Vol. 73, No. 1
Portland, Oregon
Winter 2010
9-11 Memorial Plaza in New York Rejects U.S.-Made Granite
“This is a disgrace,” said Larry Wyatt,
President of the Carpenters Industrial
Council. “A monument to the lives lost in
the World Trade Center attack in New York
City is using stone supplied by Africa and
fabricated by an Italian company instead
of granite produced by our members in Mt.
Airy, North Carolina. American lives were
lost and Americans contributed tax dollars
and personal money to build this memorial. Yet, in this weak economy when
Americans need jobs the foundation making decisions about the memorial decided
to use foreign companies rather than
awarding the contract to an American
company that employs our members.”
The Memorial Plaza budget is around
$500 million and the U.S. government contributed approximately half of that amount
in grants.
It’s not as though the foundation wasn’t
made fully aware of what was at stake in
this critical decision. In October, when it
appeared as though the foreign companies
had the inside track on the bid, hundreds
of letters from CIC locals were sent to U.S.
Senators and the foundation urging them
to consider the needs of U.S. workers when
awarding the granite bid.
In addition, the NewYork City District of
Carpenters was contacted and they did
everything in their power, including meet-
WHAT’S
INSIDE?
Regional Reports
• Southern
See Page 4
• Eastern
See Page 4
• Midwestern See Pages 6-7
• Western
See Page 11
Cutting Through the Lies in
Health Care Reform Debate
See Page 2
Local 1701 Turns Back
Decert at Jeld-Wen
See Page 3
Destroying Worker Rights a
Central Part of Colombia’s
Free Trade Strategy
See Page 5
1898 Woodworkers Strike in
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
See Pages 8 & 9
Notice to Members in
Active Military Status
See Page 11
Above left is an artist’s aerial rendering of the 9-11 Memorial Plaza under construction in New York City, where the Twin Towers once
stood. The reflecting pools and the walkways/benches under the trees (r) call for a green flecked granite. The nonprofit foundation in
charge of the project to honor Americans who lost their lives in the 9-11 attack rejected a bid by North Carolina Granite to fabricate
Canadian granite in favor of an Italian company using African granite.This project is funded with federal taxpayer grants and contributions from U.S. citizens, yet the foundation ignores the need to create jobs for Americans during this period of excessive unemployment. North Carolina Granite employs CIC members at their Mt. Airy, North Carolina facility.
ings with the general contractor, to change
the decision.
“Those Carpenters in New York City
were incredible,” noted Wyatt. “They
picked up our battle and fought hard to reverse the decision but not even their intervention would move the foundation.”
North Carolina Granite had submitted a
bid in a consortium with two Canadian
companies because the memorial specifications called for green granite. North Carolina Granite has quarries that produce
only gray and pink granite. The Canadian
quarries would supply the green granite
and it would be cut and fabricated at the
Mt. Airy facility.
In letters to Senators Webb (D-VA) and
Warner (D-VA), Wyatt pointed out that the
foreign company’s bid was only about a
half a million dollars under the bid submitted by the North Carolina Granite group.
Normally, Wyatt pointed out, the second-place bidder has an opportunity to resubmit a bid — especially where prefer-
ence should be given to American companies. “This was not done and it’s our members, American workers, their families and
a company in Mt. Airy that will suffer,” said
Wyatt.
An estimated 350 letters were submitted asking senators to intervene and help
turn the job towards an American granite
company. One local union had 200 members sign letters and another local sent in
45 letters. “CIC local unions really answered the call for action,” said Wyatt .
‘Fight-Back’ Campaign Leads To Settlement
In Southern Georgia Pacific Plants
Members in four Southern
plants ratified a settlement with
Georgia Pacific after months of
waiting and campaigning for a
fair offer from the company.
Georgia Pacific opened negotiations in Spring 2009 with a
long list of concessions.
“It was clear the company was
trying to take advantage of the
uncertain economic times and
the poor housing market,” noted
CIC Representative Tony Hadley.
“Their proposal included elimination of seniority as the determining factor for job bids and
shift preference, removal of language that limited the amount of
overtime the company could require in a week, elimination of
paid lunch breaks, and the extension of the work day for certain
specified shifts.
“The company also wanted to
extend the time a discipline notice would stay in an employee’s
file before being removed and
the probation period would go
from 42 days to nine months under the company proposal.
In addition to GP’s effort to
strip the contract of these worker
rights, which had been won
through hard battles over many
years, the company wanted a six
year contract with no increases
in wages or pension benefits.”
The bargaining committees
from Local 1464, Columbia, MS;
Local 2086, Taylorsville, MS; Local 3181, Louisville, MS and Local 2661, Fordyce, AR left those
early meetings determined to
fight these grossly unjust de-
Pictured above is the combined negotiation committee from Georgia
Pacific Local Unions 1464 in Columbia; 2086 in Taylorsville; 3181in
Louisville; and 2661in Fordyce. Left to right in back row are: John
Smith, Michael Lowe,Willie Hilton, Eddie C. Jones, Otis Harvey, Steve
Herring. Left to right in front row are: Linda Thrower, Marlene Smith,
Vivian Walker, Leonard Keyes Jr, Larry Wyatt and Hurie Hornsberger.
mands. Information campaigns
were kicked off in every local
union. Members were provided
with all the details of the company’s unreasonable demands
through union meetings and formal one-on-one outreach programs.
“We are lucky to have a very
savvy and experienced membership,” noted Hadley.
“Most of them had seen this
tactic used before by GP and they
stood up to forcefully speak out
against unwarranted concessions.”
Members understood that
housing and construction have
always been a cyclical market
and even though this downturn
is deeper and longer than earlier
recessions, they knew that the
market would recover.
Members spoke to management teams on the floor objecting to the harsh company tactics.
Members also told foremen
that they would not allow themselves and their families to be exploited in the interest of future
(Turn to Page 10)
UNION REGISTER
2 • WINTER 2010
Cutting Through the Lies Surrounding the Debate on Health Care Reform
Fixing the health care system will save
lives and bring changes that will benefit
America for years to come. But, in this era
of instant communications, shouting radio
and TV talk hosts and an opposition party
more intent on saying “no” rather than
working on a solution to slow rising costs,
improve the quality of care and providing
coverage for 46 million Americans who lack
insurance, it is difficult the separate the lies
from the truth.
You can make a difference by responding
to these misconceptions when you hear
them. The key is to be polite and civil. Be
firm--health care reform is a serious issue.
Be positive by responding only briefly to refute the negative statement then turn the
discussion to why health care reform is
needed now. Listed below are the most
common lies and distortions being distributed and the truth about these false statements.
prescription drugs.
The Lie Reform will cause health care
to be rationed. With everyone covered there
won’t be enough doctors and we’ll have to
wait in line to get care.
The Truth Reform will increase the
pool of primary care doctors and nurses and
will encourage more to move to rural underserved areas. Training opportunities for doctors and nurses will be increased. Health reform will provide quality care to everyone,
not just those who can afford it.
The Lie The government will stand
between me and my doctor to decide what
care I get.
The Truth All health care decisions
will be made by you and your doctor. The
government will not interfere. Right now, insurance companies get between the patient
and the doctor regarding care. They deny
coverage for certain procedures, place limits on them and refuse to cover pre-existing
conditions. Health reform clamps down on
insurance company abuses.
The Lie Health Care reform is a government takeover of our health care system.
That’s socialized medicine.
The Truth The private market will
continue to be the backbone of our health
care system. No one is proposing to socialize medicine. The private market will continue to provide insurance coverage. The
role of government under most proposals is
to insure that insurance companies play fair.
Currently, 87 million Americans (29% of the
U.S. population) are covered by government-sponsored programs — Medicare,
Medicaid and military plans
The Lie Health reform is too expensive. It will add to the national debt and hurt
the economy.
The Truth Fixing health care will
strengthen the economy by keeping more
Americans healthy and making coverage
more affordable. This helps American businesses be more competitive in global markets. If we do nothing health costs will continue to bankrupt families, businesses and
government.
The Lie If we adopt a health care plan
like Canada’s people will have to wait in lines
The Lie Health reform will only help
the poor who live in cities and will do nothing to ease the burden for people in rural areas.
to get care.
The Truth Health reform currently
proposed is not based on Canada’s system—
it’s uniquely American. No one is proposing
a Canadian-like system, not the President,
not the committees in Congress that are
writing bills.
The Lie Small businesses will be hurt
by health reform.
The Truth Health reform will actually make health care more affordable for
small businesses. Right now small busi-
nesses pay higher rates or go without insurance. Most of the plans under consideration
have a subsidy built in to help small businesses and their employees obtain affordable health care
The Lie Health reform will be paid for
by cutting Medicare services to seniors.
The Truth This statement is false.
Health reform will make Medicare more efficient and more affordable to seniors.
Medicare is extremely popular and provides
care to 45 million. Health reform will be improved by helping seniors pay for expensive
The Truth Health reform would
make several changes aimed specifically at
helping rural areas. Reform addresses the
shortage of doctors in rural areas. Dollars
spent on expanding coverage will expand
the building of clinics and other health care
facilities in rural areas, providing new jobs.
The Lie
Illegal Immigrants will get free
health care.
The Truth Illegal immigrants will not
be covered by health reform. They are not
eligible under any of the plans being considered in the Congress
Source: Families USA,TheVoice for Health Care
Consumers, Washington, DC, www.families
usa.org.
Health Care Reform Should Be
Linked to Food/Diet Reform
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
three-quarters of health care spending now goes to treat “preventable
chronic diseases.”
Michael Pollan, author of “In the Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto,” and numerous articles on food, states that the fact that the U.S.
spends twice as much per person as most European countries on health
care can be substantially explained because Americans are fatter. That’s
why, he says, our success in bringing health care costs under control ultimately depends on whether Washington can summon up the political courage to take on another giant and powerful industry — the food
industry.
Annually, the U.S. spends $147 billion to treat obesity, $116 billion to
treat diabetes and hundreds of billions to treat cardiovascular disease
and cancers linked to the “Western” diet which is high in red meat, fat
and sugar. Eating habits have become the elephant in the room in the
debate about health care — everyone knows it’s there but nobody wants
to talk about it.
Why isn’t this being addressed? Pollen writes that it is probably because reforming the food system is politically even more difficult than
transforming the health care system. Pollen points out, however, that
there’s one element in the health reform debate that may alter diets and
the food system. It is the provision of coverage for everyone regardless of
health status or pre-existing conditions. When these new rules take effect insurance companies will discover that they have a powerful incentive to reduce the rates of obesity.
A patient with Type 2 diabetes incurs health care costs over their lifetime of $400,000. Insurers, who will no longer be able to exclude these
high-cost patients from their groups, will figure out that for every case of
Type 2 diabetes they can prevent they add $400,000 to the bottom line.
Pollen can envision insurance carriers on the front line when it comes
to making school lunches more nutritious or joining groups to tax or restrict sugar-laden sodas as a severe health risk.
Pollen recalls that the insurance industry threw its weight against
smoking for much the same reasons.
UNION REGISTER
WINTER 2010 • 3
Members of Local 1701 Turn Back Effort
to Eliminate the Union at Jeld-Wen Door Plant
In a tense and highly
charged campaign,
workers at the Jeld-Wen
Arrow Door plant in
Grand Rapids,MI voted
to keep their union
Jeld-Wen, the international
door and window company
headquartered in Klamath Falls,
Oregon, acquired Arrow Door six
years ago and, at that time, there
was a labor contract in place. As
the 2009 contract negotiations
approached, a petition surfaced
that required a vote of the membership to determine whether or
not the plant would remain
union.
This is not a new tactic for
Jeld-Wen.
In a UBC-represented plant in
Sudbury, Pennsylvania, decert
petitions appeared every time
the labor contract came open for
renegotiation. Each time, members of this local were forced to
fight back to maintain their
union.
Union leaders of Local 1701 in
Grand Rapids have strong suspicions that Jeld-Wen is behind the
effort to throw out the union. A
vocal ringleader in the antiunion campaign is married to a
company supervisor. When this
person was voicing opposition to
the union, Fred Sanford, a 20-
year employee, told her, “The
majority decided. You lost, so if
you don’t like union conditions
you can transfer to a nonunion
Jeld-Wen plant, because we want
to keep our union here.”
Randy Prichard, former President of the local, added, “I think
the company probably was behind the decert petition but there
are no witnesses. They covered
their tracks.”
Prichard pointed out that having the help of Dan O’Donnell,
Steve Griffith, Bill Rose, Alex Irribarren and Sergio Gallegos was
a real big boost for the campaign.
“They went around to members’
homes, answered questions and
did a real good job of communicating. With these guys helping
we could quickly counteract
statements and half truths the
company put out and it was
great to have handouts in English, Spanish and in Bosnian.”
Prichard went on to say that
local management has done
some good things and tried to
keep people working during this
recession but that doesn’t mean
there isn’t a need for a union.
“You need some kind of security
and workers always have to ask,
can you trust what the company
says? That’s why you need a contract.”
The evidence strongly suggests that the company tried to
stifle and silence voices of union
supporters by prohibiting hand-
outs, restricting conversations in
the plant and by holding private
meetings with employees to discuss their vote. While limiting
the opportunity for workers to
exchange ideas and discuss the
values of union representation,
the company put their own
posters around the plant.
Adolfo Barajas, President of
the local, noted that there would
be a big difference in the plant if
there were no union. “If there
was no union people could be
fired without good reasons. If the
company doesn’t like you they
could fire you and you couldn’t
do anything about it because
there would be no grievance procedure.”
Sanford pointed out that seniority would probably be a thing
of the past if they lost their union.
After the vote to keep their
union, the membership approved a company offer to extend the contract for one year
with a modest across-the-board
wage increase.
There are differing opinions as
to whether the company will
promote and encourage another
decertification vote next December. Some feel the company took
their shot and failed. Others
think that 2009 as only a warmup and that there will be antiunion talk all year long leading
up to another effort to eliminate
the union in 12 months.
Even though local manage-
ment may not want the turmoil
involved in these kinds of campaigns, the anti-union sentiment
seems to run very deep at JeldWen headquarters and they certainly are in control.
Barajas points out that the
union will have to talk to everyone so people can get a true picture of working union versus
working nonunion. He goes on
to say that the workers will have
to come together in order to
make improvements in the
2010contract.
“If the shop is divided we
make it easy for the company to
tell us what the wages and benefits will be, but if we are together
and strong we have a chance to
bargain for a fair contract,” he explained.
Can a Recession Change
Your Belief System?
Will living through a recession change a person’s beliefs and attitudes for life? Two researchers, Paola Giuliano and Antonio
Spilimbergo, think the answer is yes, especially for those who experience a recession during early adulthood — ages 18 to 25.
The authors used a survey repeated over a 30-year period about
economic beliefs. Answers from the 1940s through the 1980s were
set against the economic conditions of the time.
The researchers found that individuals who experienced a recession in their early formative years develop a set of common beliefs. They believe that luck, rather than effort, is the most important factor to an individual’s success. They support more
government programs to narrow the income gap between the rich
and the poor. And they tend to have less confidence in public institutions.
People under 40 can have their trust in government institutions
shaken by economic shocks. But people over 40 do not tend to
change their beliefs in response to recessions or depressions.
So, if you are a person between the ages of 18 and 25 living
through this current recession there is a good chance that your beliefs on how to conduct your personal finances are changing for
life. Your political outlook may also be shifting.
Oregon Deserves Better Than a Jobless Recovery
By Bill Kluting
Since the 1980’s the lack of a National
Forest plan is a major reason Oregon saw
200 timber mills close, causing 50,000
people to lose their jobs. Rural Oregon has
been economically ruined. Almost every
rural town had a lumber mill. Now, most
are gone. Rural counties have been providing services for their citizens by using
federal timber O&C monies that will cease
in 2012. It will be virtually impossible for
taxpayers to make up the shortfall.
The state lost thousands of aluminum
jobs when plants closed. Over half of Oregon’s paper and pulp mills have closed,
costing thousands of jobs. Our major steel
plants have closed costing thousands of
jobs. Heavy construction has lost thousands of jobs. Machine manufacturing
plants have closed. Computer hi-tech has
lost thousands of jobs. Transportation
manufacturing and food processing have
lost thousands of jobs and the sad part is
that the state is still losing jobs--120,000
since November 2007.
The jobs that were lost provided the
backbone of Oregon’s industrial sector
and were a source of tax dollars used to
support state, county and city workers.
Oregon created over 70,000 public sector
jobs during this time period which put
further strain on state budgets. During the
ISSN 0274-970X
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for the Carpenters Industrial Council UBC and its Affiliates
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1980 recession almost all these industrial
plants stayed in place and when workers
returned from layoffs Oregon had no
problem pulling out of the recession.
During this long and deep recession the
state is loosing industrial capacity.
There are over 200,000 workers unemployed in Oregon and this understates the
real numbers because it doesn’t count
those who have quit looking for work or
those who are under-employed in parttime, low wage jobs. One out of six Oregonians are receiving food stamps. People in this state can’t wait three to four
years that some experts say it will take to
work our way out of this jobless recovery.
Oregon needs to put 150,000 people back
to work earning decent wages now. The
state lost a large majority of these jobs to
other states and because of trade agreements with foreign nations. This has to
stop. If we had a sensible and balanced
National Forest plan we could put thousands back to work doing forest restoration, thinning and logging and perhaps
even put a few small sawmills back on line
which would help our rural counties become self sufficient once again.
We need bridges. Lets build them. We
need dependable high-speed train service
instead of pouring billions of dollars into
Amtrak. We need to ensure we have highways to handle our growing traffic needs.
The state should start these projects and
seek out federal dollars to help finance
them. We need to build an ocean cargo
container facility at Coos Bay which
would put two thousand people to work.
We need to follow the lead of Idaho and
Washington and insure that we have ad-
ditional irrigation water to grow food in
central and eastern Oregon for America
and the world. This would create many
thousands of jobs.
The first step would be to take the ideas
of the Oregon Business Council and form
a task force composed of business and labor to determine what needs to be done
to implement these and other ideas. Part
of the task will be to convince elected officials that the plan is worth funding and
putting in action. Oregonians deserve
better than a jobless recovery. We must
act now to put unemployed Oregonians
back to work.
(Editors Note: While Bill Kluting zeros
in on Oregon it seems that a reader could
insert almost any other state and come to
the same conclusion — a jobless recovery
is unacceptable for America’s working
families. Kluting is a retired member of
CIC Local 2714 in Dallas, OR and serves
as the political coordinator for local
unions in Oregon. He has worked many
years with the Oregon legislature on forest
management issues, unemployment compensation, workers’ compensation and,
most of all, on creating good family wage
jobs. Kluting is a calm but dedicated force
when he walks the halls of the legislature.
He’s developed a reputation for honesty,
persistence and “having the facts” when it
comes to jobs issues. Kluting has impact
because he cares so much and because he
is always present. He has dedicated his retirement to helping CIC members; indeed,
all workers, get a better deal from state
legislators and administrative officials.)
UNION REGISTER
4 • WINTER 2010
Local Unions 3094 and 3101 negotiating committee for the two Boise Cascade plants in Florien
and Oakdale, LA are pictured above. From left, in the back row, is Gary Brown, Raymond Green,
Shelton Richard, and Charles Enterkin. In the front row, from the left, is Sammy Pilcher,
Raymond Guillory, Mike Pieti and John Fontenot.
Boise Cascade Settlement Reached in Louisiana
Contract negotiations with Boise Cascade
took place under the cloud of large-scale layoffs
at the Oakdale, Louisiana mill. There was a big
layoff in February and another in December
that affected 250 members. The Oakdale mill
was idled, keeping only a skeleton crew to maintain the equipment in working order in case of a
market upturn that would warrant restarting the
mill. Florien continues to operate normally, but
with reduced output.
Both mills operate under a common contract
with Local 3101 in Oakdale and 3094 in Florien.
The settlement was ratified by the membership
on November 19, 2009. It provided for extended
recall rights for those now on layoff and those
who may be on layoff in the future and extension of health care coverage for six months after
layoff.
The four year contract calls for a lump sum
bonus payment the first year and the second
year. Across-the-board wage increases are
scheduled for the third and forth year, plus skills
trades adjustments for designated maintenance
jobs.
Shelton Richard Retires After Thirty Five Years
of Service to Members of Local 3101 in Oakdale
After forty two years in the Boise Cascade plywood plant in Oakdale, LA, Shelton Richard (pronounced ri-chard) decided it was
time to retire.
Richard was twenty years old when he came to work in the mill
and joined the union right after his probationary period. “I joined when old man
Chapman asked me,” said Richard. “Back then, in 1967, we had a union shop and
everyone had to be in the union. It wasn’t until 1976 that Louisiana passed the so
called right-to-work law which allowed people to drop out even though they got
the same wages and benefits as union workers.”
Richard started out at $2.45 per hour pulling veneer off the dryer. He did many
jobs, including laying core but his six foot frame made it difficult to stoop over
every time a sheet of lay-up veneer was passed over his head. He spent most of his
time as a press operator and liked his job and his fellow workers.
Richard spent his worklife as a leader of Local 3101. He served as a union officer for well over thirty five years. He’s been a steward, Vice President for thirty
years and was the President when he retired.
“I’ve seen a whole lot during my years in the union,” observed Richard. “I can’t
even count the number of times I’ve been part of the negotiating committee in the
70s, 80s, 90s and this year, 2009. When we struck in the 1980s we sent members
from our plant to picket Boise Cascade mills in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. I
stayed home to keep everything organized on our own picket line.”
Richard has some advice for younger workers. “It’s important to stick together
as one because if people don’t do that, the company will always find ways to split
people up. The company will back off from a bad decision if the people show
they’re together.”
“On top of that,” Richard continued, “I would say to our younger members that
the union depends on volunteer help. I put in many thousands of hours to make
the union better and that’s what it takes. I encourage our younger members to
step up and do the same.”
Richard will spend his retirement time hunting deer, rabbits and squirrel, fishing and working around his place.
The union will miss his vast experience and his calm and steady way of getting
things done.
First-Time Delegate Displays Leadership With Action
Following the September Delegates Conference held in Tunica,
MS for the Eastern and Southern Regions, newly elected Lisa
Montgomery from Local 2006 was very diligent about giving a detailed report when she returned to her local union.
Sister Montgomery was elected to serve as the delegate from
her local, which represents nursing home workers in Seaford,
Delaware. She wasn’t sure what to expect and was a little nervous
about going to an event where she knew so few people. But at the
conclusion of the meeting she announced that she was very impressed with the events and the programs.
Employed as a certified nurses aide and providing a service to
residents in a nursing home, she was taken aback and shocked
when hearing reports from the other delegates about the deep layoffs and unemployment experienced by fellow members in manufacturing plants. Montgomery left that meeting convinced that something must be done to help create good union jobs and to eliminate the abuses workers face when attempting to organize a union.
Montgomery put her strong feelings into action by writing a letter to Congressman Michael Castle urging him to support the Employee Free Choice Act. She also asked all members of Local 2006 to show the
same support and to write similar letters to Congressman Castle.
UNION REGISTER
WINTER 2010 • 5
Destroying Worker Rights A Central
Part of Colombia’s Free-Trade Strategy
(ABOVE) A dock worker shovels loose chunks of coal spilled
during the ship loading process. Dock workers earn about $1
an hour and haven’t had a raise since the port was privatized 16
years ago.
(LEFT) View of the port beyond the city of Buenaventura,
Colombia. A freighter can be seen in the background being loaded with coal.
C
olombia is the third largest recipient of
U.S. military aid, after Israel and Egypt.
Since 2000 the U.S. has spent $6 billion on
Plan Colombia, the drug interdiction antiterrorist plan and in October 2009 the U.S.
and Colombia announced an agreement to
expand the presence of U.S. military advisors at seven Colombia military bases in exchange for rebuilding those bases. The bill
for U.S. taxpayers is an estimated $40 million.
In addition, the Colombian-U.S. Free
Trade Agreement negotiated by the Bush
Administration and the Uribe government
is awaiting action in the U.S. Congress.
U.S. policies directed towards Colombia
are obviously having large as well as subtle
impacts on the people of Colombia.
It was against this backdrop that a delegation of seven volunteer U.S. citizens took
vacation time to travel to Colombia the first
week of November under the sponsorship
of Witness for Peace. Mike Pieti, Executive
Secretary of the CIC, Dan O’Donnell, Director, CIC Midwestern Region and Denny
Scott, retired UBC Representative were part
of the delegation. Privately funded, the
mission of this small delegation was to talk
with people on the ground, human rights
groups, worker groups, student/university
groups, city officials and academic people
to learn first hand about the impacts of U.S.
policy on the Colombian people. In that
five members of the delegation were leaders in their unions, there was a special focus on the rights of Colombia workers to
exercise free speech, to join unions and to
have a collective voice at their workplace.
COLOMBIANS OPPOSE
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
The delegation learned quickly that large
segments of Colombian society oppose the
Colombian-U.S. Free Trade Agreement
(FTA). This is not obvious from examining
the U.S. media. The view heard over and
over by this delegation was that the FTA, if
approved by the U.S. Congress, would further consolidate the power of the transnational corporations operating in Colombia
and cause more repression of
DESTROYS WORKER RIGHTS
The delegation came to the conclusion
that there is a concerted, systematic and
brutal plan in place to repress workers and
to push wages to the lowest sub-poverty
levels possible. The government enacted a
bill in 1990, introduced by then-Senator
Uribe, which allows
companies to establish
worker “cooperatives”.
In a perverse departure from worker coops familiar in other
parts of the world, the
Colombian version
means that every
worker is an “owneroperator’ who must
pay his or her own
social security payments to the government to qualify
for an eventual
pension. Colombian co-ops undermine the for- mation of unions
il
ch
e
th
d
seen behin
and, when instiof housing is ers live.
n
io
it
d
n
co
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tuted, they are
lo
ck
o
ep
The d
here d
aventura, w
en
usually accomu
B
in
n
dre
panied with wage cuts. Colombian
co-ops are strikingly similar to a system
worker rights and also cause more dislocaused by unscrupulous building contractors
tion and higher unemployment.
in the U.S. Instead of hiring workers and
Even the mayor’s office in Cali, Colompaying fair wages and benefits, these conbia’s third largest city, opposes the Free
tractors bring in what’s known as 1099
Trade Agreement. The Uribe government is
closely tied to the global corporate interests
that have rushed to Colombia to take advantage of the vast array of natural resources--oil, minerals, gold, coal, emeralds,
bananas, sugar, coffee, water and fertile
soils.
COLOMBIA SYSTEMATICALLY
workers (named after the section in the IRS
code) who are considered owner-operators. Like Colombian co-ops, these 1099
workers pay their own social security, unemployment premiums and workers comp
premiums. The UBC has a national campaign underway to expose this illegal practice and to eliminate it.
DOCK WORKERS REDUCED
TO SUB-POVERTY WAGES
THROUGH PRIVATIZATION AND CO-OPS
The delegation met with dock workers in
Buenaventura, one of Colombia’s major
ports on the Pacific Ocean. The port is being transformed into a mega-port that will
allow transnational corporations to send
vast quantities of raw materials to destinations around the globe. Another piece of
this export strategy is the construction of a
massive expressway to move products from
the interior to the docks in Buenaventura.
It is based, in part, on the assumption the
FTA will be approved by the U.S. Congress.
The port was privatized in 1993 and with
that came a new set of rules under the “coop” law that undermined the right of workers to organize into a union and to make a
living wage. When the port was owned by
the government about 8,000 workers were
hired directly by the port authority. Now,
workers are considered “owner-operators”
under the co-op system. Wage rates have
remained the same for 16 years and the
(Turn to Page 10)
(ABOVE) A dock worker unloads bags of refined sugar destined for export. Dock workers
are hired (or called) on a daily basis by a company-controlled “co-op”. Workers are considered “owner-operators” responsible for their own social security payments. These
Colombia-style “co-ops” were put into the law in1990 to undermine and destroy unions.
(PHOTO LEFT) Mike Pieti (l) Executive Secretary, Carpenters Industrial Council, Harold
Gamboa (center) President Colombian Maritime Workers Union, and Denny Scott (r)
retired from the Carpenters Union, are shown above at a meeting November 3rd in Buenaventura between the Witness for Peace delegation and Colombian dock workers.
UNION REGISTER
6 • WINTER 2010
LOCAL 1349 PRESIDENT STANDS TALL ON UNITED WAY BILLBOARD
Bucky Shimulunas, President of Local 1349, is a big
guy at six feet, four inches tall and 325 pounds but he got
even bigger for the United Way fund drive in Two Rivers,
WI.
Bucky appeared on a twelve foot billboard asking people to make contributions during the fund raising drive
conducted in November.
Laurie Crawford, Executive Director of the local
UnitedWay office, attended the regular meeting of Local
1349 in October. She explained that resources of United
Way are being stretched to the limit due to bad economic
times. High unemployment means there is a much
higher demand on the services provided by United Way.
Crawford explained that UnitedWay doesn’t want to turn
anyone in need away and asked local members to give
generously during this year’s fund drive.
She noted that the services in high demand during
this prolonged recession are food distributions, mortgage, rent, and utility assistance.
In cooperation with the company, Eggers Industries,
union members were given pledge cards at work and
asked to make a pledge that would be deducted from
their payroll checks. The drive in the plant produced
$1,114 for United Way.
“We’ve been lucky to have work in the door plant during 2009, with most members of the crew getting 40
hours a week. But we’ve been told by the company that
orders are expected to be way down in 2010,”said Shimu-
lunas. “We urged all of our members to sign the pledge
cards because helping others in the community is not
only the right thing to do but it will also help them in
2010 if they are laid off and need services provided by
United Way.”
Bucky was asked to appear on the billboard because
he is widely recognized in the Eggers plant and in the
community. He works part-time as a bartender at a popular restaurant called Lonz’s Tannery Club and knows almost everyone who comes in and out of the restaurant.
United Way felt that placing a well known person, like
Bucky, on the billboard would help raise more money
during hard times. The philosophy was, “If Bucky supports this cause maybe I can too.”
Local 1533 and Festival Foods
Team Up to Help Food Pantry
Local 1533 and Festival Foods grocery store in Two Rivers,WI teamed up to
provide 300Thanksgiving turkeys to struggling families inTwo Rivers. Left to
right above are JonWieser,Festival Foods,John Compton,Local 1533VP,Greg
Coenen, CIC Rep, Ken Koenig, Local 1533 President, and John Bilski, Festival
Foods.
Local 2930 in Indiana Helps
Children Have a Happy Christmas
During the Christmas season the
Community Action Committee of Local 2930 with members in Jasper, Huntingburg and Ferdinand, Indiana
worked hard to make Christmas happier for kids in need.
The local has participated in the
Children’s ChristmasWish Program for
four years. Funds to buy children’s toys
and clothing were raised at the raffle
held during the annual local union
Christmas party. This year the local
was able to help sixteen kids from ages
six months to fifteen years. The names
of the children in need are supplied by
Hoosier Works (the unemployment office) and Hoosier Healthwise (provides
health assistance to dependent children).
“It’s our way to give back to our community,” said Flora Biggs. “Hopefully,
the word gets out so the community
sees the good being done by the union.
“The whole thing is that Christmas
is all about the kids,” said Local 2930
President John Dixon. “With our group
effort the local union is able to accomplish something that an individual
wouldn’t be able to do. That’s part of
the benefit of being union.”
Members of Local 1533 in Two Rivers, Wisconsin teamed up with a local grocery
store to donate 300 turkeys to help local families have a traditional Thanksgiving Day
dinner.
“The mission of CIC Local 1533 has always been to be a strong community leader
when it comes to helping people,” said Local President Ken Koenig. “It’s a good feeling
to help others in our community when the need arises.”
Local union officers Koenig and John Compton, Local 1533 Vice President, worked
with Festival Foods store managers John Bilski and John Wieser to arrange the event.
Through their efforts, every family on the list at Twin Rivers Pantry received a turkey.
Due to the slow economy and jobs moving out of the area, the local union has experienced a significant decline in membership. Some of the families struggling this holiday season are, in fact, former members. “So, in the true spirit of brotherhood and
lending a helping hand, members who are still working donated money to help those
who are laid off,” said Greg Coenen, CIC Representative.
“Local 1533 has a long history of activities with our members and also in the community,” noted John Compton. “We’ve done numerous projects over the years and I
feel proud to be part of a union that takes such pride in one another and in the community. When we see a need we are quick to share our good fortune with others.”
Flora Biggs “test drives” a brand new tricycle that some lucky child received at Christmas thanks to the fund raising drive carried out by Local 2930 in Indiana.
UNION REGISTER
WINTER 2010 • 7
The Toys for Tots Committee for Local 2776, Kalamazoo, MI, is shown above shopping
for toys that will be donated to families at Christmas. From left to right are Scott
LaChance, Kathy Pressley, Deb Gray and Todd Pressley.
Michigan Locals Find True Meaning of Christmas
Local 1615 in Grand Rapids and Local 2776 in Kalamazoo made Christmas a little brighter for several families in their communities. Both locals raised money to
help families in need through the Toys for Tots program.
The locals raise money throughout the year by collecting cans and bottles from members at their plants
and then returning them for the deposit.
The members of Local 1615 raised just under $2,000
and Local 2776 raised a little over $2,000.
Both locals actually go out to the stores and shop for
toys. Local 1615 turned the toys over to a local television
station, which wraps them and distributes them to the
families needing the assistance.
In addition to the bottle and can collections, Local
1615 raised money through a raffle held during a Halloween party, conducted a bake sale and did cash collections at the plant.
Tracy Loper and her husband Sonny, and Carol Lambeck were the main organizers of the fund raising events
and took the time to cart the empty cans to local redemption centers. Other members involved were Lois
Lenartz and Bob Minema.
Local 2776 sponsored 10 needy families from the
Kalamazoo area. Several of the local officers and members shopped for presents with the money raised.
The local began their program in 2004 by raising
money to provide four families with food at Thanksgiving. It grew from there with the formation of a committee.
That first committee was made up of Santos Rincones, Debra Gray and Todd Pressley. The committee
raised about $700 the first year through donations. The
second year the committee began returning employees’
pop cans and bottles for the deposit and was able to increase the pot by $300 to $400.
The salaried workers at Interkal also joined in with angel trees, raffles and personal donations. It’s gratifying to
see this program grow year after year — especially when
there are so many more families suffering economic
hardship.
Local 1865 Endorses
Carpenter Member
for Governor
Cabinet Makers Local 1865 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota has endorsed Tom Bakk, a member of the Carpenters
Union, in his bid for election as governor. This is an unprecedented move in that the local rarely makes political endorsements.
CIC Local 766 in Albert Lea, MN is also expected to endorse
Bakk.
Before starting his political career, Bakk worked as a carpenter and served as the Business Agent for UBC Local 606.
Bakk has a great deal of experience as a former member of
the Minnesota House of Representatives and now serves as a
State Senator. He is highly respected by his fellow legislators,
which is reflected in his election as chair of the powerful Senate Tax Committee.
Bakk is running for governor because the state is facing serious financial challenges and needs a bold leader who will
create jobs. He points out that to have the resources necessary
to build long-term prosperity the state must get people back to
work. As governor, Bakk will promote construction to help
stimulate the economy and put heat on local banks to free up
credit so loans can go out to businesses that will create jobs.
After receiving the endorsement from the Carpenters North
Central States Regional Council and Local 1865, Bakk commented, “These endorsements are very personal to me. I appreciate the support of union members because I’ve worked
to improve their standard of living and making sure their
workplaces are safe. They know I have a passion for putting
people to work.”
Bakk pointed out that running for governor is a big task for
a carpenter from a small town and urged all members to attend their precinct caucuses on February 2, 2010. Anyone
needing information on their precinct caucus can e-mail
[email protected] or call 651-379-0279.
If anyone is interested in volunteering or making a contribution, they can go to his Web site at www.bakk2010.com.
Tom Bakk, a member of the Carpenters Union, is a candidate for governor of Minnesota. Before running for the House of Representatives in 1994, Bakk worked as a carpenter and then served as a Business Agent for Local 606. CIC Locals 1865 and 766 rarely endorse political candidates, but were anxious to show their support for a union Carpenter who is passionate about creating jobs. Bakk has
served in the Minnesota House
and Senate for 15 years.
Don Kern (l) CIC Representative
for local unions in Minnesota is
shown with Tom Bakk after Local 1865 endorsed his candidacy
for governor.
8 • WINTER 2010
UNION REGISTER
OR
Part Two
The 1898 Woodworkers Strike in Oshkosh, Wisconsin
This article is drawn from the
book entitled “The Oshkosh
Woodworker’s Strike of 1898: A
Wisconsin Community in Crisis”
by Virginia Glenn Crane, published in 1998 with a grant from
the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial
Commission. This is part two of a
two part series. Part one appeared
in the Fall 2009 edition of the
Union Register.
THE WOMEN WEIGH IN
Since the men were in constant danger of being arrested for
yelling at scabs as they entered
and exited the factories, a group
of woman developed their own
plan. Women, they reasoned,
would be less subject to arrest
than men so they began mass
demonstrations at plant gates to
taunt scabs, toss eggs, and throw
salt and pepper in their eyes. The
leader of the women’s group was
Lizzie Hando. Born in Prussia,
she was the widowed mother of
five children and sixty-four years
old in 1898. Two of her sons
worked in the Oshkosh lumber
mills. The goal of the women was
to prevent scabs from entering
the plants and to shut down the
mills.
The first women’s demonstration was carried out on the Ohio
Street Bridge as Radford scabs
left the mill. The protest was a
success but the anti-worker
newspaper was quick to call it
“mob violence”. The following
day the ladies closed the Morgan
plant. The company announced
that it would close due to the “violence”. The newspaper headlines were, “Strikers and Wives
Run Rampant”, “Eggs and Clubs
Called Into Use”, and “NonUnion Men Flee for Their Lives’.
TROOPS ARRIVE IN OSHKOSH
George Paine leaped at the
opportunity to use his political
influence with the Republican
Governor, Edward Scofield, to
call in the National Guard to
“quell” the riots. The Governor
responded immediately and sent
two trains of troops from Milwaukee. Upon arrival, the troops
were dispatched to the Paine
Lumber Company and ordered
to shoot to kill if property or life
of citizens was in danger.
Strike leaders, including Kidd,
went to Lizzie Hando and the
other women leading the
demonstrations and begged
them to call off the mass rally
planned for the Paine Lumber
Company the following morning. The women agreed.
Oshkosh was occupied and the
owners ran ads urging workers to
come to Oshkosh to cross the
picket lines with military protection.
In the days following arrival of
the troops local authorities arrested fourteen demonstrators,
five of whom were women.
Hando and another leader of the
woman’s demonstrations, Caroline Pomerening, were also arrested and charged with rioting.
Tragically, a 16-year-old striker, Jimmie Morris, was killed
when an employee of Paine
Lumber Company hit him with a
club at a demonstration in front
of the McMillen mill. On June 26,
the young dead striker lay in
state in a pine casket at Turner
Hall. About 1,300 mourners
marched ahead of the hearse
carriage carrying Morris’s body.
A placard placed on the casket
read, “Here lies the young martyr
who died for the union.” It was a
peaceful and somber event for
the strikers and their families.
Events were clearly turning
against the strikers. The mills
and scabs were under military
protection, arrests were being
made to prevent demonstrations, a striker had been killed,
union strike benefit funds were
running low and strikers were
suffering from raw hunger. One
Women workers at Paine Lumber Company (circa 1900). The mill owners hired women at half the
wage rate paid to men. Women emerged as a real force in the 1898 strike by forming mass demonstrations at plant gates,pelting scabs with eggs and insults. The reasoning was that they would be
less subject to arrest than men. They succeeded in shutting the mills for a time. Photo courtesy
of Oshkosh Public Museum.
report said they were living on
rye bread and coffee. But despite
these difficulties events changed
quickly when McMillen Company agreed to open negotiations to end the strike. An agreement was quickly reached and
the members voted to approve it
on June 29. While the settlement
was supposed to be kept secret,
various leaks indicated that
McMillen agreed to treat workers
as a union and to employ union
and nonunion men without discrimination. There was a wage
increase of 15 cents per day for
the lowest paid (less than $1.50 a
day) and female labor was
barred.
Instead of breaking the log
jam for a wider settlement, the
agreement caused the remaining
owners, under Paine’s influence,
to close ranks and dig in deeper.
The National Guard pulled
out at the end of June and Kidd
noted that this is the first labor
trouble in the history of the
world in which the military force
brought in at the request of the
owners failed to break the tenacity of the strikers.
George Paine, owner of Paine
Lumber Company in
Oshkosh,Wisconsin. Paine
was the leader among the
seven owners who were
struck in 1898 for improved
wages and union recognition.
This wealthy mogul did
everything in his power to
break the strike, including
calling in the National Guard
to protect scabs, recruiting
strikebreakers, hiring Pinkerton detectives to provoke violence and filing “criminal
conspiracy” and “damage”
claims against strike leader
Thomas Kidd.
In July the employers made
another tactical move. They
closed their mills hoping that the
prospects of no work and pressure from the community would
weaken the resolve of the strikers. The owners made arrangements to subcontract their orders to their competitors — an
expensive proposition that the
companies could not stomach
for very long.
The companies met with
worker only committees in July
but it was little more than an attempt to discourage and demoralize
striking
workers.
The overbearing and arrogant
attitude of the owners served to
unify the men from the various
mills.
Two court cases unfolded in
July. In the case against Edward
Casey, the Paine engineer accused of killing sixteen year old
Jimmie Morris, the jury found
Casey guilty.
And in the case involving
Hando and others accused of inciting a riot, the jury found
enough evidence to carry it over
to September.
Women were again part of this
demonstration with rocks hidden in their aprons.
While getting some woodworkers back in their mills, the
owners had once again failed to
break the strike. They turned
their attention to Thomas Kidd,
the person they still considered
to be an outside agitator. Authorities charged him with criminal conspiracy claiming he used
violence, threats and intimidation and force to prevent the
company’s wage earners from
going to work. Kidd was arrested
and released on bail but the
owners plan was to keep him
completely preoccupied in court
and away from the strikers. To
this end the George Paine filed a
civil suit against Kidd for “damages” he allegedly inflicted on
Paine Lumber Company. Paine
had eight attorneys working on
the cases in an effort to keep
Kidd immobilized.
It was clear that the strikers
were feeling nervous, hungry
and exhausted but a vote to call
off the strike on August 14 was
defeated almost unanimously.
OWNERS ESCALATE BATTLE TO
BREAK THE STRIKE
In August the owners made a
big push to divide and conquer
the union strikers. They first announced that strike breakers
would be brought in to Oshkosh
to reopen the mills. Then they
urged all workers to return to
work. There would be no discrimination against union workers, they said. Kidd spoke long
and hard urging union men to
stay outside but despite his
speeches many workers broke
ranks and returned to the mills.
This created great tension and
conflict and crowds gathered at
the mills. Fights broke out and
on August 5th a riot occurred at
Morgan’s as police attacked
union protesters with clubs.
SETTLEMENT AND RETURN TO WORK
AGREEMENTS REACHED
The mills still did not have
enough manpower to run efficiently and at least one company
wanted to settle with the union
and return to full production.
Foster-Hafner broke from the remaining owners and agreed to
negotiate. A quick settlement
was reached and the other companies followed along, except
Radford, Paine and Morgan.
Both sides reported the settlement was satisfactory despite the
fact the union did not gain recognition and wage increases wouldn’t come until business recovered. All strikers would be taken
back without discrimination.
(Turn to Page 9)
UNION REGISTER
WINTER 2010 • 9
...1898 Woodworkers Strike
Struggles like the 1898 strike build leaders and
give people the strength and hope to try again
(From Page 8)
It was clear the strikers had reached their
limits and Kidd recognized that the opening offered by Foster-Hafner would allow a
face saving settlement. He found an honorable way for the woodworkers to return to
work as support for the strike was weakening. He congratulated the union members
on the “final issue of the great contest”.
In September the jury for the Hando
“riot” case was unable to reach a verdict—
tied at six to six and when a second trial also
produced a hung jury the case against
Hando was dismissed.
In October the renowned labor attorney
Clarence Darrow arrived in Oshkosh, “not
for fees or for his friend Thomas Kidd but
for the workers’ struggle against oppression
and tyranny.” He would put the Kidd trial
and the Oshkosh strike in national headlines.
After two weeks of testimony and eloquent statements flowing from the mouth
of Darrow, the jury took just 55 minutes to
declare Kidd not guilty of criminal conspiracy to incite riots.
AFTERMATH
Evidence suggests that Oshkosh remained a cheap labor town for many years
after the strike. Wages were increased temporarily to resolve the strike and then were
cut again as Kidd and Darrow left town.
The workplace in the millwork factories
remained raw and dangerous. The Paine
Company kept hiring women as cheap labor. Strike leaders were blacklisted and
could not find work in Oshkosh sash, door,
blind mills. Unions did, in fact, survive after
the 1898 strike but it’s fair to say they did not
flourish. With Kidd’s commitment and energy, the AmalgamatedWoodworkers International Union doubled in size between
1901 and 1904. His union merged with the
United Brotherhood of Carpenters in 1912.
In 1903 T.R. Morgan, President of the
Morgan Company, was shot to death in the
Workers posed at a Paine Lumber mill (circa 1900). Note the children in the back row. Paine and several of the other companies hired children and paid them half of what men were paid even though it was illegal underWisconsin law at the time.
A sixteen year old striker was killed by a scab during one of the mass demonstrations at a plant gate. Photo courtesy of
Oshkosh Public Museum.
company lumber yard by Morgan employee
Frederick Hampel. Hampel was arrested
and took his own life in jail the same day as
the shooting.
The acquittal of Kidd was extremely important to the American labor movement at
the time. Had Kidd been convicted it would
have opened the door for any industrialist
faced with a strike to bring a conspiracy
prosecution against union leaders.
It’s more difficult to project how the strike
affected future efforts of woodworkers to
form unions, but we know that struggles like
the 1898 strike build leaders and give people the strength and hope to try again. The
Oshkosh 600 (the strikers who lasted to the
end) were heroes in the labor community.
And after George Paine died in 1917 his son
Nathan took over the company and installed a more humane way of treating
Five Point Plan to Create Jobs in America
A Washington, D.C., economic
think-tank, the Economic Policy
Institute, has issued a bold plan
to create 4.6 million jobs in one
year. The EPI has worked closely
with the US labor movement to
analyze economic trends and to
develop economic policies that
help the middle and lower wage
earners in America. The five
point plan is called American
Jobs Plan.
Strengthen the safety net for
the unemployed by improving
the benefits for long term unemployment. This is important because unemployment is expected
to hover around 10 per cent
throughout 2010. COBRA, the
law that allows unemployed
workers to keep their employersponsored health coverage
should be further subsidized
from the current 65 percent to 80
percent. And nutrition assistance, such as Food Stamps,
should be expanded.
Provide additional federal relief to state and local governments. This expenditure helps
protect services needed by families in financial distress and stimulates jobs in the local economy
because it is spent locally. It
would prevent teachers, fire fighters and policemen from being
laid off. EPI proposes an increase
of $150 million above what was
spent in the Recovery Act which
would save from 1 million to 1.4
million jobs.
Invest in transportation and in
schools. Transportation systems
and many schools are old and in
need of repair and updating. The
Recovery Act sent $50 billion out
for highway, transit and bridge
repair. This is only about 6 percent of what’s needed. And a
GAO study estimated that $113
billion is needed to bring the nations schools into good repair.
Rebuilding highways, bridges
and schools creates good construction jobs and addresses a serious problem with the breakdown of infrastructure. EPI
recommends increasing the allocation to transportation and
spending $30 billion on schools.
Use $40 billion over three years
to fund public service jobs. These
jobs would benefit the community with such things as renovating parks, cleaning abandoned
properties, forest restoration,
staffing food programs, etc.
Enact a tax credit for businesses that add new jobs. The tax
credit, according to EPI, should
be wide-ranging, temporary (two
years), large and efficient at producing real jobs — not just a subsidy for business. EPI proposes a
credit of 15 percent refundable
tax credit for the “expanded” payroll. This measure, it is estimated,
would create from 1.4 to 2.8 million jobs.
Labor Leader Meets with Biden
on Reviving U.S. Manufacturing
Vice President Biden met with AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Liz
Schuler on December 17 to discuss a program to revive manufacturing
jobs in America.
Schuler praised White House proposals on job training, aid to displaced workers, infrastructure investment and ending the tax incentives
that lead corporations to ship jobs overseas. To enhance and grow manufacturing she pointed out that the U.S. needed to make a strong commitment to enforcing trade agreements, working to stop plant closings
and supporting research and development to keep our country’s manufacturing industries competitive.
Shuler gave an example for an industrial policy. In addition to building high-speed trains let’s also develop the incentives and the capacity to
build a domestic supply chain for the materials going into high-speed
trains.
workers with picnics, sports teams and employee recognition awards. While he didn’t
embrace unions he was probably influenced by the strike of 1898 and was seeking
ways to prevent worker discontent and prevent the formation of unions in the future.
The Oshkosh strike helped build the
foundations needed to eventually unionize
the sash, door and millwork industry in
Oshkosh along the Fox River.
UNION REGISTER
10 • WINTER 2010
Personal
Finance
Almost 60 million Americans have no bank account at
all or have a bank account while still using non-bank
money orders, check-cashing outlets, payday loans or
pawn shops once or twice a year. These people are called
the “unbanked” and the “underbanked”.
A recent survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reveals that more than one-quarter
(25.6%) of all households in the U.S. are unbanked or underbanked and that those households are disproportionately low-income and/or minority. Households with incomes under $30,000 account for at least 71% of the
unbanked and an estimated 22% of black households and
19% of Hispanics are unbanked.
This finding is alarming because people conducting
their day-to-day personal business outside the banking
system are being subjected to excessive fees, payday loans
with exorbitant interest rates or other scams that take advantage of a group of workers who can least afford it.
Check cashing fees, for example, can range from 2% to 5%.
This means that a storefront check cashing company
would collect between $7.00 and $17.50 just to cash a $350
payroll check. This is expensive when considering a bank
would charge customers a much smaller fee or nothing at
all.
Avoid Check Cashing
Stores and Payday Loans
It’s even worse news for people forced to take out short
term payday loans from these same storefronts. Payday
loans work like this. A customer borrows against his next
paycheck by writing a check and postdating it, usually using the date of his next payroll check. He may, for example,
write a check in the amount of $250 and collect $200. The
check cashing outlet pockets the $50 as the fee for a two
week loan. When this fee is annualized it comes out to an
interest rate in excess of 400%. A 2006 survey conducted by
the Consumer Federation of America found interest rates
ranging from 390% to 780%. Because people taking out
these loans often have trouble repaying them they get on
the treadmill of taking out a new short term loan, with the
excessive fees, to pay off the previous loan. It’s a vicious
circle and extremely expensive. In fact, some twenty states
have stepped in to limit the annualized interest rate to 36%
for payday loans.
Wal-Mart has targeted the poor since about one-fifth of
their customers do not have bank accounts. More than
3,000 stores process $50 million a year in financial transactions by selling money orders, wire transfers and by cashing payroll and government benefit checks. Wal-Mart’s
prices are generally higher than similar services provided
to bank customers. Wal-Mart does one million of these
transactions a week and the fees they collect (such as $3 to
cash a check and $10 for a wire transfer) add up to an estimated $2.8 to $3.2 million a week!
A 2006 survey found that people were not using a bank
for the following reasons, (1) they cannot maintain a minimum balance to avoid higher fees, (2) they write very few
checks, (3) they have too little income and (4) there’s been
a decline in bank branches in low income neighborhoods.
Banks have been slow to address this issue because it’s
not clear how they can make money off the unbanked and
underbanked. This, however, may be changing with a
push by the FDIC, through their bank examination rules,
to encourage banks to provide low-cost banking services
and products. “The FDIC survey,” said FDIC Vice Chairman Martin Gruenberg, “provided the information the
agency needed to push the banking industry to aggressively address the financial services needs of the unbanked
and underbanked.”
If you are among the unbanked or underbanked it is important to avoid payday loans and to shop around for the
cheapest check cashing charges. Next, make every effort to
open a basic banking account with low cost checking that
includes a debit card that cannot be overdrawn. This helps
avoid higher fees, overdraft charges and carries a measure
of federal protection. The goal is to accumulate a balance
in the checking or savings account over time to make it
easier and cheaper to cash checks. Ask a neighborhood
bank or a credit union about starter accounts or “second
chance” accounts in the event there were financial problems in the past.
...Assassinations of Union Leaders in Colombia
workers are illiterate. After the strike ended
with few gains, eight strike leaders were
charged with criminal conspiracy and sabotage. “Sabotage” in this case, is considered the financial losses sugar refiners
claimed due to the work stoppage. The
delegation met with four of the sugar
workers charged with these crimes and it
was obvious that these extreme charges
were meant to impose severe punishment
on individual leaders as an object lesson
for any other leaders considering similar
action.
(From Page 5)
normal workday is 12 to 14 hours, but
workers are usually paid for only eight
hours. The delegation was informed that
the hourly rate of pay is officially $1, but
dock workers rarely achieve that level because of the unpaid hours worked. A complaint means that a worker won’t be called
by the co-op for work the next day.
TAX-FREE ZONES
EFFECTIVELY PROHIBIT UNIONS
Another complaint heard repeatedly
was that large plants are being closed and
the companies had no responsibility to assist the impacted workers or their families.
There are no public unemployment benefits available. These companies are, in fact,
reopening plants in the tax-free zones to
cut costs even further and workers in taxfree zones are prohibited from joining a
union.
The third tier of the worker repression
strategy is seen in the court system. Workers brave enough to step forward and
speak out for fair wages and improved
working conditions or engaging in a strike
are persecuted in the courts with criminal
and sabotage charges.
Dock workers are shown at the coal storage site on the docks of Buenaventura. Despite the safety warnings behind them, there have been 45 deaths in the last 16 years.
Workers receive only one dust mask a month which is clogged in a day or two and useless. Dock workers routinely work 12 to 14 hours a day but are paid for only 8 hours. A
complaint means a worker won’t be called for work the next day.
2008 SUGAR CANE WORKERS STRIKE
Sugar cane cutters work in some of the
most hazardous and arduous conditions
found in Colombia. After burning the
fields, cane cutters enter to cut cane with
machetes. They work 14 to 16 hours a day,
seven days a week in oppressive heat and
humidity. Many are disabled at early ages
due to shoulder injuries or severed limbs.
Five-person crews are paid based on the
tonnage they cut, but they are routinely
cheated on the tonnage numbers. In 2008,
cane and sugar refinery workers struck for
80 days. They were seeking direct employment (to get out from under the cooperative system), an 8 hour day, health insurance, a pension and investment in
education by the owners since many sugar
...Successful Fight-Back Campaign at Georgia Pacific
(From Page 1)
higher profits for GP.
The company finally got the message.
Hadley said, “I think it became clear to
GP that the delay tactics were not working
in their favor. Instead of growing weaker,
the crews were becoming more vocal and
more determined to hang in there for as
long as it took. It was an amazing front-line
example of what a strong, unified and vocal
membership can accomplish.”
A final proposal was voted and approved
by the members at the four locations in Oc-
tober.
In the end, most of the company’s concession demands were dropped. The
change in the paid lunch provision and
compromise language on maximum overtime allowed in a week stayed in the company’s final proposal. This was part of the final package that included a four-year
contract with lump sum bonuses of $400,
payable in the first and second year. Wage
increases of 1.5% are due in the third and
fourth year. In addition, the pension benefit will be bumped up in each of the last two
years of the agreement. Better language
was also added to the job bid and grievance
procedures at individual locations.
“These kinds of contracts are really
tough,” commented Hadley. “They are not
everything they should be for our members
but, considering where we started and how
long it took, it is far superior to what the
company would have imposed. It couldn’t
have been achieved without the patience,
the understanding and the willingness of
our members to speak out.”
The committees expressed gratitude to
Executive Secretary Mike Pieti, Regional
Manager Larry Wyatt, CIC Rep Steve Herring and Hadley for the hard work each of
them put in to achieve this settlement.
ASSASSINATIONS OF UNION LEADERS
Finally, leaders who have the courage to
speak out against abuses run the risk of being assassinated or disappearing at the
hands of paramilitary groups. More trade
unionists are killed in Colombia than in
the rest of the world combined. In 2008
there were 49 documented cases of murdered union activists.
Many workers the delegation interviewed had been threatened and all of
them knew of fellow workers who had
been killed. It was common, they said, for
a company to label a worker leader as a
“guerrilla” and that was reason enough for
the paramilitary to assassinate that person.
This is verified by the confessions that
came out to the amnesty program put in
place in an effort to disarm the guerrilla
groups and paramilitary groups. In exchange for reduced sentences, members of
paramilitary groups testified that corporations handed over names and photos of
union leaders to be eliminated and then
they were given full access to the company
property. These same corporations were
lending financial support to these paramilitary groups. The “amnesty” testimony, in
fact, implicated Coca-Cola and Chiquita
bananas.
So, if the Colombian-U.S. Free Trade
Agreement is bad for U.S. workers it is
doubly bad for workers in Colombia. It is
crystal clear that Colombia is in violation
of minimal International Labor Standards
with respect to the rights of workers. This,
and the systematic program put in place to
crush worker rights concerning free
speech, free assembly and the right to
withhold labor are sufficient reasons for
the U.S. Congress to reject the ColombiaU.S. Free Trade Agreement when in comes
up for a vote next year.
UNION REGISTER
WINTER 2010 • 11
Mike Sunday Remembered in Yakima, WA
Mike Sunday, known to his closest friends as Two Dogs, was remembered at a Celebration of Life service
held December 12 at the Carpenters
Hall in Yakima Washington.
Mike passed away December 3,
2009 at age sixty-five after a long
struggle with the ravages of diabetes.
Mike’s family was his union. He
moved from San Gabriel in the late
60s and started at the Boise Cascade
mill in Yakima in 1971. He worked
his way up to the saw filing room in
the large sawmill. During his years
in the mill Mike served on the Local
Union 2739 Executive Board in several official positions. Before retiring, he served as the local’s Business
Representative for a short time.
Sunday was remembered for his love of life and
his ability to stay calm in the most stressful circumstances. One story that surfaced at the service was about one of the road trips done by several
officers of the local union. The twisting mountain
road was icy. The tires on the car were bald so
Mike Sunday told others in the car, “We’re going
to die. Goodbye.” And then he promptly laid
down and went to sleep in the back seat.
Mike was loyal to his friends and to his union
brothers and sisters. His loyalty wasn’t just for the
moment but, for him, it was a permanent calling.
And his sense of humor was legendary.
Once in the saw filing room, where occasionally someone was repairing a firearm, Sunday
pointed a revolver at two of his union brothers
and yelled “I’ve had it with you two guys”. After
the BANG turned their legs to jelly, Sunday doubled over with laughter and pointed to the spent
fire cracker on the floor. His two
brothers were still checking for holes.
Sunday was unique and unpredictable He was known for his short
pony tail, fu-man-chu mustache and
his “Harley Davidson” style of dress.
When he walked into a Christmas
party one year with short hair, no
mustache and wearing a sweater vest
that any school teacher would be
proud of, his only comment was,
“This is the real me.”
Sunday was a creative artist. From
time to time a chalk-drawn cartoon
would appear on the wall at the mill
depicting a bully foreman in some
unflattering pose. The point was
made, everyone had a good laugh
(except the foreman) and Mike never had to say a
word.
Mike Sunday was a talented hot rodder, biker
and mechanic. He usually had a motorcycle, a
pickup truck, a car or two “under construction”.
Instead of finishing one or two of the projects, his
solution was to look around for a bigger garage.
While remembering Mike’s sensitive and humorous side Mike Pieti, Sunday’s friend for 38
years pointed out that Sunday was no pushover.
The mill back in those early days wasn’t for the
feint of heart. It took courage to go to battle with
the foreman when it was necessary and Sunday,
as the steward, never hesitated to do that to protect members’ rights on the job. He didn’t back
down and he didn’t put up with bullies. If there
was a fight on the horizon for the union you never
had to wonder where Mike Sunday would be.
Mike Sunday will be deeply missed by his very
close union family.
New Local President in Aberdeen Has Many Talents
Brenda Blankenship, President of Local Union 2084, Aberdeen,Washington,
believes that working hard leads to success, both on and off the job.
Brenda has been a member of the
CIC since March 1, 2004 when she
started at the Sierra Pacific sawmill in
Aberdeen. Brenda’s work ethic and beliefs were recognized by many of her fellow workers when she was elected President of the local union. When asked
why she decided to run for the office,
she replied, “Several of my co-workers
asked me to run because they knew I
wasn’t afraid to speak up and voice my
opinion at work with management. I
wanted everyone to follow the contract
with the company treating all workers
fairly-- something they haven’t always
done.”
While Brenda may be new to her position as President, she brings with her a
strong work ethic and the fairness beliefs she was raised with. Recently,
Brenda and several other new local
union officers attended an officers
training class hosted by Local 2761, in
McCleary Washington.
Brenda is mother to two young children, Brianna, three years and Daniel
five months. Before moving to day shift
Brenda worked a ten hour swing shift.
She and her husband, who works day
shift, could often be seen in the parking
lot between shifts swapping, kids, cars
or car seats. In spite of her busy schedule as a mother, working at the mill and
serving as the local union President,
Brenda still finds time to practice and
perform with her singing voice. “I love
to sing and wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t
set aside time to do it,” she said.
Recently several of Brenda’s union
brothers and sisters and CIC Rep Sherry
Scott heard Brenda perform in the fi-
nals of the Grays Harbor Idol competition held in Ocean Shores,Washington.
In spite of a cold Brenda sang with confidence and performed like a pro. Her
family and friends were filled with
smiles and pride as she sang eight songs
beautifully. She placed second but
many thought she should have won the
competition. After the event Brenda
was approached about singing with a
band in Seattle which only proves, once
again, that Brenda’s hard work and talent leads to success in most everything
she does.
Fact Sheet: TRADE
Notice to Local Unions:
Trade Reform, Accountability, Development
and Employment Act of 2009 ( H.R. 3012)
Members in Active Military Service
Introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
and Representative Mike Michaud (D-Maine) who
worked with various groups to write the bill—labor,
consumer, faith and family farm organizations to
provide a progressive path to a new trade and globalization policy
The bill requires a review of existing trade agreements, including NAFTA and WTO, and specifies
what must be included in future trade agreements.
The review would be done by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and include economic outcomes for the U.S. and implications of the inclusion
or exclusion of national security measures, human/labor rights and environmental impacts.
The elements that must be included in every trade
agreement include food and product safety, labor and
environmental standards, agriculture rules, national
security exceptions and fair unbiased rules to resolve
disputes between countries. It also states that trade
agreements cannot “over-reach” by making things
like “Buy American” laws and “anti-sweat” shop policies illegal.
A renegotiation plan would have to be submitted
to Congress to address the gaps and “over-reaching”
that exists in current trade agreements.
Congressional oversight would be expanded with a
committee established to review the renegotiation
plan and to oversee the many and complex trade
pacts to insure they comply with the new rules.
The so-called “fast track” approval process would
be eliminated. That’s the procedure where only a yes
or no vote can be cast on a trade pact by Congress
only after the agreement is signed. Instead, Congress
would set the criteria that must be met (mandatory
negotiating objectives) before a proposed trade
agreement is approved by the Congress and signed.
In 2001, the UBC reestablished the “In Service” classification for members who are actively serving in the
military. This classification is available to members
who are called to active duty, voluntarily enlist in the
military for active duty, re-enlist or are drafted into the
military.
The Brotherhood will maintain their place as active
members without requiring them to pay dues while
they serve their military duty if they receive official notice of their “In service” status.
If you are aware of a member being called to active
duty, please call the CIC office and request that they be
placed in this status. This will insure that they will remain on the membership rolls in good-standing until
their return. Members who are going into active service can contact their local union or the council office
at 503-228-0235. Ask for Carmen.
UNION REGISTER
12 • WINTER 2010
Members of Local 234 in Gulf Coast Take
Great Pride in Building USS New York
The bow stem, shown above being installed on the larger hull, used
seven and one –quarter tons of steel recovered from the World Trade
Center. The twisted and scorched girders were melted and poured into
the bow stem mold. The motto adopted for the ship is “Strength
Forged Through Sacrifice. Never Forget”.
November 9 was a proud day
for members of Local 234 because
that was the day the USS NewYork
was commissioned to the Navy in
Manhattan, NY.
Members in the Northrop
Grumman shipyards in Avondale,
LA and Pascagoula, MS, put their
skills, sweat and their pride into
building this special San Antonio
LPD21 class amphibious transport
ship because it honors the memories of those who died on 9-11 and
those heroes who responded to
the World Trade Center attack.
The ship contains seven-andone-quarter tons of steel from the
World Trade Center. At first it was
thought that only a few pounds of
WTC steel could be used in the
NewYork, but in-depth analysis of
the steel’s chemistry determined
that it was strong enough structurally to use tons of it for construction of the ship.
The first twisted and scorched
steel girders from the WTC were
delivered to the Avondale shipyard
in 2002. It was melted and poured
into the bow stem mold in 2003
and installed on the main hull August 4, 2005. The bow stem, of
course, is the leading edge of the
ship as it cuts through the water.
The motto adopted for the USS
New York is “Strength Forged
Through Sacrifice. Never Forget.”
Members of Local 234 who
built this modern, high-tech ship
where also rebuilding their own
lives after the destruction brought
by hurricane Katrina in August
2005.
The USS New York is the fifth
LPD class ship delivered by the
Northrop Grumman shipyard. It is
designed to transport and land
Marines, their equipment and
supplies in locations throughout
the world. The ship can handle up
to 700 Marines and can also accommodate helicopters and vertical take-off aircraft such as the Osprey.
In addition to using the vessel
for the global war on terror it can
also serve in humanitarian missions for sending aid or for evacuations. The ship has stealth design
and it operates with a naval crew
of 361.
This is what Local 234 members
had to say about working on the
USS New York:
“I took great pride working on
the USS New York the entire time
it was at our yard. I felt like a sad
parent the day the ship left Avondale, wishing I could bring it
back. But, of course, I realized
that the mission of the ship was
more important.”
BOOKER “BUD” SANDERFER,
VICE PRESIDENT LU 234
CHIEF STEWARD SCAFFOLDING DEPT.
“I was proud to have been able
to re-use steel recovered from the
9-11 tragedy to help build a ship
of such importance to our country.”
DONNEL TUCKER, STEWARD,
SCAFFOLDING DEPT
“I was just tickled pink to be
part of the whole process. This was
the best ship built so far in the
LPD21 class. We built it under
budget and ahead of schedule. It
was also an honor for me to work
on the ship serving meals to the
crew during the June and August
sea trials. Families and loved ones
that were lost in the towers have
their legacy to live on in this ship.”
LORRE BOLDEN
SCAFFOLDING DEPARTMENT
“Working on the USS New York
was more than just a job. It represents our freedom and how
much that freedom means to us.”
MICHELLE LOSIC,
SCAFFOLDING DEPARTMENT
“When I first saw the bow stem
made with steel recovered from
the twin towers I was so inspired
that I had to walk up and touch
it. I was reminded of the stories
my grandfather told me about
World War II. I’m so proud that I
was able to play a part in building a ship so important to our
national history. It’s a story that I
will proudly pass down to my
own grandchildren.”
CHARLES VEALS,
SCAFFOLDING DEPARTMENT
“The opportunity to work
closely with so many of our members in the gulf coast region during the building of the USS New
York gave me a greater understanding and pride of how important skilled union labor is to
our nation. The brothers and sisters here are tough, dedicated
and determined. They have built
an historic symbol of this country’s resilience when it comes to
overcoming adversity, whether
it’s 9-11 or Katrina.”
Michael Warren,
CIC Organizer
Members of
Local 234 Ratify
Contract Extension
The USS New York commemorates the memories of those who died in the 9-11 World Trade Tower attacks
and those heroes who responded to the tragedy. Built by members of Local 234 and other union tradesmen
in the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi, the stealth high-tech amphibious transport ship was christened on March 1, 2008, underwent sea trials in June and August 2009, and was turned over to the Navy November 9, 2009.
Is your mailing address current and correct?
It is important to let us know if the address shown on your Union Register should be
changed. If the label is incorrect, please complete the form below and return this form to
Union Register. If possible, attach the mailing label.
Carpenters Local 234 and the Pascagoula Metal
Trades ratified a two year extension with Northrop
Grumman Ship Building Company on December 1,
2009. The contract covers ship yards in Pascagoula, MS,
Gulfport, MS and Avondale, LA..
The current contract was due to expire March 7, 2010.
Members receive a $1,000 signing bonus and a 55 cent
per hour wage increase each year of the extension.
There will be no increases in the health care premium
paid by members for the two year period covered by the
extension.
Local Union ___________________________________________________________
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Mailing Address _______________________________________________________
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NOTICE TO NEWS CORRESPONDENTS
Union Register is published quarterly, dated the second Friday. Deadline
for acceptance of photos or news items for the next edition April 9, 2010,
is noon on Friday, March 12, 2010.
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