How the Staley Workers Can Win a Fair Contract


The following is the transcript of debate between WATTS and GOSS in an effort to convince their audience to win a fair contract with A.E. Staley Corporations. While the situation seemed to favor Goss as the majority including the A.E. Staley management, the situation was a lockout. This is a difficult situation because apparently, the company had a hidden agenda regarding its position of refusing to negotiate a fair contract with the UAW Local 751 union workers. The debate goes on below. 
WATTS The bargaining agenda in this debate is not about the demand for higher wages rather, the concern is for a more humane and justifiable working condition. This includes justifiable wages enough for the workers to feed their families, to send their children to school, and to meet the economic demands of the family. The position that we undertook is for workers to have satisfaction in their job in order for them to become more productive, loyal employees, and to ensure security from sexual and racial harassment.
This demand is legitimate and it falls within the rights of workers. This bargaining position is not only beneficial to the union employees but to entire employees as well as to the management because it is geared towards the welfare of the entire employees and for the benefits of the whole organization. With the support of the majority of employees, there is a greater chance of winning a fair contract.
GOSS Obviously, the company has a hidden agenda. The company is taking the situation as an opportunity to wipeout unionism by refusing to negotiate fair contract. It means, they would welcome strikes and at the moment the workers become unproductive due to strikes, the company will hire scabs to do the job. Besides, the company is wealthy enough to sustain its operation even if strike last for years. They all have the option and the situations favor them. The best option right now is to accept the contract offered by the company regardless of its provisions. After all, the company is doing its responsibility to provide adequate wages although it may not be just as what is being expected 
WATTS Strikes are not at determined to destabilize the company performance. It simply means to compel the company to listen to the grievances of the employees. It is like a child protesting to his parents because he is being ask to do more work but he is hungry. He might just cry, or display infuriating behavior just to win attention from his parents.
Employee strike then should not be seen as an instrument of destabilization rather it is within the rights of workers to strikes, and the right to lock out should be viewed as indispensable apparatus of the free process of collective bargaining. The company management therefore should not welcome strikes as an opportunity to hire scabs and eliminate union, but they should recognize it as it is legally embodied in the National Labor Relations Act. In other words, it is guaranteed in the labor laws as a legal bargaining.
GOSS During the past two decades, most of the Union organizations had been in decline due to the lack of concrete strategy to respond to corporations that welcomed strikes as a potential occasion to recruit scabs, and they could not do anything against rampant plant closings that confounded business in some cities across the U.S. in the 1980s as corporations moved their unionized plants outside the United States to Mexico and the Third World. Add to this scenario was the unenforced labor law which was obviously to prevent further exodus of companies into other locations outside of the United States. Accordingly, the National Labor Relations Board that administered the 1935 Wagner Act was only effective in the implementation of the labor law during the 1930s and the 1940s. During the post war years however, the NLRB was almost unsympathetic to the workers right and was even out rightly supporting employers anti-union efforts.
    In view of this, there is a little chance that strikes will succeed. Those who will opt to join strikes will grossly suffer so much economic losses because aside from the fact that the employers have all the options that are definitely economically damaging to the family needs, they can always move out their operations to other countries.
WATT There is no question that could strikes affect the employees awfully especially as companies implements a no-work no-pay policy. The possibility of moving their operation from other countries cannot be ignored too especially that many countries offers a red carpet welcome. However, as mentioned earlier, the strike does not mean to destabilize the company. The main intention is for the company to look into the condition of the workers and provide them justifiable wages, an assurance of fair and equal rights, as well as humane working atmosphere. It would be very improper for the company to run away amidst a peaceful bargaining for legitimate demand expressed in terms of a strike. Furthermore, it is hereby acknowledged that the right to strike does not cover the prevention of the entry and exit of goods and customers or the entry of employees who are willing to work insofar as it goes beyond mere persuasion to participate in the strike
    In view of the fair manner of strike and with the support of the majority, the company management will respect it and will sit at the bargaining table to accommodate our demands as they are legitimate, and the company will also benefit from the workers productivity, loyalty, and work dedication.
GOSS The kind of bargaining stated above does not prove effective to compel the management to yield to the demand of a fair contract as evidently, the management knew that most of the union organization is confronted by the lack of unity among the nearly 16 million members of organized labor. No wonder, this lack of solidarity significantly contributed to the defeats of major strikes. There is therefore no guarantee that the situation is winnable. Rather, it will surely lead to starvation and acute financial problems for any members who will join the strikes. Besides, the government and other authorities are on their side as even the applicable labor laws are unenforced. Apparently, the ball is in the hands of the management of the company.
WATTS If the company ignores a peaceful and humble representation at the bargaining table, it does not mean it is the end of the struggle. In fact, that is only the beginning. We have already some people inside the plant who can organize a campaign to meet head-on the boss and to slow down by working to rule when it is necessary. Our members were also educated and their families are thoroughly informed of the intention of the bargaining effort in order for them to adjust to the situation. There are also efforts to garner support, raise funds, and organize committees to attend the national corporate campaign and participate in Decatur rallies. On top of all this, we are prepared to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience at the plant gates and the state capitol. With the support of the masses, there is truly a higher chance the company will accommodate our demands.
GOSS That sounds nice, but the fact that International Union leaders does not approved the way Local 7-837 is handling the collective bargaining cannot just be ignored. It appears that Local 7-837 is wielding its own fight apart from the general consensus of the entire Union organization. Local 7-837 should not initiate independent bargaining efforts without complete support of its international union as it defeat in the bargaining table will only further weaken future union efforts. There is indeed much to learn from the statement of Rich Trumca UMWA President concerning the lessons of the victorious 1989-90 Pittston mineworker strike which emphasized on collective Union efforts. In his statement, Trumca emphasized the importance of complete support of the entire union than separate initiative.           
WATTS  There is indeed great potential for a collective effort to succeed in their undertakings, however, the case of Local 7-837 or the Staley workers union, were alarming because our members were unconscious to the increasing corporate assault on labor. Despite of the Staley workers mobilization contributing millions of dollars and had built up solidarity committees, it gained only little support from top labor leaders. Local 7-837 workers union believes in the Union democracy and that under the democratic process, as long as we are not violating any existing laws or are doing violent protest actions, we can initiates measures or strikes within the bounds of our area. We believed that union is a social movement rather than in business unionism. Union as a social movement therefore is not limited to worksite issues rather it concerns on the rights of the workers withheld by employers. It is against this practice that we are on strike. We are simply asking the management not to deprive us of our basic rights.
GOSS With limited capacity, there is also a little chance of winning the fight. So the efforts of continuing the fight rather than accepting the contact as it is by all employees, is an exercise of futility. As one can see it, even the media pays little attention to such rally or strikes and the long arm of the government are obviously protective of the employers. Thus, looking at all angles there is no better way to think of the situation than for all the employees to accept the contract offered by the management and let alone those who push for having a fair contract which admittedly is an ideal one but realistically impossible given the enormous advantages enjoyed by the management, to suffer the miseries of and the financial loses due to lost employment as there is definitely a very slim chance if there is at all of winning the fight.
WATT It could not be denied anymore that the power and influence of union organizations are on decline amidst various efforts of the employers to wipe out unionism in the work place using various means and tactics and the governments protective attitude towards employers. But it could not also be denied that it is the lack of concrete efforts that greatly contribute to this decline. In other words, it was not the strategy that has failed.
    In this struggle, there are some important facts that should be considered as factors to help win the debate. First, the management knew that, as per the result of some studies is concern it shows that unionized workers possess higher educational attainment than non-unionized employees and that they tend to have longer job tenure than their non-unionized counterpart (Studies by Fang and Verma, 2002 and Akyeampong, 1997 Galarneau, 1996). It means the productivity value of each worker is still a relevant advantage compared to non-unionized employers. Second, we realized that while all odds are against this effort, we had established hundreds of solidarities and various groups such as womens and students based organization sympathetic to our cause to help support our effort. In some way these boast the moral of the striking employees and help support them before the management finally make a decision. Lastly, this initiative is within the bounds of the law and what is being demanded are simply the basic rights of the employees being withheld by the employers from the employees. With the support of the majority, the fight is winnable as the company will also benefit from the fair contract in view of the workers productivity and loyalty, and dedication to their jobs.

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