The Strike at the Kaiser Aluminium Plant

On September 30, 1998 the members of five locals of the United Steel Workers of America who were employed at Kaiser Aluminum plants across the country went on strike.

Says Bob Marsden, President of Tacoma's Local 7945, "Their first proposal when we sat down to negotiate a new contract was right out of left field. They wanted to make this local the master for all five plants", meaning that Local 7945 would negotiate the contract, and local conditions at other plants across the country would be ignored.

He stated that this would have the future effect of breaking up the Union. Further he said that the proposal to start testing the older workers would break seniority, this "coming off the best production and safety record in the history of the plant". He went on to say that management representatives knew well in advance that the contract was coming up, but delayed starting negotiations.

According to David Foster, Chairman USWA/Kaiser Negotiating Committee, in a letter to Union Members, the Kaiser negotiators committed violations of Federal Law once the strike was on. These are also called Unfair Labor Practices, or ULPs, and included the refusal to provide critical productivity information, making a contract settlement offer contingent on not striking and proposing to take pension service away from employees in retaliation for going on strike, and also refusing to bargain over mandatory subjects of bargaining such as safety welding and return to work protocols.

In addition, needed improvements for the Tacoma plant at 3400 Taylor Way, which is a 1942 vintage built by the government for the war effort, are threatened to be withheld if the unions do not accept imposition of a salaried workforce, along with contract labor for some areas of plant operation and maintenance.

White-collar workers and temporary laborers, called "scabs", are currently operating the Tacoma Plant. Bob Marsden reports that there have been 177 serious injuries in the last three months, as compared to 45 in 1998 among the regular workers. These include burns, back dislocations, and broken bones serious enough to require treatment and time off the job.

Aluminum manufacture is a high-heat, high-energy process, alumina is reduced to pure aluminum at the Tacoma plant in "pots". Each pot is a 10 foot by 18 foot electrolytic cell where the alumina is dissolved in an electrolyte bath. Then an electric current of 4 volts at 60-90,000 amps is passed through the solution. That reduces the alumina by taking out the oxygen, leaving nearly pure molten aluminum, which melts at 1,200 degrees.

Ray Milchovich president and chief operating officer of Kaiser Aluminum said in a press release on December 17, "The union's proposal would have made these employees the highest paid in the North American aluminum industry". In response Foster states, "Kaiser has offered to increase our pension factors by only $5.00 per month over five years. Alcoa and Reynolds are already $6-$10 ahead of us and will negotiate a new contract almost 3 years before Kaiser’s inadequate proposal comes up for renegotiation."

In addition Foster says, "We were promised in negotiations that 'Kaiser will increase your standard of living.' The reality is that Kaiser is only proposing to allow our standard of living to decline more slowly. Over five years, the new money proposed by the company only amounts to about 2.3% per year, less than the annual rate of inflation over the last decade (about 3%). At some locations the cashing out of the Metal Price and Plant Specific Bonuses will actually result in a decrease".

by David E. Freeman

dfremail@yahoo.com

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