How the Staley Workers Can Win a Fair Contract - Case Study Example

Introduction The socio-political paradigms and the federal legislation with regard to employment and employees’ rights are extremely important issues. Workforce is the backbone of an organization. As such, employees become very important part of organizational culture and their welfare is an intrinsic part of corporate responsibility. But often the corporate greed overpowers the good intentions of the employers and workers just become a means to a cause – a tool to exploit for their own vested interests. Case of A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company, which was taken over by Tate and Lyle, is a prime example of corporate greed where the ‘union’ must become the major facilitating factor for workers’ justified demands and ensure fair contract for them. The concept of ‘unions’ in the 1980s has given a great impetus to the employees to fight for their rights. The primary objective of ‘union’ is to work towards the welfare of the workers and members. The union leadership is representative of workers needs and requirements. Indeed, the power of collective bargaining is vital ingredient of union strategies and therefore, needs to be highly intuitive of the various facets of employment conditions that may have adverse impact of the wider interests of the working people. The legality of union is a reflection that employees have been recognized as groups whose welfare might be at stake vis-à-vis employers’ unjustified demands and unfair practices to exploit the workforce for their own financial gains. The concept of labor union is not new. While in the nineteenth century, the laws favored the employers rather than catering to the interests of the employees, the early twentieth century witnessed the transforming role of union from pursuing political agenda to ‘business unionism’. Hattam (1993:3) asserts that union’s philosophy of ‘business unionism’ primarily consisted of ‘workplace concerns achieved through collective bargaining and industrial action on the shop floor’. Lebergott (1972:220) also affirms that new labor movement had started as early as 1830s with around 26,000 members which increased to 700,000 in 1880s. The 1880s and 1890s also saw more labor related disputes in the court of law and emergence of state legislatures in the area of labor imperatives. New York was the first state to pass the legislation regarding the regulation of employees’ hours and was initiated as a result of the plight of railways workers whose long schedules could result into injury to self and others as a result of fatigue (Friedman 1973, pp. 493-4). The contemporary legislative framework mainly comprises of the National Labor Relations Act or Wagner Act, the Labor Management Relations Act or Taft-Hartley Act and the Labor- Management Reporting and Disclosure Act which is also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act (NLRB). The National Labor Relation Board or NLRB is the major enforcement agency across the states of United States for labor management. The Department of Labor or DOL looks after the other facets of labor unions like internal democratic pattern and financial accountability. With offices in ach state for easy accessibility, these arms of law should have greatly facilitated the welfare of the workers but unfortunately, Staley’s case has shown that they have remained mute spectators of workers exploitation. The union, therefore, needed to adopt more radical means of achieving fair contract to the workers who were locked out after 10 months of work to rule campaign in June 1993. Staley’s unethical and unfair work contract is highly detrimental to the interests of the workers primarily because it imposes great risk to their health and safety. Emery Scrimpsher, one of the Staley worker had predicted that ‘we were fairly convinced that they would bring the replacement workers in right after we left if we went on strike’ (Ashby and Hawking, 2009: chapter 3). The 1992-5 labor conflict between the workers and Staley Corporation in Decatur, Illinois had exposed the employer’s vested interests when they employ low cost ‘scabs’ to do skilled and non skilled workers and resorted to unfair practice of forcing lock-out that debarred workers to join duty. The fight of Staley’s workers has brought to the limelight the vulnerability of workers who not only have to fight against the corporate greed of the employers but the whole system that cohort with them! The government machineries in the form of law enforcement agencies like police, state government and even the media that is controlled by the corporate moghuls. The amalgamation of AIW local 837 with the national union, UPIU was largely done to garner support from the workers across the nation. But UPIU’s leadership apathy in dealing with the causes of the locals was not seen favorably because they did not show any proactive support to the local’s national solidarity campaign or their in-plant campaign (reading, quote from staley book). UPIU’s Vice President, Wayne Glenn says that the union had a failed strategy and employees should accept the company’s contract. This is one sided view of the UPIU’s leadership because it ignores the larger interests of its members who are not only denied the basic human considerations but they have also become a prey to the manipulative designs of the employers who are focused only towards their financial benefits. How unions can win strikes or lockouts The initiatives by the local leadership, under the aegis of Dave watts, are more dynamic and visionary. Dave promotes consensus amongst the member representatives and ensures that there welfare is the major element of bargaining. His assertion that they have effective strategy to win a fair contract is not merely a statement but a fact that can be strategically implemented through a serious of proactive action plan that comprises of the following salient features and actions. Union democracy and union bureaucracy Union is primarily an outfit that caters to the welfare of the workers and therefore, the union leadership needs to involve its members in decision making processes and encourage collective decisions through regular communication and shared learning. The process of democratization incorporates the multidimensional and multifaceted interaction of the masses with the factors that have significant impact. The proactive participation of people has the capacity to significantly impact future recourse to the formation of a more meaningful and more effective action plan. Rich Trumka, previous UMWA President and currently the president of AFL-CIO asserts that victory of Pittston Mineworkers strike in 1989-90 was possible because ‘it was our struggle’ (reading). Bureaucratic setup gives the reins to the leadership that can be misused or misrepresented. It is especially true for outfits like labor unions whose major objective is the welfare of the workers. Democratic mechanisms give more leverage to the interests of the workers and therefore must involve collective decision and public participation that provoke a constructive political and ideological transformation in the society, paving way for democratic values. Corporate campaigns as a union tactic Corporate campaign as a union tactic is very powerful means of exposing the inherent greed of the corporate bodies and their nefarious intentions to exploit working population for their individual vested interests. Corporate campaigns focus on the working methodologies of the corporate world and the various mechanisms used by them to abuse human capital within the work environment. The local 837 used the services of Ray Rogers to launch a national corporate and Jerry Tucker to organize campaigns inside the company during in-plant campaign. The gathering of information about the Staley modus operandi across the globe was also an important step to disseminate information and develop strategies to meet the challenges. Educating, uniting, and mobilizing the membership Daves initiatives in promoting proactive participation through widespread dissemination of information and educating and mobilizing the public, was highly critical factor of local union’s strategy. Local leadership was aware of the importance of the people’s participation and ensured that through intensive drive for membership and regular meeting so that they remained actively involved in all the decision making processed of the leadership. This was a very wise decision because it empowered the masses and gave them freedom to exert one’s choices for their own good by implementing them. Empowerment facilitates realization of self worth, instilling self confidence in one’s ability to make independent decisions about themselves, especially with relation to their socio-economic and political decisions. Hence, an empowered person has more options and freedom to transform those choices into concrete action plans for the betterment of self and the society at large. The mass participation in peaceful demonstration outside the plant is testament of the effectiveness of the strategy. Social movement unionism versus business unionism Union is people’s platform that gives them voice and therefore, cannot and should not be viewed as a business proposition where financial gains become the sole objectives. Dave’s strategic is focused towards garnering support from the people because the aims and objectives of union is designed solely towards their welfare. Therefore, union’s business is intrinsically linked to everybody’s business and people must become involved into the mechanisms of union’s activities. Ash and XX have asserted that effective unionism must become a social movement because it primarily caters to their (working class) welfare and promotes better working conditions for them and their future generation. Civil disobedience as a union tactic Civil disobedience as a union tactic also carries great importance because it highlights the workers’ fair intentions and beliefs in human values which advocate non violence means to fight for justice. Martin Luther King’s non violent protests and demonstrations across America had produced legendary outcomes and reforms in the civil rights for the blacks and Hispanics (King, 1963). Peaceful protests and civil disobedience in the Staley plant was also designed to attract the unfair practices of the employers Building a national solidarity campaign with other unions Building national solidarity campaign with other unions was a major initiatives primarily because leadership acknowledged that fighting for justice and rights against the powerful and resourceful Staleys needs much wider support that the local people and workers. The solidarity with other unions like African American and Hispanic community, women’s right group, clerymen’s association, students’ unions etc. would greatly facilitate support from quarters that can significantly mobilize more people and garner support for cause of Staley workers. Indeed public relation efforts of local union helped garner support and also facilitated greatly towards dissemination of important information that impacts the welfare paradigms of not only the Staley workers but also the people at large. ‘The workers also launched a series of creative actions that demonstrated to management the magnitude of their solidarity and resolve’ (Ashby and Hawking, 2009; chapter 4). Recommendation The union strategy did not yield just results in the Staley lockout primarily because the system comprising of government machineries like police, apathetical attitude of political leadership and misuse of the power of media. The media was controlled by the resource rich corporate world which did not give the correct picture of the demonstration and conditions of fair or unfair contract. Hence, some of the steps that could have significantly influenced the outcome of the labor conflict of the Staley plant can be enumerated as: The unions of the media and public servants also need to be involved in the collective fight against the Staley company and the management. Union solidarity is important ingredient of garnering support and therefore, continued efforts need to be made towards it. Intensive drive for public relation campaigns should be taken up because they can strengthen union’s position and provide an effective competitive edge against the employers. They are also important because they facilitate consistent, accurate and the right message to be communicated to the audience, which come from myriad background. Ensure more democratic way of functioning within the union format and encourage collective decisions. Promote innovative mechanisms for effective feedback. Conclusion It can thus be concluded that though the local 837 lost the final battle in the Staley case but it brought out into the open the most important facet of corporate world. It helped raise unprecedented support from all corners of the world for the Staley workers and showed that reforms were needed to counter the malafide intentions of the corporate world which primarily looks for its own interests. The role of unions and leadership has also become a highly critical factor for the democratic processes within the functioning of union. But people have remained the most important element of unions and their proactive participation will always considerably impact the outcome of all labor conflicts. (2060) Reference Ashby, Steven K and Hawking, C J. (2009). Staley: The Fight For a New American Labor Movement. Friedman, Lawrence M. (1973). A History of American Law. New York: Simon and Schuster. Hattam, Victoria. (1993(. Labor Visions and State Power. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Lebergott, Stanley. (1972) “The American Labor Force,” in American Economic Growth, Lance Davis et al., eds. New York: Harper and Row, 1972. King, Martin Luther Junior. (28 August, 1963). I have a Dream Speech. Available from: [Accessed 10 May 2010]. Read More