Machinists strike Freightliner

Machinists at Portland’s Freightliner Corp. walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. July 3 after members of Lodge 1005 rejected a three-year contract proposal.

Two key issues in the labor dispute are the stripping of supplemental retirement benefits and the addition of mandatory overtime. The supplemental retirement package would affect approximately half the workforce.

The Machinists Union represents 717 of the 1,000 unionized employees at the Swan Island manufacturing facility in North Portland. The other workers are represented by Teamsters Local 305, Service Employees Local 49 and Painters and Allied Trades Council 5. The unions bargain and vote as a coalition, but their contracts are separate for each craft.

Members of the three other unions approved their contracts. Those union members aren’t on strike, but are honoring the Machinists’ picket lines.

Meeting July 2 at the football stadium at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Machinists first rejected Freightliner’s offer 331 to 224. Then, on a separate ballot, they voted to strike by a margin of 378 to 155. It takes a two-thirds’ vote to strike.

The contract offer — which also included wage and pension increases of 9 percent over three years (3.5 percent the first year), a $1,000 ratification bonus, and maintenance of health insurance benefits — was recommended for ratification by the union coalition bargaining committee, said Joe Kear, a business representative of Machinists District Lodge 24.

“Our members have spoken,” Kear said. “We’ll pursue their wishes and see if we can make some improvements.”

As of noon July 5, Freightliner had not responded to the union’s request to return to the bargaining table.

On the picket line July 5, union members told the Northwest Labor Press that they are tired of being stepped on.

“They’ve beat the ‘give-a-crap’ out of us,” said Wayne Poe, a 14-year employee walking a picket line on North Basin Road.

“It’s been concession after concession after concession,” added Carl Pollack, a 24-year employee. “It’s time to step up and take a stand.”

“We haven’t had a real raise since 1999,” said Quin Pond, a 20-year employee. Top pay for a production worker at the plant today is $21.55 an hour.

In 1999, workers agreed to a one-year contract extension, and in 2001 they agreed to open their contract after the company began pleading poverty. In that contract workers accepted a $2-an-hour pay cut, relinquished a $1,500 signing bonus and agreed to start co-paying some of their medical insurance.

“We gave it back to keep the company going,” Pollack said. “And they promised us that our sacrifice would never be forgotten.”

Six months after the concession vote, Freightliner shut down its parts plant.

The contract negotiated in 2004 (which expired July 1, 2007) passed by only three votes after workers initially rejected it. The unions held off picketing then because of the scheduled summer maintenance shutdown. But even as negotiations continued with a federal mediator through that Fourth of July weekend, Freightliner canceled all health insurance benefits for its union employees and told them via letter that there would be no work without a contract.

Earlier this year, Freightliner moved production of its signature-brand truck from Portland to Mexico and North Carolina, resulting in the layoff of more than 800 employees.

“They strive to be the number one truck manufacturer in the world. And every time they get to number one, they forget what got them there — quality,” Pollack said. “We’re giving 100 percent and we’re number one. Now they want 115 percent. One hundred percent seems pretty good to me,” he continued. “If they want to be a number one company, they should treat their employees like they are number one.”

Freightliner is a subsidiary of German automaker DaimlerChrysler AG.