Local 751 in Decatur, Illinois, voted the contract down by 71 percent. Union officials and a few rank-and-file workers applauded when the ratification totals were announced.

Decatur was the only local to hold a full membership meeting. In the other locals union members cast their votes during specified times, with union officials closely monitoring the balloting.

The contract was approved just one month after UAW members soundly rejected Caterpillar's first offer. UAW officials campaigned for passage of the February 22 deal, with the active involvement of international representatives from Detroit. At meetings many workers described as "rowdy," the majority of unionists responded angrily to the officialdom's attempt to sell the contract.

Cat backs down on illegally terminated
That offer called for bringing back only 110 of the 160 "illegally terminated," which was at the heart of why it was rejected. From the beginning, justice for the fired workers has been a central issue of the fight. Following the rejection of the offer, Caterpillar came back with a "modified" proposal agreeing to rehire all 160 union members fired during the labor battle. Except for the return of the discharged workers, the contract is exactly the same as the one that was previously rejected.

The fact that the company had been forced to back down from its earlier proposal, encouraged many workers to campaign for a "No" vote on this contract as well. Many saw getting the illegally terminated back working in the plants as a big setback to Caterpillar.

In York, a team of workers handed out a booklet calling for a "No" vote to each union member as they entered the UAW Local 786 union hall to vote. The team included fired workers, retirees, and workers who had been laid off from the manufacturing plant and called back at half pay in the distribution center there.

Terri Williams, laid off with 20 years in the plant, was one of these. She said she had been called back to the parts warehouse at a starting wage of $8.50. "People ask me why did I go back, and I answer because I have a union to fight for my rights," she said.

Caterpillar announced in December of 1995 that the York manufacturing plant would be closing. According to UAW members, the workforce has been reduced from 1,500 to around 700 through layoffs, as plant equipment has been moved out to other facilities.

Since the contract was ratified, some fired workers have received letters notifying them of their return date. Tom Grier, a fired worker and member of UAW Local 786 in York, said, "They want me to come in Monday [March 30], but they have us all coming back at different times. They don't want all 33 of us [who were fired] coming back in together."

UAW officials push contract
The most recent proposal was reached during a conference call between Caterpillar vice president Wayne Zimmerman, UAW International vice president Richard Shoemaker, and John Calhoun Wells, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Wells was the top government negotiator in the strike victory by Teamsters against UPS last fall.

"We believe that ratification of this agreement is in the best interests of all groups of workers - active, retired, discharged, and future workers," said Shoemaker, speaking at a March 17 press conference held at East Peoria's UAW Local 974 union hall.

"Negotiating is the art of the possible, not the impossible. You have to know when there's nothing left to get," said Shoemaker, who urged all union members to vote for the contract. "The issue that has had priority in the hearts and minds of Caterpillar workers and their union was the reinstatement of struggle-related discharged workers."

For many Caterpillar workers, this statement was hard to swallow, since Shoemaker, along with the other union tops, supported the previous agreement.

"Our local told us last time that [the deal] was the best it was going to get," said George Cox, a member of UAW Local 974. Like others, Cox thought there was more to fight for.

In Decatur many workers were talking about Shoemaker's five minute appearance on WAND, a local TV station. The Decatur local had voted down the previous pact by a 9-to-1 margin. At that meeting, union officials such as international UAW representative Jerry Brown, formerly the president of Local 974, were shouted off the stage as they tried to convince workers to vote for the proposal. "The international union decided Friday [March 20] to broadcast Shoemaker's Tuesday night [March 17] news conference in Decatur" the day before the vote, reported the Decatur Herald and Review. "The unusual move appeared to some an indication the international doesn't trust local leaders."

The paper also reported that Brown had accused Local 751 president Randy Morrell of "failing to sell the package" in Decatur.

Charlie Holt, who works at Caterpillar in Decatur and is a member of UAW 751, said workers were ready to keep fighting. "The well wasn't dry. Shoemaker's rope was too short," he said. Holt also noted, "Six years is too long for a contract, but we will stay strong despite that."

After the modified agreement was announced, some illegally terminated workers in East Peoria distributed a letter endorsing the new proposal, which was signed by 27 of the fired workers. There are 68 illegally terminated workers in the East Peoria local, the largest number from any local. One of them, Harold Churchill, said he campaigned to get a "Yes" vote. "The contract is bad, but I voted yes," said Churchill. "A `Yes' vote is not a victory, but it is a start." This was echoed by others who felt now was the time to move ahead.

Many of the "blue shirts," a grouping that includes rank- and-file unionists, illegally terminated workers, and family members, continued to organize others to vote "No" in the plants and at plant gates.

Some tense encounters took place between those campaigning for "Yes" and "No" votes at the plant gates, including one that appeared on Channel 31, a local TV station. Tom Smith, a member of UAW Local 974, said about 5,000 leaflets were handed out arguing against the contract.

One of the handouts was entitled "Vote Yes Only if..." and contained a dozen or so statements underscoring opposition to the contract One example was: "Vote Yes, only if ... You believe, `Don't Ever Give Up,' `One Day Longer,' and `We are ...Union' was just cheerleading rhetoric."

UAW members also took out an ad in the Peoria Journal Star a few days before the vote. It said "Please Vote No. Keep Voting No `Til We Get a Fair Contract."

"There's terrible things in there," said Jan Chance, the wife of UAW member J.R. Chance, who was among those terminated. "This is bad for labor in general."

The ratified agreement contains for the first time a two- tier wage agreement, allows Caterpillar to hire temporary workers with few benefits to comprise up to 15 percent of the workforce, includes "flex time" schedules that will result in cutting back overtime pay, and other concessions. Many of these provisions have become common in labor agreements today.

Caterpillar spokesman Zimmerman said the company had "achieved its goals," with management now able to "manage the plants as it sees fit."

"In a negotiation like this," said Zimmerman, "you never lay all your cards on the table on the first pass and you don't put any more cards on the table than you think you are going to need."

The return of the illegally terminated workers, however, is one card Caterpillar management was dead opposed to from the beginning. In fact, after the February 22 offer was rejected, Zimmerman said, according to the Pekin Daily Times, "the company won't likely budge from its offer to rehire 110 of the 160 terminated workers."

But Caterpillar management was forced to put this "card" on the table. The illegally terminated workers were some of the most vocal fighters in defense of workers' rights and in defending the union over the past several years.

"Things are not over with Cat," said J.R. Chance from UAW Local 974. In a phone interview, Chance said he just bought a new pair of steel-toed boots in preparation for his return to work. "Once we get back to work we'll see how things go. You don't just forget six and a half years of struggle."

John Staggs, a member of OCAW Local 8-86, contributed to this article reporting from York, Pennsylvania.  
 
 
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