On The Eve Of UAW Strike Vote, Caterpillar Reminds Workers What A Strike May Cost Them
On The Eve Of UAW Strike Vote, Caterpillar Reminds Workers What A Strike May Cost Them
The company has a contingency plan and UAW strikers could lose up to $800 per week, as well as risk being replaced, explains a company website.
On Friday, with their contract due to expire on March 1st, members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) employed by Caterpillar in Decatur and Peoria, Illinois will be conducting a strike authorization vote to give (or not) the UAW the authorization to call them out on strike if negotiations fail.
Regardless of how the strike authorization vote goes this weekend in Decatur and Peoria, it appears Caterpillar is laying out some hard, cold facts to UAW members about the realities of a strike that newer employees who were hired after the 1990s may not know.
On an informational company website, Caterpillar appears to be providing legally-factual information to its employees, managers and the public at large on the company’s position, including fact sheets, as well as what could happen if the union calls employees out on strike.
“We aim to reach an agreement that positions Caterpillar, our facilities and our employees to compete and succeed long into the future,” the company states.
As the ‘Central Labor Agreement’ covers facilities in Decatur, East Peoria, Mapleton, Mossville, Morton and Pontiac, Illinois, as well as York, PA, Caterpillar appears to have “taken steps to prepare a contingent workforce made up of support, management and contract workers should a work stoppage or strike occur.”
‘It’s Your Decision.’
“It's Your Decision,” Caterpillar tells its UAW-represented employees. “It is your lawful right to choose to join a strike or come to work.”
“Through our contingency plan, we will be open for those employees who wish to work,” Caterpillar states. “The decision is yours to make, and Caterpillar will not interfere with your decision.”
The company then goes on to explain information to employees that they otherwise might not know [with emphasis added], including the possibility of being permanently replaced in an economic strike:
If you choose to cross the picket line while remaining a member of the union, you are subject to its bylaws and internal procedures. The UAW may seek to fine you for exercising your right to work. By resigning your membership prior to returning to work, you may avoid this action by the UAW.
Employees who are non-members or who have resigned their membership prior to returning to work are not subject to the union’s bylaws and internal procedures.
If Caterpillar and the UAW cannot reach an agreement during an economic strike, Caterpillar has the right to hire permanent replacement workers.
The labor contract prohibits Morton and York from participating in a strike.
In addition to the possibility to being replaced, Caterpillar explains the loss of income, the inability of strikers in Illinois to collect unemployment insurance, and the potential termination of their health care coverage1.
In a separate section, Caterpillar explains the company’s health care coverage to its employees, stating:
In 2017, we negotiated changes to provide employees covered under the UAW Central Labor Agreement with the same Caterpillar health care plan options as our salaried and management employees. This was a win-win because Caterpillar has greater purchasing power and can keep premiums lower when we have more members covered under our plan. UAW-represented employees can choose from a variety of market-leading and comprehensive plan options that cover every stage of life.
Caterpillar’s website also provides a glossary of labor terms for employees that they may hear during the labor negotiations process.
A history of labor unrest.
Caterpillar has a history of labor unrest with the UAW, including a four-year labor dispute that included two strikes, one of which was six-months long and another, more bitter, 17-month strike in the mid-1990s that ended with the UAW stopping the strike, despite the UAW members again rejecting the contract offer.
In the 90s, of the more than 13,000 UAW members who struck during the 17-month strike, 4,000 eventually crossed its picket lines.
This was “a major blow to the union” reported the Chicago Tribune at the time.
At issue in the 1990s, according to one academic source, was so-called “pattern bargaining.”
The UAW’s strike against Caterpillar in the 1990s was “rashly conceived and ineptly executed,” noted the Los Angeles Times back then.
With the UAW having suffered a “harsh defeat” in the 90s and the UAW already having struck and negotiated its own agreement with John Deere in 2021, it appears that the UAW has accepted that pattern bargaining with Caterpillar is “off the table.”
Depending on the outcome of the strike authorization votes this weekend and the parties’ willingness to come to a mutually-beneficial agreement, only time will tell to see if history repeats itself.
[Efforts to reach Caterpillar before publication of this post were unsuccessful.]
Related:
During a strike, an employer is not currently required to continue paying its portion of striking employees’ benefits. However, under COBRA, employees do have a right to continue coverage by paying their portion and the employer’s portion. If a striking employee cannot afford to pay for their portion and the employer’s portion, then health care coverage may be terminated.