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IUE-CWA Strike Unites Labor in Rochester
A small manufacturing local in Rochester, N.Y., is making a determined stand in an unfair labor practice strike with the help of the entire labor community.
IUE-CWA Local 81331's strike against Caldwell Manufacturing entered its ninth week on Oct. 14. The 40-member local has maintained a presence on the picket line from sunup to sunset with the help of IUE-CWA Locals 81321, 81381, 81495, 81381B, CWA Local 1170, the AFL-CIO's Rochester Central Labor Council, the Teamsters and UNITE HERE. The local unions have also turned out members for rallies, press conferences and cookouts to keep the strike going.
Said Local 81331 Shop Chairman Jeff Siddons, "At any time in the morning, especially when it's a high traffic time, there are two to three times the people I have available out on the picket line, and that's coming from the local labor community, active and retired."
Public officials have also walked the line, including state Rep. Susan John (D), chair of the New York Assembly Labor Committee, and state Rep. Joe Robach (R).
Buoyed by this widespread support, the local is ramping up the pressure with plans for a local media blitz, leafleting in public areas and picketing outside the homes of company officials. They'll even go trick or treating on Oct. 31 to tell their story to neighbors.
The 38 workers at Caldwell, who manufacture window balances, voted to go on strike Aug. 11 after Caldwell refused to comply with a federal decision ordering the company to reverse wage and benefit changes it implemented. The company brought in 60 scabs to keep its machinery running.
Until the strike started, members had been working under a contract the company illegally imposed April 26, 2004, when Caldwell terminated bargaining despite outstanding information requests by the union.
The union immediately filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB, and in June 2005, Administrative Law Judge Paul Bogas ruled Caldwell "prematurely" declared impasse. He ordered the company to return to the table and bargain in good faith and to make full restitution to the workers for lost wages and benefits.
Caldwell, instead, appealed the judge's ruling, a process that could take two years or longer to reach conclusion.
The company had been insisting on a wage freeze, higher health care co-pays and no increase in retirement benefits, saying that such actions were needed to make the plant competitive with its other facilities. But the judge ruled that Caldwell was obligated to substantiate those claims by providing information requested by the union. Now that they are on strike, the workers have no health benefits.
Bill Carson, a rank-and-file member, walks the picket line regularly. He has an 18-year-old son, and his mother lives with him.
"It's affected me deeply," Carson said. "I have to search around for health care coverage. I've got an elderly mother living at home, too. I'm trying to take care of her and still make it out to the lines as much as I need to."
IUE-CWA Local 81331's strike against Caldwell Manufacturing entered its ninth week on Oct. 14. The 40-member local has maintained a presence on the picket line from sunup to sunset with the help of IUE-CWA Locals 81321, 81381, 81495, 81381B, CWA Local 1170, the AFL-CIO's Rochester Central Labor Council, the Teamsters and UNITE HERE. The local unions have also turned out members for rallies, press conferences and cookouts to keep the strike going.
Said Local 81331 Shop Chairman Jeff Siddons, "At any time in the morning, especially when it's a high traffic time, there are two to three times the people I have available out on the picket line, and that's coming from the local labor community, active and retired."
Public officials have also walked the line, including state Rep. Susan John (D), chair of the New York Assembly Labor Committee, and state Rep. Joe Robach (R).
Buoyed by this widespread support, the local is ramping up the pressure with plans for a local media blitz, leafleting in public areas and picketing outside the homes of company officials. They'll even go trick or treating on Oct. 31 to tell their story to neighbors.
The 38 workers at Caldwell, who manufacture window balances, voted to go on strike Aug. 11 after Caldwell refused to comply with a federal decision ordering the company to reverse wage and benefit changes it implemented. The company brought in 60 scabs to keep its machinery running.
Until the strike started, members had been working under a contract the company illegally imposed April 26, 2004, when Caldwell terminated bargaining despite outstanding information requests by the union.
The union immediately filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB, and in June 2005, Administrative Law Judge Paul Bogas ruled Caldwell "prematurely" declared impasse. He ordered the company to return to the table and bargain in good faith and to make full restitution to the workers for lost wages and benefits.
Caldwell, instead, appealed the judge's ruling, a process that could take two years or longer to reach conclusion.
The company had been insisting on a wage freeze, higher health care co-pays and no increase in retirement benefits, saying that such actions were needed to make the plant competitive with its other facilities. But the judge ruled that Caldwell was obligated to substantiate those claims by providing information requested by the union. Now that they are on strike, the workers have no health benefits.
Bill Carson, a rank-and-file member, walks the picket line regularly. He has an 18-year-old son, and his mother lives with him.
"It's affected me deeply," Carson said. "I have to search around for health care coverage. I've got an elderly mother living at home, too. I'm trying to take care of her and still make it out to the lines as much as I need to."