“We’re
coming up on eight months, and we’re strong. We’re still here,” said “Biker”
Bob Dawson, a United Steel Workers Union member on strike against the Kaiser
Aluminum and Chemical Corporation.
Members of the Steel Workers Union went on strike against Kaiser on October 1, 1998. Affected by the strike are 3,100 workers at five different locations, including two plants in Spokane, as well as plants in Gramercy, LA; Newark, OH; and Tacoma.
The
company has attempted to keep the plants in operation by bringing in
strikebreakers from other states. But according to the union, these efforts
have not been without problems.
Occupational
Saftey and Health Administration (OSHA) data provided by the union shows the
number of days of lost work at the Tacoma plant has risen from an average of 35
to 327 days per quarter – an 800% increase since the start of the strike. Minor
injuries have skyrocketed from 3 to 58 per quarter (up 1,800%); more serious
injuries involving time-loss or restricted duty have risen from 7 to 36 per
quarter (a 400% increase).
According
to the union, the strikebreakers Kaiser has hired are working 12 hour shifts,
sometimes as much as six days per week. They say that and the fact that many of
the replacement employees really haven’t been properly trained, contribute
heavily to the high accident rates.
Kaiser
has had other problems, as well. One of the more controversial aspects of the
strike initially, was the move to have an Ohio company, International
Management Assistance Corporation, recruit strikebreakers from out of state –
which is against Washington state law. At present, the Washington Sate Patrol
is investigating these allegations. According to Captain Eric Robertson of the
State Patrol, “It’s an on-going criminal case. There’s nothing disclosable at
this point.”
The
strike has cost Kaiser in other ways, too. Last December, the state Department
of Ecology fined the Tacoma Kaiser plant $37,200 for violating air-quality
standards. At that time, Kaiser emitted an average of 18 pounds of particulate
matter for each ton of aluminum it produced.
“Kaiser’s
December emission was the highest monthly rate we’ve ever seen from the company
in recent history,” said Cullen Stephenson, manager of Ecology’s solid-waste
program. “We recognize there is an ongoing labor dispute at this plant, but the
facility has an obligation to meet state environmental standards anytime it operates.”
Since the start of the strike last October, the
union and Kaiser have been unable to work out a compromise that would allow the
strikers to return to work. Among the company's original contract proposals
were a call to eliminate at least 400 jobs, including 32 at the Tacoma plant;
the right to contract out hundreds of more jobs; and the equivalent of a $.32
per hour wage increase - which is less than the current 3% annual inflation
rate.
The union has made a number of back-to-work
offers since the start of the strike. The company has uniformly rejected the
proposals.
The parties just finished two days of
negotiations which took place in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, last week. Union
officials wouldn’t disclose any substantive details of the talks, but said they
remained hopefull.
According to Dawson, “We’re to the point now
where we’re asking how much longer this is going to go on.” He went on to say
the financial and emotional strains on the strikers have been very heavy. But
even so, he said the morale of the strikers remains high, and that very few of
their members have crossed the picket lines to return to work. He also
suggested that if necessary, they could stay on strike indefinitely. But he
added, “We do want to go back to work.”
Talks between Kaiser and the union are slated to
resume on May 24, 1999.
Company officials were unavailable for comment
and failed to return repeated phone calls.