The chant of “contract now” could be heard over the roar of the wind, the rush of passing cars and occasional horn-honking as new Machinists Union members employed by Cascades Containerboard in Niagara Falls, NY, rallied for a first contract.
The rally was held by IAM District 65 for the 115 workers who voted to join the IAM more than two years ago in April 2019. The election was certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in June 2019.
They were joined by IAM leadership and nearly a dozen additional unions showing their support. U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY), Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino, the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation President Peter DeJesus and other labor officials spoke in support of the workers.
Cascades Containerboard, a Quebec-based packaging manufacturer, had a robust 2020 fiscal year with sales of more than $5.1 million. Workers are trying to gain respect and dignity on the job after years of internal non-negotiation, mismanagement and outright disrespect.
Despite draconian efforts by the company to divide them, workers at Cascades are standing together in their fight for a first contract. Instead of splitting the members, the divisive tactics of the company had the opposite effect—workers are more unified than ever.
“It brought everybody together,” said Chief Steward Shawn Reed. “Maintenance and production are all one team now. We work together, stand together and have each other’s back. It’s no longer about individuals. Now it’s about the team.”
The company has responded to the organizing by permanently sub-contracting their work, resulting in layoffs and a reduction of annual profit-sharing by 20 percent. In addition, the company forced employees on both day and night shift to work rotating 12-hour shifts – three days on and two days off followed by four days on and three days off.
During this time, the Machinists Union filed numerous Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) on the workers’ behalf. The union prevailed in every charge, only to have the company appeal the decisions, all of which were ruled in the union’s favor again.
Unfortunately, Cascades has promised to appeal yet again, further tying up the process, and, without any actual enforcement, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is powerless to enforce violations.
“We made sure the workers were prepared,” said District 65 Directing Business Representative Ron Warner. “A strong in-plant organizing committee is the glue that holds the campaign together as the unionization process moves forward. Cascades workers stood strong. The workers understood that they are the union. It is the employees – the people themselves – who put the ‘drive’ into an organizing drive.”
Cascades had hired the notorious union-busting law firm Jackson-Lewis in an unsuccessful effort to thwart the unionizing campaign. The company subsequently hired another firm, ironically called the Labor Relations Institute, to stall contract negotiations once the workers voted to form a union.
“The union busters are a mercenary, a hired gun,” said District 65 Business Representative Rick Dahn. “They are there to create fear and confusion. We made sure that our members were better trained, more knowledgeable about the workplace, more persuasive, more credible and, most important, more respected than the employer’s representatives. It takes work, but the rewards have been great.”
Reed says workers have stood strong, keeping the goal of a union contract in mind every step of the way.
“The only way we can ensure that we have a voice in the company and have equal rights across the board is with a union contract,” continued Reed. “We’re really looking for job security, a level and fair playing field for all workers, respect and a chance at a family-sustaining generational job that we know we can achieve through a collective bargaining unit and unionization. Workers here have children that are also employed at Cascades.”
The next day after the rally outside the Niagara Falls plant, Higgins wrote to the president of the company, urging him to “negotiate in good faith to reach an agreement expeditiously.” Machinists union members also got the backing of two political heavy-hitters when U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) called on Cascades to negotiate in good faith and reach a first contract with the union negotiating committee.
The pressure campaign has ramped up in Cascades’ backyard in Canada, as well. A joint letter from IAM Canadian General Vice President David Chartrand and IAM Eastern Territory General Vice President Brian Bryant urged the company’s president and CEO to “sit down and negotiate an agreement now.”
“I am so proud of District 65 and these members at Cascades Containerboard for standing strong for the betterment of themselves, their families and their community,” said Bryant. “We have and will continue to use all resources necessary to achieve justice on the job for these Brothers and Sisters. We are on the right side of this fight and, ultimately, we will prevail.”
The fight at Cascades shows the urgency of labor law reform, such as the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO Act). The legislation, which restores fairness to the economy by strengthening the federal laws that protect workers’ right to join a union, was passed by the U.S. House but is currently stalled in the Senate.
The bill stipulates that first contracts between companies and newly certified unions be settled within a few months, and if no agreement is reached within that time, requires mediation and arbitration instead of continuing stalling, as in the case with Cascades Containerboard.
As the IAM fights for a fair contract at Cascades and a fair shake for all workers with the passage of the PRO Act, workers at Cascades remain committed.
It’s about the future of the community for many workers at the plant, including Phillip Cairns.
“I want a job that I can stay and retire from, that’s what I really want from Cascades,” said Cairns. “I have two small kids, and security is important, that’s what I’m looking for – job security.”
Richard Johnsen, IAM Chief of Staff to the International President, and Edison Fraser, IAM Transportation Coordinator, along with officers and members of a coalition of nine unions, including the Transportation Communications Union (TCU/IAM), rallied in front of Metra Board of directors meeting in Chicago to demand that it negotiate a fair contract with its employees.
The rally was also attended by U.S. Reps. Chuy Garcia (D-IL) and Marie Newman (D-IL), Illinois State Sen. Ram Vilvalam and Chicago Federation of Labor President Robert Reiter. Metra is the Chicago area transit system, and despite being declared essential workers during the pandemic, workers haven’t had a raise since 2018.
The nine railroad unions representing at Metra have been negotiating with management since January 2019. During this time, Metra has received massive financial support from the Federal Government which the Metra Board of Directors has spent on 4% and 17% increases in executive compensation while frontline workers have received nothing.
— Machinists Union | Pass the #PROAct (@MachinistsUnion) November 12, 2021
“This is corporate greed,” said Johnsen. “Taking money and paying themselves while telling the workers there is none for you – I don’t think so. Metra workers deserve a fair contract, and the IAM and TCU stand with you. Now let’s go get that contract.”
“When Congress gave Metra funds, we expected them to use them to support their workers,” said Rep. Garcia. “Sadly, that did not happen. This morning, I came out to stand up in solidarity with Metra union members, and to urge the Board of Directors to do the right thing and negotiate a new fair contract.”
The IAM applauds the much-needed trillion-dollar new federal investment in the nation’s infrastructure. The bipartisan legislation that was signed into law will create good, union-paying jobs to help repair the nation’s crumbling highways, bridges, and also mark the most significant federal investment in public transit and passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak.
President Joe Biden on Monday, Nov. 15 formally signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) into law. Biden was joined at the White House by several key stakeholders, including a large delegation of IAM members.
The signing of the bipartisan infrastructure bill yesterday was a historic moment for our country and our union as the bill makes massive investments in our crafts. We were proud and honored to attend the bill signing ceremony. #1u#InfrastructureBill#InfrastructureWeekpic.twitter.com/06GrVrourL
— Transportation Communications Union/IAM (@TCUnionHQ) November 16, 2021
“We applaud the signing of this very critical trillion-dollar piece of legislation into law, paving the way for much-needed improvements to several of our nation’s economic drivers,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “This law will provide historic investments for the airline, transit, aerospace, manufacturing and other critical industries. This law also strengthens Buy America rules to help boost our domestic manufacturing sectors.”
The IAM was a strong advocate for the trillion-dollar legislation, which helps reverse the backlog of thousands of buses and rail cars for public transit agencies and critical improvements to transit stations and thousands of miles of track and power systems.
$110 billion for roads, bridges, and major projects.
$66 billion passenger and freight rail.
$11 billion for transportation safety.
$39 billion for public transit.
$17 billion for ports and waterways.
$25 billion for airports.
$7.5 billion for clean school buses and ferries.
$7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging.
$1 billion to reconnect communities, including funds for projects that remove barriers to opportunity caused by legacy infrastructure.
Biden has steadily touted the importance of the new infrastructure investment as a measure to repair problems as well as spur job growth. He mentioned the IAM and several other unions during Monday’s signing ceremony. The White House on Monday tweeted the importance of the new law for union workers.
Today, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal into law. This is a historic investment that will grow the economy, enhance our competitiveness, create good-paying, union jobs, and make our economy more sustainable, resilient, and just. pic.twitter.com/WKowbudFYF
The IAM delegation at the White House on Monday included David Roderick, legislative director for District 141; Josh Hartford, General Chairman, IAM District 19; Elliot Benton, TCU-IAM Local Chairman, Amtrak; David Arouca TCU-IAM Assistant National Legislative Director; NFFE-IAM National President Randy Erwin, IAM National Legislative and Political Director Hasan Solomon; and Local 1976 member Mark Ball.
The IAM recently met with House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) regarding the lack of enforcement of federal laws that are meant to protect U.S. loggers.
The IAM and Maine Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Allagash) sounded the alarm on how Canadian logging drivers are engaging in “point to point” deliveries within the United States, which is not permitted under federal cabotage law. The law stipulates that Canadian and Mexican drivers may only deliver international shipments into the U.S. and then pick up a load to be delivered back to their country of origin. Lack of enforcement of cabotage law has resulted in the loss of jobs for Maine communities that count on the logging industry.
“The lack of consistent enforcement of this bill has hurt all American workers, especially our Maine loggers,” said IAM Eastern Territory General Vice President Brian Bryant. “The law’s intent is to protect all American workers, their livelihoods and families. For too long Maine loggers have not been safeguarded accordingly. The IAM Legislative team along with our Eastern Territory staff will exhaust every resource necessary until all loggers in Maine are fully protected.”
The Machinists Union has been at the forefront in addressing the challenges the loggers and wood-haulers face in northern Maine, recently participating in a discussion at the Maine State House with U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME).
IAM Eastern Territory Chief of Staff Dave Sullivan, IAM Eastern Territory Grand Lodge Representative Craig Hughes and the IAM Political and Legislative staff participated in the discussion with Thompson.
The IAM Transportation Department includes more than 160,000 active and retired members in the airline and rail industries, making it the largest airline union in North America. Its members have always been on the front lines, moving travelers and goods across the world, but the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have brought upon added stress, responsibilities and, in some cases, confrontations with unruly passengers.
“Our transportation membership in the airline and railroad industries have been nothing short of heroes during these difficult times,” said Richard Johnsen, Chief of Staff to the International President and a former United Airlines mechanic. “The Transportation Department is engaged at the local, district and international level to negotiate strong contracts, keep our members safe on the job and continue to fight for and win much-needed relief for our members.”
Since the start of the pandemic, and thanks to the IAM’s activism, U.S. airlines have received $54 billion in federal aid to help cover payroll expenses. In return, carriers were prohibited from furloughing or laying off workers. However, they were allowed to persuade tens of thousands of employees to take buyouts, early retirement or leaves of absence.
Nina Caldwell (Southwest Airlines)
IAM Member, Local 846 (District 142)
The number of people flying daily in the U.S. is getting closer to pre-pandemic levels, even though business and international travel have been slow to resume. Airlines and airports have struggled to accommodate this influx through proper staffing, which has resulted in longer customer service wait times, significant flight delays and sudden cancelations. In some cities, airport concession stands and restaurants aren’t fully staffed or open, leaving stranded travelers with fewer options for food and beverages, thereby increasing passenger irritability.
“Airlines were not prepared for the number of passengers traveling so soon after restrictions were lifted,” said Southwest Customer Service Agent Nina Caldwell, a Local 846 (District 142) member.
Passengers whose flights aren’t canceled or delayed still risk being on board with troublesome passengers. Airlines have reported more than 3,200 incidents of unruly passengers in 2021. Most involve people refusing to wear masks, as required by the federal government.
The passengers who have refused to put a mask on have left many airline personnel, especially customer service agents and flight attendants, in the precarious position of enforcing this mandate.
“I had an incident where I asked a lady if she had a mask and she proceeded to get in my face, not wearing a mask, yelling at me that she didn’t need to wear a mask and asking me what am I going to do about it,” said Caldwell. “She said she would rather die than wear a mask. Luckily, the airport police walked by and she backed up and put on her mask. After the police left, she came back, stood in front of me and stared me down.”
“Due to poor scheduling and understaffing throughout airport operations and the added responsibility of enforcing the mask mandate, several flight attendants had multiple encounters with unruly passengers,” said Lisa Ferm, a CommutAir Flight Attendant and Local 2339N (District 142) member. “Many have been threatened and felt unsafe, but each time me and my coworkers have been able to de-escalate the situation. Because of our IAM contract with CommutAir, the company has addressed these occurrences and provided assistance. I do feel grateful to a part of the IAM because I know our representatives have been going above and beyond fighting to protect us.”
Understaffing has also caused issues for other IAM-represented groups like Fleet Service Agents.
Larry Reeves (American Airlines)
President, IAM Local 1776
Larry Reeves, an American Airlines Fleet Service Agent and Local 1776 president, says understaffing has also caused problems for Fleet Service workers, but “because of our ironclad IAM contract and lobbying done by our legislative team, there was a recent hiring surge, bringing 50 new part-timers into the fold in Philadelphia.”
“These new hires will help alleviate some of our workload issues and, hopefully, get our workforce to the point where we can provide the service to our passengers that they deserve,” said Reeves.
The IAM has been urging lawmakers and other federal officials to step up measures to protect the safety of airline workers in recent months. That includes Richard Johnsen, Chief of Staff to the International President, taking part in the Aviation Labor Recovery Roundtable call with FAA Administrator Steve Dickson and U.S. Transportation Department Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg.
Johnsen then urged participants on the call to share the union’s urgency to assure airlines properly staff positions, adding that “airlines were granted billions of dollars in federal relief from this administration to address these problems, and they must act now.”
How understaffing is affecting the Precision Rail
IAM District 19 represents 11,000 active Machinists across the country, including every Class 1, commuter railroad, Amtrak and many others. The Transportation Communications Union (TCU/IAM) also represents tens of thousands of railroad members.
Our members primarily maintain and repair locomotives and track maintenance equipment, both in shop and on the line of road. They also perform complete overhauls of locomotives and assemblies and sub-assemblies used in all aspects of railroading.
A massive operational change is currently upending the railroad industry by threatening the jobs, health and safety of our members. It is also significantly impacting the massive freight network they help operate. That operational change is called “Precision Scheduled Railroading,” or PSR.
PSR is a process to minimize the amount of times a train would be required to stop between destinations. In order to accomplish this, the railroads are creating longer trains, and in some instances, adding an additional 3,000 to 5,000 feet to their existing train length.
“PSR, as currently being implemented, is not safe or effective, and Congress should exercise its oversight to investigate,” said Andrew Sandberg, IAM District 19 Assistant to the President/Directing General Chairman Rail, who represented the IAM with testimony to Congress. “We are concerned that current PSR schemes are detrimental to the long-term outlook of the rail industry, putting short-term gains ahead of long-term success, furloughing thousands while downgrading safety.”
The Machinists Union supports efforts to efficiently operate our nation’s railroads. We want our employers to be profitable, as profits leads to raises and quality benefits for our members.
However, PSR is designed to increase short-term profits for shareholders, at any cost. What was once scorned upon by industry professionals and executives is now being forced on the industry by Wall Street investors.
The IAM’s main concerns are with meeting strict deadlines at all costs and reducing headcounts to deliver short-term savings to shareholders.
After implementation of PSR, understaffing and lay-offs have become all too familiar, with Machinists Union members being asked by management to do other craft jobs almost daily.
Management at railroads such as Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and CSX Transportation expect our members to complete their normal tasks in the same timeframe as before, even though management are now asking members to do the tasks of the Pipefitters, Boilermakers, Carmen and utility workers as well.
“This environment is very unsafe as it creates an atmosphere of ‘hurry up and rush’ just to get a number out the door,” said Sandberg.
The atmosphere on the railroad is increasingly one of hostility towards reporting any safety violations. For example, CSX Transportation’s accident rate has increased despite the fact that the rate of train accidents for all Class 1 railroads nationwide is decreasing. Since 2013, the national rate has decreased about 6%, while CSX’s rate has increased 59%.
Congress and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) must apply greater scrutiny to these Precision Scheduled Railroading practices.
“Our members report being overworked, stressed, and scared,” said Derrick Battle, District 19 General Chairman. “They talk about drastic cuts to their shops while those remaining are being asked to perform double or triple the work compared to the pre-PSR era. Our members also cite increased safety violations, managers threatening job cuts if deadlines aren’t met and being forced to ignore basic safety procedures.”
A recent survey of members asked them to rate overall safety on a scale of 1-10, before and after PSR implementation. The results showed that before the PSR rail safety received an average score of 6.9 while after PSR implementation rail safety received an average score of 2.6.
“Congress and the Federal Railroad Administration must apply greater scrutiny to these Precision Scheduled Railroading practices,” added Sandberg. “It’s a business model loathed by workers, railroads, customers and communities. All the PSR does is enrich rent-seeking Wall Street investors, no matter the cost or disruption to the lives of our members, and the commercial transportation market they’ll destroy in the process.”
“The Transportation Department is committed to stand hand in hand and side by side with our members to fight any challenge that may arise in the airline and railroad industries,” said IAM Transportation Coordinator Edison Fraser.
