MINNEAPOLIS, September 18, 2000 —The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) announced today that its 2,900 members at Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation (NYSE:KLU) would start returning to work under the terms of a new five-year labor agreement finalized by Interest Arbitrator Seymour Strongin’s award released earlier in the day. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics’ records, the Kaiser lockout, which started on January 14, 1999, was the largest labor dispute in 1999 as measured by lost work days, accounting for 750,000 idled work days out of the national total of just under two million.
Records kept by the Bureau of Labor Statistics do not differentiate between strikes and lockouts by employers which are defined by BLS as “a temporary withholding or denial of employment during a labor dispute to enforce terms of employment upon a group of employees”. However, USWA Negotiating Committee Chairman David Foster called the lockout, “the longest and largest in the 58-year history of the United Steelworkers.” He added, “We also believe that the 613-day lockout is the largest and longest illegal lockout of any union since the passage of the National Labor Relations’ Act in 1935.” The lockout was preceded by a 3½-month strike that commenced on September 30, 1998.
On June 30, 2000 the National Labor Relations’ Board issued a complaint against Kaiser, charging that the lockout was unlawful from its inception. As a result, the Federal Government will be prosecuting Kaiser before an Administrative Law judge in a trial scheduled to begin on November 13, 2000. The government is seeking back pay for the employees for the entire period of the lockout, a sum that is estimated by the USWA to be $337 million. It is the largest back pay award ever sought in the 65-year history of the National Labor Relations’ Board.
“This has been an epic struggle for our union and the labor and environmental movements in the Americas,” said David Foster, Director of USWA District #11 and Chairman of the union’s Kaiser Negotiating Committee. “Our members will start receiving Special Assistance Payments from the company immediately and, over the course of the next month, will return to their jobs. Without the unflagging support of the labor movement throughout the country and especially in the Northwest and the inspirational support of environmental organizations and activists, this day would not have come.”
Foster went on to say, “While we still have a significant legal proceeding before us with a $337 million potential back pay liability, we hope that our members can quickly restore Kaiser to its former state of profitability. We are, of course, hopeful that discussions with Kaiser could lead to an out-of-court settlement of the back pay claim and are prepared to pursue those discussions shortly.”
The agreement between the USWA and Kaiser was reached as a result of months of high level bargaining that culminated in a unique agreement on June 29, 2000 to resolve any outstanding issues through Interest Arbitration during a week of hearings conducted August 21-25, 2000. Negotiations continued throughout July and early August and by the time the arbitration hearing began only a handful of issues remained to be settled. These issues were divided into six categories, each of which Arbitrator Strongin was to rule on separately, picking either of the last offers of the parties. Strongin ruled in the union’s favor on two categories (retiree health insurance and contract language) and in the company’s favor on the remaining four.
The categories included:
Economics—the dispute between the parties was approximately $.30 per hour. Retiree Health Insurance—duration of the agreement and custodial care. Protection and Realignment Agreement (PRA)—a departmental scheduling issue at the Mead plant. Related PRA Issues—an increase in layoff benefits for 350 smelter workers. Return-to-Work Issues—recharging of a depleted layoff fund. Contract Language—pay for union officials and overtime by-pass penalties.
Highlights of the new agreement include:
Five year term. Base Wage increases of $3.42, comprised of three elements: Across-the-board and Incremental increases--$1.44 per hour. Cost-of-Living Restoration--$.80 per hour. Roll-in of gainsharing--$1.18 per hour. Pension multiplier increases of $8.75. Extension of retiree health insurance to 12 years and the elimination of the cap on company contributions for retiree health care. Improvement of protections against subcontracting. $12 million of severance and supplemental unemployment benefits for employees affected by approximately 500 agreed-upon job reductions.
In a statement on July 13, 2000 following membership ratification of the Interest Arbitration Agreement, Foster said, “Kaiser’s Steelworkers did not ask for this fight. But once they were given no choice, their creative and steadfast struggle became a symbol for the fight for workers’ rights in a global economy. The Kaiser Steelworkers will long be remembered for their progressive and far-reaching alliance with environmentalists around the country, and particularly in Humboldt County, California, to bring corporate accountability to Kaiser’s parent corporation, Maxxam, Inc. Kaiser Steelworkers will also be remembered as the labor movement’s shock troops in the WTO protests that opened the eyes of the world to the linkage between trade and social issues.” Hundreds of Kaiser Steelworkers marched in Seattle in late 1999 to protest the WTO ministerial, Foster said.
“The Kaiser lockout became a social struggle that transcended the narrow parameters of a labor/management dispute. It symbolized the need for Americans of conscience to bridge their differences and focus on building a global movement for economic justice,” he added.
During the 22-month labor dispute the USWA launched a multi-faceted corporate campaign for economic justice and corporate accountability at Kaiser and its parent, Maxxam, Inc. Included among its activities were two shareholder campaigns that sought to elect former U.S. Senators Howard Metzenbaum and Paul Simon and former federal judge Abner Mikva to the Maxxam Board of Directors. These campaigns were run jointly with environmental allies at the Rose Foundation, As You Sow Foundation, Friends of the Earth, and others. Other key environmental allies included the Bay Area Coalition for the Headwaters and Earth First.
An important product of the USWA/environmental alliance was the formation in 1999 of the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment, originally co-chaired by renowned environmental activist David Brower and USWA District #11 Director Foster. The Alliance has played a formative role in bringing together labor and environmental activists on campaigns for corporate accountability and fair trade policies, including support for activist Julia Hill’s widely publicized tree-sit in protest of Maxxam’s Pacific Lumber logging practices.
During the labor dispute the USWA called for the boycott of Kaiser products and successfully won commitments from Pepsi Bottling Group, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Anheuser-Busch, Daws Better Built, Crown Cork & Seal, and Dee Zee Metals to discontinue their purchase of Kaiser metal. At the Port of Tacoma, USWA pickets and their allies successfully delayed the unloading of Kaiser’s alumina shipments.
In addition, dozens of elected and appointed public officials including U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, Washington Governor Gary Locke, and ten Northwestern members of Congress joined the USWA and tens of thousands of Pacific Northwest residents in calling for a Good Corporate Citizenship Clause (GCCC) at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The GCCC would require companies, such as Kaiser Aluminum, that purchase electrical power from the BPA at below market cost to adhere to labor, environmental and other regulatory standards. The BPA is a federal agency that generates and transmits power throughout four Pacific Northwest states.
On June 30, 2000, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board formally charged Kaiser Aluminum with illegally locking out 2,900 USWA members “to pressure and coerce” them into accepting the company’s unlawful bargaining proposal.
The formal complaint, issued by the Board’s Oakland, CA office, also charged Kaiser with unlawfully discriminating against employees to discourage membership in a labor organization, and with failing and refusing to bargain in good faith with the union as required by federal law.
As part of the remedy for Kaiser’s unlawful actions, the government will seek full back pay and benefits from January 14, 1999, the date the company began its lockout, and has set a hearing date of Nov. 13, 2000, in Oakland, Calif., for the company to answer the charges.
The five facilities covered by the USWA Master Agreement are located in Tacoma and Spokane, WA; Gramercy, LA; and Newark, OH.
Contacts: David Foster (612) 623-8045
John Duray (412) 562-2592
Jon Youngdahl (253) 351-0511