When Unions Throw In The Towel...
As union activity across the U.S. increases, with some significant victories along the way, some unions are also suffering humiliating defeats.
By Peter List, Editor | April 15, 2024
“…if the enemy is unprepared, you may sally forth and defeat him. But if the enemy is prepared for your coming, and you fail to defeat him, then, return being impossible, disaster will ensue.” — Sun Tzu
On the first page of an old Teamsters’ strike manual, there is this statement: “A union’s bargaining power depends upon three main elements: the right to strike, the ability to strike effectively, and the company’s ability to withstand the strike.”
“A strike should not be undertaken lightly, for the strike is the ultimate weapon —and it can backfire. The union could suffer a crushing defeat, perhaps even be destroyed, by calling a strike without carefully calculating whether and how it can outlast the employer in this test of economic endurance.”
Divided and conquered. Last week, an International Brotherhood of Teamsters local which had been on strike against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for more than 18 months threw in the towel and dissolved the union local—much to the angry surprise of the other striking unions that had followed the Teamsters out to the picket lines.
“It’s beyond disappointing that the Teamsters would abandon their fellow strikers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,” said NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss. “We stood with the Teamsters: in the cold, in the rain, in the snow and in the face of violent scab truck drivers and aggressive police. We will continue to strike and hold the employer to account. And we will never give up on our union or our members.”
Union Blame Game. Joe Barbano, a trustee and business agent for the local Teamsters 211/20 “denied the accusation that the Teamsters had let down the Newspaper Guild, which voted to go on strike and support the Teamsters two weeks after Teamsters announced their strike in 2022,” according to Pittsburgh’s WESA.
“To be honest with you, the Guild, [around] 50% of their membership crossed the picket line,” Barbano told WESA. “And they wrote for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and they were able to get a paper out because of that.”
“After 18 months on strike, standing on the picket lines day and late into the nights with Teamster drivers represented by Local 211/205, it’s extremely disappointing to see this unit fall for the company’s divide and conquer strategy,” stated Zack Tanner, Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh president. “Newsroom workers won’t be broken, though. We will always stand strong against the company’s union-busting tactics, just as we’ve stood strong against the bosses, cops, and scabs that have tried to break us.”
Though the strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette continues (without the Teamsters), the Teamsters’ throwing in the towel and dissolving is but one recent example from across the nation.
They tried to overthrow the castle—and lost. Last year, the knights and show cast members who work at Medieval Times In Buena Park, California were on strike for nine months before ignominiously threw in the towel in November with an “unconditional” offer to return to work.
Without a contract in hand, most of the California crew went back to work, having been beaten. A few months later, the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) threw in the towel by disclaiming interest1 in further representing the Knights and show cast employees in California, as well as another Medieval Times castle in New Jersey that had unionized in 2022.
“The union for Medieval Times workers informed the dinner-theater company Wednesday that it no longer intends to represent employees at two castles that organized,” reported HuffPost’s Dave Jamieson in March, “bringing an end to a colorful labor campaign that excited union supporters and inspired endless jokes about serfs and lords.”
In yet another case of a union throwing in the towel, rather than face a decertification election, the Teamsters disclaimed interest in representing a group of truck drivers employed by Dependable Highway Express in California earlier this month.
The union disclaimed interest after an employee, John Cwiek, filed a decertification petition with the NLRB to have an election to decide whether or not to remain unionized by Teamsters Local 63.
Cwiek’s petition contained signatures from a nearly 2-1 majority of employees at Dependable Highway Express’ Ontario location, far more than the 30% needed to trigger a vote under NLRB rules, according to a press release by the National Labor Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Cwiek’s motivation to decertify the unions seems to have stemmed from events earlier this year when, according to the California Globe, filed federal charges against the Teamsters Local 63 union.
“Cwiek maintains that Teamsters union officials retaliated against him for revealing truthful but unfavorable information about the union to his coworkers,” reported the Globe.
In retaliation for Cwiek sending the letters, a union official appeared at Cwiek’s workplace the next day, made accusations against him, and threatened that Cwiek wouldn’t be working at Dependable Highway Express by the next contract period.
Rather than risking losing the decertification election at Dependable Highway Express, the Teamsters’ attorney sent a letter to the company disclaiming interest in representing the employees, stating [emphasis added]:
My office serves as General Counsel for Teamsters Local 63 and in that capacity, this letter is to inform you that Teamsters Local 63 disclaims its interest in the employees covered by the petition in NLRB Case No. 31-RD-338477, namely, the bargaining unit which includes pick-up and delivery drivers employed at the Ontario, California facility of Dependable Highway Express, Inc. (certified in Case No.31-RC-251004).
The California Globe also notes two other cases in Southern California where, rather than allowing employees to vote on whether or not to remain unionized, the Teamsters disclaimed interest.
A sign of the times? After decades of decline and losses, as unions have increased their organizing in recent years, and notched some noteworthy wins under their belt, so too, have there been some newsworthy defeats.
Although unions do not often throw in the towel and walk away from unionized employees, as the activity increases nationwide, rather than face humiliating defeats through decertification, it stands to reason that there will be more instances where unions disclaim interest in bargaining units they represent.