Strikes Still Rare in America, Despite Employers'
Offensive in Rough Economy
Wednesday
October 6
1:51 pm
By Joe Burns
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6505/strikes_still_rare_in_america_despite_employers_offensive_in_rough_eco/

A survey of recent strike activity reveals employers are
taking full advantage of the greatest economic crisis in
decades. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
list of ongoing labor disputes includes only 41 strikes
or lockouts nationwide during August 2010.

Some were relatively large high-profile disputes, such
as the strike against Mott's apple sauce company in
upstate New York. Most, however, were small local
disputes, involving fewer than one hundred workers. For
example, Teamsters in Upper Marlborough, Md., struck
Daycon Products in April 2010 to resist a proposed two
tier-wage scale. The strike is still ongoing. 

The common theme: employer demands for concessions. For
example, 400 Teamsters struck Aggregate Industries in
Massachusetts and New Hampshire in mid-August. A chief
demand of the company was changes in work rules,
including ceasing to guarantee a full day's work. The
strike, which ended after eight days, maintained
healthcare and pay but included unspecified concessions
in work rules. By extending the picket line to other
facilities and drawing on international support, the
Teamsters were able to beat back some, but not all, of
the employer demands.

Another trend: employers taking advantage of high
unemployment demanded concessions even when they were
not losing money. Thus at Motts, despite being
profitable, the employer demanded takebacks on
healthcare, pension and wages. As The New York Times
reported:

Tim Budd, a 24-year employee who belongs to the union's
bargaining team, said he was shocked by one thing the
plant manager said during negotiations. "He said we're a
commodity like soybeans and oil, and the price of
commodities go up and down," Budd recalled.

America's labor movement has long resisted the notion
that human beings be treated as commodities. As American
Federation of Labor founder Samuel Gompers said in 1891:
"You cannot weigh the human soul in the same scales with
a piece of pork. You cannot weigh the heart and soul of
a child with the same scales upon with you weigh any
commodity."  

Employers' blunt weapon: the lockout

Some of the disputes were short affairs lasting days,
while others have dragged on for months. The most
noteworthy lengthy strike included Spectrum nursing home
workers in Massachusetts, who are represented by SEIU.
After working without a contract for a year, the
healthcare workers struck on April 15, 2010. The
employer refused to agree to the same contract
provisions as other nursing home operators in the state.

On August 31, 2010,  the union made an unconditional
offer to return to work. Spectrum allowed only nine
workers to return, having already replaced the remainder
with scabs. The union is hoping a combination of
National Labor Relations Board charges, plus community
pressure, can force a change in the employer position. 

A concerning development is the use of the employer
lockout to obtain concessions. In several high-profile
work stoppages, employers locked out workers to force
them to agree to concessions. Thus, 59 workers at the
Castleton Country Club in Pleasanton, Calif., remained
locked out since March, facing an employer demanding
workers pay $739 per month for family healthcare.   

Perhaps the highest profile ongoing dispute is
Honeywell's lockout of 220 uranium workers in Southern
Illinois. Honeywell is demanding the elimination of
retiree health insurance as well as major increases in
insurance costs. Unions and community members are
justifiably concerned about the use of scab labor in a
highly sensitive uranium conversion plant.  Particularly
galling is management's demand to end retiree medical
benefits for retirees exposed to uranium for decades.   
  

Earlier in the year, a high-profile lockout of miners at
Rio Tinto resulted in, at best, a draw. The union was
able to beat back some of the concession with a massive
outpouring of international solidarity. However, the
employer managed to abolish the pension plan for new
hires and won work rule changes.    

The only way to win is to fight

So what conclusions can we draw from this review of
strike activity? The first is the relatively low level
of strike activity. In the face of a system of labor
control constructed to forbid effective strike actions,
most unions are choosing not to strike. Those that do
face tremendous odds. In many of the strikes, management
has shown little hesitation to hire permanent
replacement scabs.  

Second, the labor movement can no longer ignore the need
for new strike tactics. As I wrote on this site
previously, the modern version of the strike lacks the
two essential components of the traditional strike--
workplace-based solidarity and the ability to stop
production. Stable collective bargaining requires an
effective strike. 

Finally, despite the odds, courageous groups of workers
are willing to take a stand against corporate greed.
Facing permanent replacement by scabs and a system of
labor law stacked against workers, these workers fought
back. Although the results have been mixed, in some
cases they were able to beat back the worst of the
concessions.

That willingness to fight, coupled with correct tactics,
is the only hope for the revival of the labor movement.

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