Vol. 76/No. 31      August 20, 2012

Illinois Steelworkers fight
to defend union

Steelworkers fought a 14-month battle against a lockout by Honeywell, which ended Aug. 15 last year after workers voted to approve a new contract. Not one member crossed the picket line and workers were able to push back some of the company’s concession demands on seniority, wages and pensions.

Just as the workers were beginning to get back into the plant after an extended shutdown, Honeywell announced July 11, without any prior notice, that it would not resume production after completing upgrades ordered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“The first we heard about it was in the press. News reports said it could take from one to one and a half years to complete the upgrades,” Steven Lech, USW Local 7-669 president, told the Militant. “Now they’re saying it could be as little as nine months.”

On July 19 plant manger Larry Smith sent out a letter saying the shutdown would affect 228 of the plant’s 332 employees.

The union’s position is that the layoff is not necessary, Lech said. “It’s true that Honeywell received what the NRC calls a Confirmatory Action Letter outlining the steps the company has agreed to take to make sure its Emergency Response Plan is adequate. But the NRC didn’t order Honeywell to lay anybody off.

“The fact of the matter is,” continued Lech, “a lot of the concerns the NRC raises about possible UF6 releases during natural disasters, the union has been talking about for years.” UF6 is a form of uranium used for nuclear enrichment.

“There’s lots of work to be done to make the improvements the NRC is demanding. But our members could do that work,” Lech said.

“Since the closing of [Japan’s plant in] Fukushima,” he added, “the price of UF6 has been free falling. Honeywell wants to slow production until the price begins to rise again and they’re using the NRC order to do that. But they’re also trying to use it to weaken the union.”

When the company finally met with the union July 17, no mention was made of compensation for lost wages or extended benefits.

“Given the long-term character of the proposed closure that’s something that had to be addressed,” said Christian Musselman, Local 7-669 recording secretary.

“That was important to do because some of our members are hurting more from these shutdowns than the lockout,” Musselman said. “The majority of workers have no health insurance. For some their houses are close to being on the line. A lot of people put a lot of things on hold for 14 months during the lockout and now this.”

Two days after the meeting, Honeywell announced that Local 7-669 members to be laid off will receive either 60 days wages and extension of benefits or, for those currently working, 60 days notice of intended layoff.

—John Hawkins

Seattle: Recycle workers end
walkout; accept new contract

More than 150 drivers walked off the job July 25. Some 350 garbage haulers, members of Teamsters Local 174, honored the picket lines, bringing trash collection to a halt in Seattle and surrounding communities. Teamsters Local 231 members in Skagit County, north of Seattle, who also haul garbage, honored the picketing and did not haul trash during the strike.

One of the key issues in bargaining was the disparity in pay between the two driver classifications. Recycle drivers said they received from $6 to $7 an hour less than garbage drivers.

The union had also filed unfair labor practices charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

The company was facing huge fines by Seattle and other municipalities for not collecting trash.

After the strike vote, one recycle driver, who asked not to be identified, said, “It is what it is. We didn’t get everything we wanted, and no one wanted a prolonged strike.”

In an interview with the Militant, Brenda Wiest, an organizer for Local 117, said that while the disparity in pay was not narrowed, the union was able to get $500,000 more in the benefits package from the company’s “last and final” offer.

She also said that the agreement held down rises in health care costs and increased company payments into the pension fund. She also said the union withdrew its unfair labor practices charges.

—Edwin Fruit

Connecticut: 600 workers
strike five nursing homes

Some 600 members of Service Employees International Union District 1199 went on strike July 3 at five Healthbridge facilities in the state. At issue are “unfair labor practices after the company unlawfully ended negotiations and unilaterally implemented what it claimed was its ‘last, best and final’ offer,” according to the union website.

“They took away the pensions, sick time and raised the insurance,” Jeanette Ortiz, who has worked at the Newington facility for 17 years, told the Militant. She added that the company cut part-time workers’ hours so they would not have to give them benefits.

Healthbridge is operating the nursing homes with replacement workers.

Spirits were high among the 40 strikers on the picket line, the vast majority women. They had set up tables of food and coolers of water.

On Aug. 1 the state Department of Labor ruled that the Healthbridge strikers are eligible for unemployment payment retroactive to the first day of the strike.

The same day a judge ruled in a National Labor Relations Board case that Healthbridge Management committed “a blatant violation” of labor laws when the company terminated housekeepers and forced them to reapply at a lower wage rate in May 2010.

According to the Hartford Courant, “The ruling describes how when housekeeping workers protested the cuts in pay and benefits, they were told they had to fill out the job applications to be rehired, and if they didn’t do so and instead continued to complain, the administrators would call the police.”

In December Healthbridge locked out 100 union members at the West River Health Care Center in Milford, Conn. Workers there were on the picket line until the company ended the lockout April 4.

—Kevin Dwire