Vol. 79/No. 45      December 14 , 2015

 
(front page)

Spirits high in Wis. UAW strike
against two-tier wages at Kohler

 

KOHLER, Wis. — Members of United Auto Workers Local 833, on strike against Kohler Co. since Nov. 15, are united in their battle to eliminate two-tier wages. “This is not about more money for Tier A workers,” Jim Brock, local vice president, told the Militant Nov. 28. “It’s about standing up for the 20 percent who are in Tier B.”

When the local approved the lower tier in 2010, “we were all afraid of not having jobs,” said Roberta Post, a Tier A assembly worker at the plumbing fixture plant. “Kohler threatened to shut down. There were massive layoffs all over the area. Kohler laid off workers and later brought them back as Tier B doing the same work at less pay.”

Local President Tim Tayloe said morale is strong. “One day I let everyone know we needed more on the line and over 400 showed up to picket.”

“When you have the moral high ground, it’s a lot easier to fight,” Jesse Felde said. “Kohler pushed the contract aside. They even had a flex workforce sometimes working as little as 15 hours a week.”

The local maintains a well-stocked food pantry to sustain strikers and their families. “Everything in this room is donated by union locals and the community,” Brock said.

Kohler has again threatened to shut down the plant if strikers don’t give in to the company’s demands. However in May President and CEO David Kohler told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that company sales totaled a record $5.87 billion last year. Even at the height of the capitalist downturn, Kohler bragged, the company “didn’t get close to losing money.”

“I came by the picket line to honor my grandfather, who was a union man at Kohler,” Kati Walsh, a teacher from Madison, told strikers. She was one of many unionists who came to the picket line to help that day.

“I’m not going to retire until after the strike. I’m out here for the younger people,” said Terry Giese, who was three days from retiring when the strike began. “We must stand our ground. I have been union my whole life and I will go out union.”
 
 
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