Many of barber's customers Sunday may not get jobs back
Shawn Jacobson - The Spokesman-Review
Steelworker Mike Sullivan gets a free haircut at the Mead union hall from Maggie Mora after having let his hair grow for several months. Fellow workers, in the background, wait for a trim while sharing back-to-work news.Erica Curless - Staff writer
Maggie Mora retired her union scissors Sunday.
The final snip came as Kaiser Aluminum Steelworkers lined up one last time for one of Mora's famous haircuts.
"Feather it on top, trim along the ears and take an inch off the back," Mike Sullivan told Mora as she spritzed his long blond hair with water.
The Kaiser strike is over and many workers will return to the two Spokane plants next month.
For Mora, the wife of Steelworker Ross Mora, that means rest.
For two years, Mora has trimmed, clipped and shaved. Almost every weekend she set up shop at the Mead union hall on East Francis, putting down a strip of clear plastic in the corner and using an orange chair as a barber seat.
Mora shook her head, not able to even guess at how many hairs she's clipped during the two-year strike.
"I don't know," she said. "It's been so long."
Mora's cuts are free, a job she normally gets $11 for while working at Great Clips.
"It's just a way to help everyone out and save some money," Mora said, her husband and two children playing in the background.
And the workers appreciate the help.
Many union members who came for haircuts Sunday are on the layoff list, which consists of anyone who began after March 13, 1990. That date has been fluctuating, leaving workers in limbo about when and if they'll return to work.
Sullivan missed the cutoff by nine months.
That's why he didn't let Mora touch his mustache. He's not sure yet if he'll have to shave the 'stache or not.
Part of Kaiser's new requirements is no facial hair, or at least no hair that will interfere with the safety respirators.
A handful of workers and their families milled around the office waiting for their turn with Mora.
The conversation was bittersweet, switching between steelhead fishing to who's on the layoff list.
Training starts today for some workers.
Gary Hager, who has worked 23 years for Kaiser hasn't gotten a phone call or notification about returning to work.
Neither had Jerry Peterman, a 21-year veteran.
"It doesn't bother me a bit," said Hager. "What's another day after two years."
Given their years with the company, it's likely they'll eventually be called back to the plant.
That's not the case for Mora's husband. He missed the cutoff date by mere months.
