U. A. Organizers' Corner

Unions Make Inroads in South Florida

The number of unionized workers is rising in South Florida, a right-to-work state, growing by more than 4 percent in the past year. Campaigns have proved costly for some. Flor­ida's largest employer, Publix Super Markets Inc., has paid multimillion-dollar settlements in race and sex dis­crimination lawsuits largely instigated by the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

Industries being targeted are health care, hospi­tality, and high tech. Targeted workers include immi­grants, racial and ethnic minorities, and entry-level ser­vice workers. To reach these workers, unions have trained new organizers, such as Haitians to reach fellow Haitians who constitute much of the workforce in the nursing home industry in South Florida. United Asso­ciation South Florida locals are also organizing their ju­risdiction, signing new contractors and initiating new members.

Anti-Union Employers and Their Preventive Tactics

Non-Union employers are always trying to find ways to combat unionization. They feel, that in most situations, one way to help prevent unioniza­tion is to leave no doubt in employees' minds where management stands on the subject. They in­corporate this in their employee handbook. But, the companies are fully aware the language in which that position is presented can draw an unfair labor practice charge. Some handbooks go so far as to ask the em­ployees to report if union supporters harassed them. We, as union organizers must be vigilant, and continue to review employee handbooks for any violation of the NLRA.

Local Signs Two New Contractors

Organizer Kirk Stevenson, LU #174 of Muskegon, Michigan, reports they were successful in organizing Top Notch Plumb­ing and VB Air Systems. Kirk reports that Top Notch Plumbing is the only minority contractor in the Grand Rapids area, and once the company was convinced Local #174 could supply him the with unlimited, skilled manpower, he immediately signed an agree­ment and hired three men on the spot. He also commented the ABC had made him a lot of promises, but never delivered on any of them. VB Air Systems specializes in vac­uum cleaning systems for schools, hospitals, etc. They signed a specialty agreement giv­ing them portability throughout the State of Michigan.

Putting Life in Perspective

Randy Evans, Organizer with Pipe liners LU #798 of Tulsa, Oklahoma, made his official first contact with Haines Construction em­ployees in December 1999. With many months of preparation, excellent planning and nearly flawless execution of a textbook top-down/bottom-up campaign, LU #798 was successful in signing the second largest non-union mainline cross-country oil and gas pipeline contractor in the United States to a full agreement. Not only do we owe this success to Organizer Evans, but also to the entire office staff, organizing staff and busi­ness agents at LU #798 - not to mention the many long hours put in by Business Manager Scott North and their Director of Organizing, Chris North. It was truly a joint effort, and they did prevail. Like most campaigns, Brad Haines, the president of Haines Construction, stated he would never sign a labor agreement. Thanks to the dedication and persistence of LU #798, another contractor has joined our ranks.

A Proud Union City

Wisconsin Pipe Trades Organizer, Kenneth Kraemer, reports that July 20th was a very important day in the Greater Mil­waukee area. The Milwaukee Building Trades Organizing Committee held a rally on a union general contractor's jobsite who continues to use non-union subcontractors. The rally was well attended by approximately 300 workers that Friday afternoon. Guest speakers ranged from local and state politi­cians to clergy. Their message that Milwaukee is, and will continue to be a proud UNION CITY, was received with re­sounding applause. 

Judge Sides with Unions in P.L.A. Case

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan issued a prelimi­nary injunction that barred enforcement of the Bush Admini­stration's February 17th Executive Order #13202 on a $2.2 bil­lion Woodrow Wilson Bridge project and related construction. The Order had outlawed government-mandated project labor agreements.

"The BCTD, who was party to the agreement, filed a fed­eral court suit April 26, which challenged the President's Executive Order and subsequent ban on the Wilson Bridge P.L.A. Judge Sullivan granted the unions' motion for a preliminary injunc­tion subject to a hearing.

The Judge agreed with the BCTD's arguments that the Order conflicts with NLRA Section 8(f) that grants con­struction employers and unions the right to enter into pre-hire agreements. In its court challenge the BCTD cited a 1996 rul­ing by the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (Chamber of Commerce v. Reich, 74 F.3d 1322).

Judge Sullivan also supported the unions' argument that relied on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Machinists v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, 427 U.S. 132,1976.    The judge reasoned that the BCTD has "a legally protected interest in both negotiating and enforcing a P.L.A., and thus has suffered an injury-in-fact necessary for stand­ing." It further contended that the Executive Order "has ... harmed, and continues to harm" BCTD's local building trades councils.

Judge Sullivan concluded that the BCTD demon­strated that it has a good chance of succeeding on the merits when the case comes to trial. And even though his findings are limited to the Wilson Bridge construction, the judge ad­vised that the parties could return to his court if other E. O. 13202 conflicts arise.

Not surprisingly, the ABC con­demned the decision saying, "This was an irresponsible decision by a Clinton­ appointed judge. But we are confident that the U.S. government will prevail upon ap­peal." But, Edward Sullivan, president of the BCTD said, "We couldn't be more pleased. The Executive Order was an attack on all building trades' members. Opponents of project labor agreements are non-union contractors who want to drive down con­struction wages and benefits."

EEOC Sues The Industrial Company For Alleged Hiring Discrimination

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is seeking permanent injunction enjoining The Industrial Company and TIC Holdings, Inc. from refusing to hire, and from failing to recruit, individuals because they are African American, as well as prohibiting other employment practices that discrimi­nate based on race (EEOC v. The Industrial Company, La., CA 011776, complaint filed 6112101).

The complaint accuses TIC and TICH of discrimina­tion in recruiting and hiring on behalf of a class of up to 600 African-American construction workers nationwide. EEOC alleges that the discrimination was the result of policies and practices that may have had an unintentional "disparate im­pact" on African Americans as a class.

Keith T. Hill, regional attorney for EEOC's district office in New Orleans, said the lawsuit "sends a loud and clear message to employers in Louisiana and across the coun­try that such widespread race discrimination will not go un­challenged by the federal government."

TIC has said it will "vigorously defend itself' and Lawrence Marquess, attorney for TIC also stated "if we can reach resolution with EEOC short of going to trial that is mu­tually acceptable and beneficial, we will do so"

Workers for Workers Protecting an Industry!

Washington State Association Secretary-Treasurer William Wright for the Washington State Association reports they had a good month initiating 48 new members (including 15 new apprentices), and signing a new contractor. Signing Rampart Mechanical from Anacortes, Washington is the culmination of about eighteen month's work on behalf of Washington State Organizer Gary Peter­son. The shop had six plumbers employed at the time of signing. They also have a sheet metal division, which the lo­cal Sheet metal Workers are organizing. This shop deals in light commercial, residential construction and small prevail­ing wage jobs.

The Washington State Association and UA Local #290 of Portland, Oregon are putting together a campaign to get our members back into the grocery store markets. This market covers nearly the entire scope of these two jurisdic­tions with plumbing, refrigeration installation, sprinkler work, HVAC, and service and maintenance. The Association is looking into a new database to track this work.

TIC's (The Industrial Company) campaign is mov­ing forward in the Hermiston area. Since the Rathdrum site is nearly complete, they are concentrating on Oregon, and are presently holding back salts on the project. TIC has indicated they are short about 15 welders, and a like amount of fitters to install piping that is already on site. Calpine Energy, the owner of the plant, is rumored to be getting very upset with TIC and the lack of manpower to keep up with the schedule. The Association is also gearing up to meet TIC on the Cheha­lis project as it gets ready to start construction. Because of the Building Trades and the Association being involved with the Longview project, J. H. Kelly has been named as the con­tractor for Avista.

Chris and Larry Fritts have been involved in a pilot Labor & Industry audit program. This program has uncov­ered numerous violations and has the potential to affect con­tractors by checking on their reported L&I hours and compar­ing those names to the names of licensed plumbers. In most cases, the companies audited by the pilot program were ex­tremely out of compliance, and could be fined without a com­pliance officer having to go out to the site, physically catch them, write up the citations, or go through the legal process to collect.

Washington State Organizer Pete Crow spent a week in Kenai, Alaska assisting Organizer Robert Buch, LU #367 of Anchorage, Alaska and the Building Trades. He is sched­uled to go back for two more weeks. They are focusing on Austin Industrial, who is constructing for BP in the Kenai. The CEO of Austin is Henry Kelly, who was recently elected president of the ABC. An Election Petition has been filed, and at present they have 60+ cards signed out of 88 employ­ees. The company is firing and harassing employees every day, and as a consequence, the unions are filing ULP's on a daily basis.

County Shop Project Delayed

The La Crosse County's $3.3 million Highway Department shop project in West Salem was put on hold after the Wiscon­sin Pipe Trades Association questioned the past performance of officials of C Cargill Heating Plumbing and Air Conditioning of La Crosse rushed to the County Administrative Center to defend their company after being alerted by a customer who heard Cargill being dis­cussed on public radio's broadcast of the county board meet­ing. But, by then, a divided county board had taken several votes on the issue, finally deciding to send the matter back to the Highway Committee for a month. Cargill President Michael Galstad, has rebutted the information gathered by the Wisconsin Pipe Trades Association who has produced a thick binder of public records called "The Cargill File". The file was given to the county highway superintendent the day of the bid and also distributed to some board members. Organ­izer Jay Schmelling represents the Association in this case.

Some board members expressed concern that delay­ing the date of construction could add costs for work during the winter months. A first attempt to send the bids back to committee failed on a 16-to-16 vote; then the resolution to approve the bids failed by the same margin. This meant the entire project would have to be re-bid, the board voted to re­consider, then voted 22-9 to send it back to committee. De­spite delaying the construction contract, the board voted unanimously to go ahead and issue $3.3 million in bonds to pay for the project.

The Wisconsin Pipe Trades coming together fought Cargill, and through this process they got a bad contractor off the project, and convinced the commissioners to re-bid the project. What a victory!! This proves that working together can help us attain success.

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