march - april 2012 the magazine for uaw members and their families

MARCH - APRIL 2012
THE MAGAZINE FOR UAW MEMBERS AND THEIR FAMILIES
SOLIDARITY March - April 2012
1
Freightliner workers’
persistence pays off for all
I
COURTESY OF THE GASTON (N.C.) GAZETTE
n the late 1980s, Freightliner workers in Mount Holly, N.C., knew they needed a
union, but fear and apprehension made openly expressing their wishes difficult. Management was hostile, and they were located in the South, where an often shortsighted
business community is traditionally against workers having any say in their workplaces.
A group of brave workers started collecting signatures on union cards at the Daimler
Truck North America (DTNA) subsidiary’s assembly plant. Little did they know their
actions would not only lead to a groundbreaking neutrality agreement to ensure fair
elections at other Freightliner facilities, but also to organizing wins, thereby vastly
improving working conditions, pay and benefits for their co-workers.
UAW Local 5285 members build trucks like these at Freightliner’s Mount Holly, N.C., facility.
14 SOLIDARITY March - April 2012
The Freightliner organizing victories accomplished two
other important things: When the economy went sour,
workers had an organization and a contract in place to
fight Freightliner’s attempts to move their jobs to Mexico
– something too few of their fellow Southern workers
have. And when Thomas Built Buses (TBB), a Freightliner subsidiary, was shut out of bidding for multimillion
dollar bus contracts in North Carolina, because of the
UAW’s political activism, they had the ear of important
elected officials in the state who ensured the bus maker
was allowed to bid. When TBB emerged as successful
bidders, even those on the management side had to take
notice and understand that this victory was won only
because there was a tough union in place that fought for
its workers and their company.
It’s an example of why neutrality agreements can benefit
both workers and management. A close examination of
the Freightliner history shows that – just like in the recent
auto industry turnaround – when workers and management come together on a common cause, it can benefit
workers, management and the communities where they
are located.
“We know that when workers are given a choice free
from management intimidation and interference, they
will almost always choose a union,” UAW President Bob
King said. “It becomes an easy choice: Do I want a voice
in my economic future or not?”
UAW Vice President General Holiefield, who directs the
union’s Heavy Truck Department, said neutrality agreements like the one negotiated with DTNA, can eventually
end up bringing workers and management together on a
variety of issues such as health and safety, quality, continuous improvement, training, protecting current work
and adding new jobs, and in many other areas.
“The reason the domestic automakers were able to
achieve a turnaround is that both management and union
workers fully understood where each was coming from,”
FREIGHTLINER
time line
June 1989
Workers at Freightliner Truck Mfg.
Plant in Mount Holly, N.C., begin a
full-fledged drive to join the UAW.
The company and national and local anti-union groups soon begin a
vicious anti-union campaign.
said Holiefield, who also directs the union’s Chrysler
Department. “We’re able to work more effectively and
efficiently together because we have a relationship that
is based on common interests. That doesn’t mean there
won’t be differences from time to time, but we’re able to
iron out problems in an organized, sensible fashion that
prevents the problems from becoming disasters. The same
is true at our Freightliner plants.”
Early years at Freightliner: No say on the job
leads to hard-fought organizing win
Why do workers decide to organize? What would make
them think that is a good idea, particularly in the South
where anti-union groups like the local Chamber of Commerce and national organizations bitterly oppose organizing drives and intentionally spread falsehoods about
unions?
Workers at the DTNA assembly plant in Mount Holly
had had enough of not being listened to. Stanley Roseboro, then a 32-year-old truck assembler, realized there
was something terribly unsafe about his job, he told Solidarity magazine in 1991. He was told to perch precariously on a ladder high above the factory floor, something
the company called “light duty” as he was recovering
from stomach surgery. But he had no place to take his
concerns.
“I had no one to turn to,” he said. “I felt like I just
couldn’t go to my co-workers and say, ‘Let’s start a
union.’ It seemed that if you had 10 or more years of
seniority, like me, the company just targeted you for
discipline.”
But he wasn’t alone. Others felt the same way. And it
wasn’t about money.
“It was the way we were being treated,” Lila White said
in 1990. “You were moved from one job to another, you
Freightliner continued on page16
April 1990
With 1,350 workers eligible to
vote, 652 workers vote in favor
of the union, 606 against. UAW
Local 5285 is chartered. However,
company stalls negotiations.
August 1991
Company finally meets with UAW
but still stalls; give wage increases
to all workers except those represented by the UAW, a labor law
violation.
April 1991
Local 5285 leadership receives a
strong vote of confidence from
its membership when 92 percent
authorize a strike. Company continues to stall.
November 1991
Talks break down after members
reject company offer, which was
inferior to one its Portland, Ore.,
workers received.
SOLIDARITY March - April 2012
15
Freightliner the Long Haul
were told you’re either going to work 10 hours a day, six
days a week or be without a job. They’d got to the point
where you had to put your job before your family, your
children or anything else. If they wanted you in on Saturday, you had to be there.”
So the workers contacted the UAW and began collecting cards. And that initial spark of workplace democracy
fueled a vicious response from the company. It hired an
anti-union law firm. Then rumors about the plant being
closed started. People were threatened for signing union
cards, and the plant manager intimated that he knew the
names of everyone who signed and kept a roster of signees in his office. Captive audience meetings were held to
denigrate the union and union organizers.
It didn’t work. Workers won their union on a 652-606
vote and certified at UAW Local 5285 in April 1990.
Management, shocked by the vote, played hardball when
it came to negotiating a first contract and didn’t even
make it to the bargaining table until August. They immediately went into delay mode, with company negotiators
flying in for a day of talks and then flying back out for
weeks. It gave raises to everyone except UAW workers,
in violation of federal labor law. The UAW Health and
Safety Department, which found numerous safety problems in the plant, couldn’t get anyone in the plant to even
talk about the issues. It ended up taking the problems to
state health and safety officials.
It was obvious that Freightliner had no desire to come
to an agreement with its newly organized workforce in
Mount Holly. The UAW went on a two-pronged attack,
engaging with IG Metall workers in Germany, where
Daimler, DTNA’s parent company, is located. IG Metall
leaders showed their support by telling corporate officers
that if strikebreakers were used in North Carolina, Daim-
December 1991
Workers go on strike for 17 days
and win their first-ever contract
with substantial wage, benefits, and
health and safety improvements. The
contract was ratified by 99 percent
of the membership.
December 1994
Mount Holly workers win contracts
in 1994, 1997 and 2000 that were
advantageous for members, while
leaving company with a competitive
advantage.
16 SOLIDARITY March - April 2012
ler would have a serious problem in Germany, where the
use of strikebreakers is virtually nonexistent.
The UAW bargaining team then gave Freightliner officials an ultimatum: Show up at the bargaining table on
Dec. 4, 1990, or face a strike. The company refused to negotiate and the strike was on. The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce tried to convince the company to hire
permanent replacements. The high point of the strike was
a rally with more than 1,000 workers and their families in
a crammed high school auditorium that showed the solidarity and spirit of the workers. While the company did
its best to try and get workers to cross the line, production
was sharply reduced at a time of high year-end demand.
It finally relented and agreed on a contract on Dec. 20,
1990, 17 months after workers made the bold step by
joining the UAW. Ratified by a 99 percent majority, the
workers won greatly improved wages that put them on a
par with Freightliner’s Portland, Ore., plant (represented
by the Machinists), something the company steadfastly
resisted. They won new health and safety standards, a
seniority-based layoff and recall program, better medical
and dental care, in-plant union representation and a successor clause that means any new owner must honor the
existing union contract. Workers like Stanley Roseboro
who were fired for union activity were reinstated.
But they won even more: They won the right to stand
up for themselves and have a say in their workplace lives.
Or, as production worker Tommy Elmore said, “We didn’t
just take a company contract. We won a UAW contract.’’
And they won six successive UAW contracts with many
additional improvements and without major labor unrest
as Freightliner reluctantly got used to the idea of having
to actually hear their workers at Mount Holly. The membership of Local 5285 doubled from 1990 to 2000. It now
April 1999
Workers at Gastonia Parts Mfg.
Plant in Gastonia, N.C., begin organizing drive. The day before the
drive kicks off, Freightliner awards
$1-an-hour increases to all workers
at nonunion plants. Daimler Truck
North America (DTNA) distributes
anti-UAW literature, intimidating
workers from even speaking to
union organizers. The drive stalls.
October 2001
Union supporters launch another
organizing drive at Gastonia. A large
anti-union group has been formed
with the support of Gastonia management. Union supporters are spit
on, one is nearly run over with a
vehicle and others are threatened
with guns.
March 2002
The organizing drive culminated in a
vote in 2002. More than 60 percent
of workers signed cards. The com-
COURTESY OF THE GASTON (N.C.) GAZETTE
UAW Local 5286 members rally outside Freightliner’s Parts Manufacturing Plant in
Gastonia, N.C.
stands at 1,499 workers, builds 108 trucks a day and 98.5
percent are union members in a right-to-work state.
“Our members know how it feels to have to fight to get
a contract,” said Local 5285 President Ricky McDowell.
“They want to belong to our union.”
But Freightliner remained determined not to have to
deal with organized workers at its other facilities.
Gastonia and Cleveland:
Bitter struggle leads to neutrality
Flash ahead to April 1999. Workers at the Gastonia
(N.C.) Parts Manufacturing Plant take notice of the wages, benefits and contract provisions that allowed Mount
Holly workers to have a true voice in their workplace.
pany did not remain neutral and
held mass meetings with employees, threatening to close the plant.
UAW supporters lost by 24 votes.
The UAW filed objections to the
election with the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) because of
the company’s threats to workers.
October 2002
In negotiations to settle charges
filed in the Gastonia organizing
drive, the UAW and DTNA reach
Management catches wind of the organizing drive and
gives $1 an hour increases to all of its nonunion employees. DTNA hands out anti-UAW literature and successfully intimidates workers to the point where they won’t
even talk to union organizers.
“The plant manager came through the plant and started
pulling individuals aside and started talking to them,”
UAW Local 5286 President Scott McAllister said.
In October 2001, the UAW launches another organizing
drive at Gastonia. An anti-union group within the facility,
with support from plant management, is told by the company to do whatever it takes to keep the union out. During the six-month campaign, UAW organizers employee
an enforceable neutrality agreement. The company agrees to
recognize the union with proof of
majority status.
January 2003
UAW and DTNA leadership address workers at Gastonia, Cleveland and Thomas Built Buses (TBB),
in the plant, on nonwork time and
explained the company’s neutrality
and the process for organization.
In short order, the union reached
Freightliner continued on page 18
majority at all three plants, and
the union was recognized by the
company.
June 2003
Workers win a new three-year
contract in Mount Holly with critical language that protects against
Local 5285 jobs being shipped to
Mexico.
SOLIDARITY March - April 2012
17
Freightliner the Long Haul
UAW-represented
SUSAN KRAMER
supporters are spit on; one
High Point
Freightliner plants
anti-union employee tries
to run over an organizer
Cleveland
leaving the facility. The
Mount Holly
UAW, after 60 percent
Gastonia North Carolina
of workers sign cards,
asks for a National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB)
election. The day before
the election, Freightliner’s
High Point (Thomas Built Bus): Local 5287 members
chief operating officer, Roger Nielson – formerly the
Cleveland (Assembly): Local 3520 members
plant manager in Gastonia – conducts mass meetings with
Mount Holly (Assembly): Local 5285 members
all employees and threatens to close the plant. Workers
Gastonia (Parts): Local 5286 members
in favor of UAW representation lose the election by 24
votes.
opposite of Gastonia. The plant manager in Cleveland,
But the threats and intimidation by Freightliner manage- who had experience working with the UAW at General
ment does not go unnoticed.
Motors, Mack Truck and Volvo Trucks North America,
“The company’s conduct in the final 48 hours before
instructed his managers to stay neutral. Meetings were
the vote not only violated the law and neutrality protecconducted at both Gastonia and Cleveland by managetions that DaimlerChrysler agreed to and reaffirmed in
ment and UAW leadership. They explained that employwriting,” said King, then a vice president directing the
ees were free to make up their own minds, and UAW
UAW’s National Organizing Department. “It also stole
leaders were given permission to discuss union affiliation
from these workers the union rights and recognition they
with workers on company property on nonwork time. A
deserve.”
majority of workers at both plants signed cards within a
The UAW files Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs) against
short period of time.
the corporation for its illegal activities. To resolve the
“We know that when workers are given a free, demoviolations, DTNA agrees to a neutrality and card-check
cratic choice to vote on union representation in an atagreement for all nonunion DTNA facilities.
mosphere without intimidation and threats, they almost
always chose to be represented,” said Gary Casteel,
Cleveland: A different atmosphere develops
director of UAW Region 8, where all UAW-represented
The UAW launched an organizing campaign at FreightFreightliner facilities are located. “It isn’t rocket science.
liner’s Cleveland (N.C.) Truck Manufacturing Plant in
Workers know they come out ahead when they have a say
January 2002. The Cleveland experience was the exact
in their wages, benefits, health care, health and safety,
December 2003
Local 5286 members in Gastonia and
Local 3520 members in Cleveland
win their first-ever contracts that
include plant-closing moratoriums.
March 2005
Results of the TBB election are challenged by National Right to Work
Legal Defense Foundation, and an
NLRB-supervised election is held in
July 2005. Workers win a 59 percent
majority and then a first contract in
October 2005.
18 SOLIDARITY March - April 2012
August 2008
A petition to decertify the union
is filed with the NLRB, and subsequently, a third election is held.
Again, workers vote in favor of the
union by a 67 percent majority.
December 2008
Production at Mount Holly falls
below contract requirement that 70
percent of its M2 product be built
there instead of Mexico.
April 2009
Only 120 workers remain, building
four trucks a day in Mount Holly.
The union responds by launching
a successful public campaign to ask
Freightliner customers to insist their
trucks be built in North Carolina. A
grievance is filed over the contract
violations.
and other workplace issues. Being able to decide in an
atmosphere that is calm and free of threats is critical, and
that’s what those neutrality agreements are all about.”
In December 2003, first-ever contracts at both facilities
were negotiated, and members overwhelmingly ratified
the agreements. Successive agreements are signed in
2007 and 2010.
In January, Freightliner announced that 1,100 workers
would be recalled in Cleveland. Corey Hill, president of
UAW Local 3520, said the value of that union contract
became very clear to laid-off members: Even though
North Carolina, which is a right-to-work state, has very
weak labor laws, Freightliner had to call the UAW members back by seniority, all because they had a contract.
“Some of these people had been laid off for 3½ years,”
Hill said. “They are so happy to get back to a middleclass job. There are a lot of jobs out there that don’t offer
a middle-class life.”
Thomas Built Buses:
Outsiders try to influence workers
Old management practices sometimes die hard in the
South, and the effort to organize workers at Thomas Built
Buses (TBB), a 95-year-old family company acquired by
DTNA, was no exception. Numerous pro-union employees were fired for frivolous reasons, and the UAW took
up their cause with the NRLB. John Crawford, now president of UAW Local 5287, was one of them.
“I wouldn’t be working at Thomas today if it wasn’t for
the union,” Crawford said. “I don’t dwell on it. You have
to deal with the future.”
The UAW returned to TBB located in High Point, N.C.,
to restart organizing after the dramatic wins in Gastonia
and Cleveland. They found workers receptive to joining a
union, but beaten down by management and fearful after
the treatment of co-workers like Crawford. The treatment of these workers caused the company to remove the
vice president of human resources at TBB and replace
him with a manager more familiar with working with the
UAW. Numerous workers were reinstated.
However, plant managers still engaged an outside group
called PAI to run an anti-union campaign in the community and distributed anti-union materials inside the plant.
Even so, after a year of organizing, pro-union workers
were successful in getting a majority of workers to sign
cards. After the neutrality agreement, DTNA and the UAW
in April 2004 conducted meetings with workers and the
UAW had access to speak with workers on nonwork time.
The result? A majority of workers signed cards, and the
UAW was recognized at TBB.
Anti-union groups like to talk about “third parties” and
“outside groups” interfering between management and
workers. Ironically, the anti-union National Right to Work
Legal Defense Foundation (NRTWLDF) did just that in
March 2005 by challenging the card-check certification in
federal court.
Negotiations on a first-ever contract soon began, but
managers stalled as a group of anti-union workers, supported by outside groups, began by challenging the cardcheck procedure.
The Bush administration-led NRLB ruled that workers
would have to participate in a secret ballot election. A
first contract was finally reached a month later. Workers
won that July 2005 election by a 65 percent margin.
Then again in September 2009, anti-union workers –
again supported by outside groups – began a decertification effort. Pro-union workers won once again with nearly
January 2010
Arbitrator rules company violated
the contract and orders production returned to the Carolinas with
back wages to members affected
by the decision.
a tumultuous period in the heavy
truck industry. Mount Holly is
guaranteed 24 trucks a day. Gastonia wins $7 million investment.
Cleveland wins a 60-truck per day
production minimum.
April 2010
The union conducts simultaneous bargaining with Mount Holly,
Cleveland and Gastonia, and won
new investment and job security,
without wage concessions, during
October 2011
UAW discovers that bids for
North Carolina buses are written in a way that excludes Thomas
Built Buses vehicles. Because of the
UAW’s political activism, important
Freightliner continued on page 20
elected state officials help ensure
the bus maker is allowed to bid.
When TBB emerges as the successful bidder, even those on the
management side have to take
notice that this victory was won
only because the union fought for
its members and the company.
January 2012
Cleveland plant announces addition of
1,100 jobs, meaning all laid-off UAW
workers will be offered their jobs
back before new workers are hired.
SOLIDARITY March - April 2012
19
Freightliner the Long Haul
70 percent of the vote. The staunchly anti-union
management at TBB were leftovers from the Thomas
family and not DTNA. Many of those managers were
either terminated or retired, greatly improving the
relationship between the company and its workers.
The suit filed by the NRTWLDF was tossed out by
a federal judge appointed by President George H.W.
Bush in 2006.
At the height of the recession in 2008, the bus
manufacturer laid off about 400 workers. Since then,
it has gone through some ups and downs in terms of
layoffs and recalls. The company was scheduled to
call back 125 production workers in early 2012.
“It is very refreshing to be able to call back our laidoff brothers and sisters and give them good news,”
Crawford said. “Together the company and union have
been working very hard to build an affordable, quality A UAW Local 5287 member works at Freightliner’s
product while at the same time providing good-paying Thomas Built Buses facility in High Point, N.C.
jobs with great benefits. More local jobs put more
despite DTNA’s neutrality agreement.
money back into the community and help support
Anti-union workers are granted time off from the jobs
small businesses in the area.”
to
hang out and strategize with members of manageCrawford noted that there are some workers still leery of
the union, which he attributes to anti-union indoctrination ment. And that old management staple, firing a pro-union
worker on frivolous charges to scare other workers, has
most people grow up with in the South and old “education” from management that was designed to bash unions been used. Again, the UAW stood up for her by filing a
charge with the NRLB. The company was found guilty
from an employee’s the first day. But Crawford uses this
simple analogy when he talks with workers about unions: of firing her for her union activity. DTNA was ordered to
He reminds workers that the local Chamber of Commerce give her full back pay plus interest.
There has also been extensive anti-union pressure
is a union designed to protect business interests. It is sucexerted
by the local Chamber of Commerce and by area
cessful because it has money and also because of that its
lawmakers.
members – the business community – know that the best
“These workers have a right to decide on their own
ways to accomplish their goals are by working together.
whether
they want a union. We’re not going to let the rep“They pay dues to promote and protect their interests,”
resentatives
of corporations make that decision for them,”
Crawford said.
said the UAW’s Holiefield. “Just like in other hard-fought
The relationship between TBB and its unionized workbattles at Freightliner, these workers will one day, too,
force is getting stronger as managers get used to having
workers have more say in their day-to-day lives in the plant. have a chance to decide on their own.”
McDowell, the Local 5285 leader, said these work“It’s better than it’s ever been,” Crawford said. “Is it
ers enjoy decent wages and benefits now because of the
perfect? No. But it has gotten better.”
contracts negotiated by the UAW at other Freightliner
facilities. But that could change at the drop of a hat.
Freightliner Custom Chassis:
“It may be wonderful right now and [they say], ‘We get
Same pattern, eventually same result?
what they get.’ But sooner or later they will make some cuts
Freightliner Custom Chassis, which makes chassis for
buses, motor coaches, recreational vehicles and long vans in because you don’t have a union contract,” McDowell said.
Gaffney, S.C., stands as DTNA’s lone nonunion facility in
Solid contracts and strong advocacy:
the United States. But it isn’t because workers don’t want a
The
value
of unions becomes clear to workers
union. Once again, the familiar pattern of anti-union activity
The heavy truck industry started to nosedive in 2008,
within and outside the plant has workers intimidated. In one
partly
because of the economy and partly because of new
instance, the husband of a human resources representative
federal
regulations that required truck makers to add exhas conducted anti-union meetings in the plant cafeteria.
pensive
emissions control technology. Many in the market
Union representatives are not afforded the same opportunity,
20 SOLIDARITY March - April 2012
COURTESY OF THE GASTON (N.C.) GAZETTE
demand. I told him that wasn’t true, that
we had all these laid-off workers here.
He asked for my name and called me
back the next day and told me that his
trucks would be built in Mount Holly,
and they were.”
The arbitrator’s decision came down
in January 2010, finding that the
company indeed violated the contract.
He ordered production returned to the
Carolinas and for it to pay back wages
to members affected by the decision.
“We were blessed to have the UAW
contract that protected our jobs and
didn’t allow this company to just pack
up and leave without paying a price,”
McDowell said, adding that exceptional
New trucks, built by UAW members at Freightliner’s Mount Holly,
support from Region 8 and the InterN.C., facility.
national, as well as solidarity from all
Freightliner
and
other
UAW locals, was a huge factor in
bought their new fleets before the regulations took place
as a cost-saving move. As the market went down, Freight- winning this fight.
In their current contract, Mount Holly members won the
liner sought to cut costs – on the backs of the U.S.-based
right
to manufacture a minimum 24 trucks a day. If proworkforce. It shipped thousands of jobs to its Mexican
duction
drops below this number, no other facility, includplant in violation of the UAW contract. But negotiators
ing the Mexican plant, can produce any trucks at all. Now,
had the foresight to win job protection language in the
management and the union send cards to their customers,
2003 contract that required 70 percent of the business
jointly thanking them for buying Freightliner vehicles.
class truck, its M2 product, to be built at Mount Holly.
Similar language was in the Cleveland plant’s contract.
Thomas Built Buses shut out;
In December 2008, production at Mount Holly fell beUAW forces door open
low the 70 percent threshold, and a month later FreightThomas Built Buses utilizes more than 100 suppliers
liner idled the plant and sent the jobs to Mexico. By April
in North and South Carolina and, on average, $28,000
there were just 120 workers building four trucks a day
of the purchase price of each Thomas Built Saf-T-Liner
in Mount Holly. The union responded in two ways: It
bus remains in the Carolinas. The sale of 12 of the iconic
launched a public campaign to ask American companies
yellow Thomas Built buses, on average, provides a job
to support U.S. workers and insist their trucks be built in
for one person for one year, and the sale of 1,000 buses
North Carolina. They also filed a grievance, alleging its
provides employment for 83 people for a year.
contract had been violated.
So it made little economic sense for North Carolina
McDowell captivated the delegates at the 2010 UAW
school officials to look elsewhere to advertise bids on
Constitutional Convention with an emotional speech
buses when the buses they needed – and the ones that
about the plight of workers being laid off at Christmas, of
would help the state’s economy the most – were built right
lost homes and cars, and what they as a union intended to
here. But the specifications for the bids just about shut out
do about it:
TBB and favored an out-of-state nonunion bus maker.
“At one point we found out that Duke Energy, our local
“The specs for the bid kind of changed a bit and put us
electric company, was buying Freightliner trucks that
out of the running,” Crawford said.
were built in Mexico. We couldn’t believe that a local
One of the advantages of being union, Local 5287’s
company was buying trucks built in Mexico after the
Crawford said, is understanding the intricacies of all levels
community had supported them for so long,” he told
of government, something the UAW excels at. When UAW
delegates.
leaders at Region 8 got wind of the difficulties TBB faced at
“I called a representative of Duke Energy myself. He
making sure their buses were under consideration for North
said Daimler told them that they had to build their trucks
in Mexico because Mount Holly couldn’t keep up with
Freightliner continued on page 22
SOLIDARITY March - April 2012
21
Freightliner the Long Haul
Carolina school district contracts,
it sprang into action. The major
problem was that the specifications
set by the state called for a specific
engine type – one TBB doesn’t
use. Regional UAW officials
contacted Gov. Beverly Purdue,
explained the problem, and she
quickly understood the true cost of
bus contracts that go out of state.
The specifications were changed.
Would this have happened at
a nonunion facility? Crawford
doesn’t believe so. Not being
organized would have meant that
an organized, determined effort
to contact North Carolina school
officials and explain the problem
probably wouldn’t have happened. UAW political activity
helped elect Purdue, something
probably not lost on the governor
when UAW officials came to her
UAW Local 5287 members build a new vehicle at Freightliner’s Thomas Built
with a problem.
Buses facility in High Point, N.C.
“She knows their names,”
Crawford said of UAW Community Action Program members.
when trying to determine whether employees should or
The result was a win for everyone.
should not be afforded their First Amendment rights to
Freightliner: Successful organizing
free speech and free association.
leads to successful partnerships
The UAW clearly played a positive role in saving the
The Freightliner organizing campaign stands as one of
domestic auto industry when many political naysayers
the UAW’s most recent large-scale successes in organizsaid it couldn’t – and shouldn’t – be done.
ing manufacturing workers. It has succeeded, first and
They would also do well to understand that the UAW
foremost, because workers understand – just like busiisn’t a union stuck in tired 20th century, labor-managenesses do – that you are stronger when you stand together. ment rituals. As the UAW’s Principles for Fair Union
It has succeeded because of hard-nosed workers who
Elections state:
even in the face of threats to their economic livelihood
“In order to promote the success of our employers,
and in some cases, physical safety, wouldn’t back down
the UAW is committed to innovation, flexibility, lean
and demanded their workplace rights. It has succeeded
manufacturing, world best quality and continuous cost
because of diligent and intelligent union leadership at all
improvement. Through teamwork and creative problem
levels that comes up with creative solutions to work with
solving, we are building relationships with employers
management where and when it can, and to fight in the
based upon a foundation of respect, shared goals and a
legal and public opinion arenas when it is not possible.
common mission. We are moving on a path that no longer
As workers at other manufacturing sites, including trans- presumes an adversarial work environment with strict
plant automakers, consider whether to join a union, the
work rules, narrow job classifications or complicated
Freightliner success story is worthy of their consideration. contract rules.”
Although employers sometimes focus on the “doomsday”
As the UAW has changed, it calls on employers to do
scenarios of union representation and what anti-union
the same. Neutrality agreements that foster cooperation
groups tell them it means, it’s also worth noting the expe- from all parties can forge that sought-after, if clichéd,
rience of the Big Three automakers during the auto crisis
“win-win” proposition.
22 SOLIDARITY March - April 2012