We haven’t given up the fight
The Freightliner Five--union leaders terminated last year for strike action at a North Carolina truck plant--are continuing the struggle to win all of their jobs back following arbitrators' decisions that reinstated two workers, but upheld the firing of three others.
In five separate rulings, arbitrators reinstated Franklin Torrence with back pay, minus six months. Glenna Swinford was reinstated without back pay. However, Robert Whiteside, chair of the union's shop committee, remains fired, as do Allen Bradley and David Crisco.
But for these five workers--all elected union officials and members of their union local's bargaining committee--the struggle will continue. They remain in touch with each other and their attorneys as they explore the next steps in the fight. They will continue their solidarity campaign to cover legal expenses--an effort that has involved fundraising meetings in cities across the U.S., and in Germany with unions at Freightliner's parent company, Daimler.
spoke about the struggle of the Freightliner Five at the Northwest Socialist Conference on November 8 in Seattle. Statements from the other four workers read out at the meeting will be published at SocialistWorker.org in the coming days.
I'D LIKE to give an overview for the benefit of those not familiar with our struggle. Our struggle is one that is neither unique nor unheard of in the UAW. We are union officers who were terminated almost two years ago for union activity, not job performance, attendance or any other work related issue.
We are members of the 2007 Bargaining Committee for United Auto Workers Local 3520, in Cleveland, N.C. On April 2, 2007, our local's strike committee voted to strike. We had 22 open articles and 86 open health and safety issues, and our employer wanted us to take a contract offer back to our membership for ratification with these 22 open articles.
The proposed contract, if ratified by our membership, would have been the first two-tier contract negotiated between the UAW and a profitable company. Freightliner was more profitable in 2006 than all other years combined, yet they wanted us to take contract concessions.
Our local took a stand against concessions, and when the company refused to come back to the bargaining table, we took strike action.
As a result of the strike, five members of our bargaining committee members were terminated by our employer, along with five other officers and one rank-and-file member of our union, for instigating and/or supporting and/or participating in an unauthorized work stoppage. At the time of our terminations, our collective bargaining agreement had expired.
The UAW promised us help. They told us an attorney would represent us at our unemployment hearing. Luckily, we retained an attorney ourselves. We arrived at the hearing, and our employer informed the special hearing commissioner that no representative for the UAW would be there to assist us.
From the onset of this struggle, we have not been fighting our employer. We have been fighting corporate unionism and corruption.
Our regional director of the UAW likened us to murderers. He said we committed the highest crime any union member could commit. In his opinion, a work stoppage is the highest crime a union member can commit. Our labor movement and the UAW were founded on work stoppage.
The other five officers and the one rank-and-file member of our local who were terminated were reinstated to their jobs in May 2007, but not before they were forced to sign last-chance, model employee agreements.
The agreements were drafted by our regional director's office and contained statements that the agreements could not be used by the union against the company in any future proceedings. Therefore, the last-chance agreements could not be introduced as evidence against our employer for disparate treatment in our defense at arbitration.
Our struggle has gained many supporters and some opponents as well. We are not union-busters or union-haters as some try to portray us. On the contrary! We are members of our local's volunteer organizing committee. We helped bring the UAW to our plant, and we are proud to be union members.
ON OCTOBER 28, after waiting 19 months for resolution through arbitration, we learned that Robert Whiteside, David Crisco and I lost our arbitration cases.
The next day, I was asked to come here and talk about our struggle. At first I thought, "Darrin and those guys are crazy. What would I have to say that is constructive and beneficial to the labor movement?"
Well, after a lot of consideration I realized I still have a lot to say. This fight isn't over yet! To coin a phrase from someone I know, "I may be broke, but I'm not broken." We haven't given up the fight, and we ask that you continue to support us in this struggle.
Even though arbitration is considered final and binding, it doesn't have to be the end of this struggle. There are many avenues we have not explored yet.
Glenna and Franklin won their arbitration hearings. With them back at work, they can rally our supporters inside the plant. They can take back our local, and if all else fails, negotiate our jobs back in the next contract.
I know that sounds far-fetched, but organizing over 90 percent of a plant in a right-to-work state was a daunting task, and we accomplished that without the help of our International union--which, I might add, testified against us at our arbitration hearing.
Which brings me to union reform. I believe we must reform our unions if we are going to survive the capitalist attacks on the working class in America.
In my opinion, the simplest way to accomplish this is by organizing. We must organize the rank-and-file members against the corruption we see in our unions. We must take control of our local and international unions.
ONE OF the biggest misconceptions union members have is that they can't make a difference. Singularly, we can't make much of a difference, but collectively we are strong enough to overcome any obstacle. And that is just what most of our unions have become--obstacles in our way.
Most unions are now nothing more than an extension of the companies we work for. We can't successfully fight against the tyranny of the bosses if our unions are carrying the shackles and leg irons for them to use on us.
Our International union representatives along with our local president testified against us at our arbitration hearing. What kind of solidarity does that show? How can you get fair representation from your union when they're sitting across the table from you with the company at your arbitration hearing?
Our International representatives told our arbitrators that we were at odds with our union, and that we were union-haters. We were at odds with our International union officials, but what relevance would that have at our arbitration hearing if the union was trying to successfully defend us against the company for unjustly terminating us? None.
What kind of statement did two of us winning arbitration and three losing send to our local union members and the labor community? It shows them how corrupt the whole system is.
Arbitration is supposed to be an expedited, fair process. My experience with arbitration leaves me with the opinion that it is in no way beneficial to the worker. You are basically on trial and guilty until proven innocent. You get paraded before biased arbitrators where every statement made by the employer is heralded as the gospel truth, and you are nothing more than a criminal--a liar, with nothing of relevance to add to the proceedings.
Union arbitration proceedings leave you out in the cold. You, the grievant, have no say in planning or implementation of your defense. As a union member, you sign away your right to defend yourself against the employer. The union owns and dispenses of your grievance as it sees fit. You have no legal rights or ownership to your defense.
This basically means that if you are not a go-along-to-get-along guy, the union will get rid of you by allowing the employer to unjustly terminate you. Their concept of fair representation is having an arbitration hearing for your grievance, but not fully and fairly representing you, as your union brothers and sisters should.
This whole experience has been an emotional rollercoaster for us. I'm not sure what direction we are going to take in the immediate future, but rest assured--we will not give in to union bureaucracy or company extortion. We will continue to fight against the tyranny and injustice of our terminations.
Regardless of the outcome of this struggle, we will continue our activism in the labor movement and our community. We will remain committed to workers rights and civil rights forever!
