Four Week Lockout Ends In Defeat For Teamsters

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/02/18438484.php

Four Week Lockout Ends In Defeat For Teamsters
by Richard Mellor ( aactivist igc.org )
Thursday Aug 2nd, 2007 3:26 PM

By relying on Mediators and Democrats rather than mobilizing the potential power of their own ranks and working class communities, Union leaders deliver another set back for Labor in the Bay Area.

Richard Mellor
AFSCME Local 444 Retired
Oakland CA
8-2-07

San Leandro CA

After absorbing the severe financial stress of being locked out for a month, members of Teamsters Local 870 suffered further setbacks in the contract deal brought to them by Teamster officials. The employers, Waste Management Co, imported scabs from other parts of the U.S. during the lockout and brought in their other allies, a mediator and Oakland mayor, Ron Dellums. The liberal community and the heads of the labor movement in this area have revered Dellums, a former congressman and mentor of another popular liberal Democrat, Barbara Lee.

When asked by the press if the lockout “was a test of his leadership” Dellums replied, "I don't take it to have anything to do with me. It has to do with a company in a dispute with a labor union. It would be a gigantic mistake for me to personalize this. That's a journey I choose not to go on." (1)

With friends like these, it should come as no surprise that Waste Management got what they wanted. According to press reports, management got a five-year contract while workers got a 5% raise which with inflation will most likely be a wage reduction

The contract also makes it easier for the employer to fire workers for repeated safety violations, something the Union also opposed. Not knowing the details of this it is not easy to comment on it. But Unions, much more so than the employers, have fought for increased safety at work. The same goes for those of us that work in the community. Management’s cutbacks and drive for the bottom line have been safety hazards for workers and our communities whether in a hospital or in city streets; working people don’t cut funding to fire departments or public services, the employer’s have their politicians do it. We should be suspicious of management’s claims here.

A real plum for the boss is the Union’s acceptance of binding arbitration and a no strike clause for the five years of the contract. In return, waste Management won’t lock them out.

Waste Management are “pleased with the new arrangement” says the report in my local paper. (2) And so they should be. Chuck Mack, Local 70 spokesman also called the settlement a “good” one.

FULL story at link.