OAKLAND, CA--Warehouse Local 6 is back in the black and back on track, its officers reported to its 57th annual convention, held here Feb. 28. But like unions all over, Local 6 is looking at health costs shooting up, houses closing down, and the do-or-die political fight looming in November.
"The Local is standing on its own," said President Richard Sierras. "We've made cuts and we're back to normal."
By dint of some serious belt-tightening, the local managed to cover its expenses in 2003, finishing without a deficit for the first time in six years. The officers gave up their meal money, took cuts in their car allowances and took on extra work. They picked up the load for South Bay/Fresno Business Agent Eddie Gutierrez after he was laid off last April, and covered for TOPS Division BA Jill Duke after she retired in June. The office staff got cut by layoffs and retirement, so they have had to carry extra tasks as well. And the membership stepped up, paying a $40 per person one-time assessment voted at last year's convention.
"I want to give credit to everyone," BA Darrin Woodard told the convention. "This was a collective effort."
That same spirit of unity showed in members' response to contract negotiations. The Local renegotiated the master warehouse contract last year, along with agreements at 12 other houses. Maintenance of health benefits proved the sticking point all around.
Members at Feralloy, C&H Sugar, Unisource and the California State Automobile Assn. rejected their employers' "last, best and final offers" and prepared to strike, as did those covered by the master contract. But by standing firm, they avoided having to walk out. Though they took some hits, they managed to protect retirees and in most cases avoid out-of-pocket payments on health premiums.
The local saw seven houses shut down last year and got notice that two more will close soon. Nationwide Paper, Bay Sheets and Premier Roasters moved where labor and land is cheaper. Naismith Oakland filed bankruptcy. Dunhill and Pacific Rolling Door couldn't compete with cheaper products from bigger firms, Sierras said.
"Our members are getting left behind in the race to the bottom," he said. The closures hit around 320 members.
The chill wind out of Washington blew away the Local 6 contract with Menzies at San Jose Airport. Menzies provides baggage-handling and cleaning services at nine airports around the country. When a group of Menzies workers in Portland, Oregon tried to organize in 2002, the NLRB decided that all Menzies workers should fall under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), meaning their work is considered so important to national security their collective bargaining rights are restricted. This not only wrecked the drive, but voided all the local contracts between Menzies and the ILWU, HERE, the Teamsters and the Machinists, because the RLA also requires unions to organize and negotiate for national bargaining units. Local 6 is now talking with the other unions about forming a joint council to bargain a new agreement for the members at the San Jose Airport. Meanwhile, Menzies lost its contracts with airlines at the Oakland Airport, throwing about 120 other Local 6 members out of work.
The urgent need for regime change at home dominated the remarks of all the invited guests at the convention and colored the comments of the local officers as well. ILWU International Secretary-Treasurer Willie Adams, Coast Committeman Joe Wenzl, Local 10 President Henry Graham, Local 34 President Richard Cavalli, Local 17 Secretary-Treasurer Jack Wyatt, Sr., California AFL-CIO Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee and Teamsters Port Division head Chuck Mack all drove home the need for political involvement.
"Political decisions will determine our effectiveness and our very survival," Mack said. "We have to organize this year as never before to change the direction this country is going."
"For American workers the floor has dropped as millions of jobs are shipped overseas," said Local 6 Secretary-Treasurer Fred Pecker. "Overtime pay is under attack, hundreds of thousands of federal workers have lost their bargaining rights and laws like the Patriot Act undermine our basic freedoms. This is unacceptable. Each of us needs to get involved and then bring a co-worker along. It is our job to work with each other and take back America!"
--Marcy Rein
