Time - Man of the Year/Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso/moy/042792/04279912.000

Text File | 1992-09-10 | 2KB | 38 lines

                                                                                THE WEEK, Page 18

BUSINESS

Bulldozing the U.A.W.


Caterpillar hands its unionized workers a crushing defeat


    Caterpillar's 12,600 striking workers in peoria, Ill., must
have felt last week as if one of the company's mammoth
earthmovers had just rolled over them. Despite the United Auto
Workers' $800 million war chest (which could have provided up to
$60,000 in benefits for every family on the picket line), the
five-month-long siege suddenly collapsed. The union leadership
failed to gain a single demand on wage and medical-care issues.
The employees had to wait to be summoned back to work, while the
company considered eliminating more than a thousand jobs. Many
U.A.W. members seemed as bitter over the terms of their
surrender as they were over the company's hard-line tactics.
Said a frustrated 25-year mechanic: "We're not locked out, we're
not on strike, we're in limbo. How can they agree for the
workers to return to work and not let us go back?"

    Caterpillar's main strikebreaking tactic had been to
advertise for permanent replacements; unemployed workers
throughout the region were lining up to fill the $35,000
vacancies. Some U.A.W. leaders feared that Caterpillar's success
may have provided a tactical lesson to auto-industry executives
who will enter their own labor negotiations next year. But
Caterpillar's real trump card may have been the recession
itself. U.A.W. president Owen Bieber bravely vowed that "the
fight isn't over." If and when it resumes, Caterpillar workers
would be better advised to find a stronger moment in a sounder
economy.