On Election Day as voters were awaiting the results of the ballots they had cast to decide whether Donald Trump’s Make America Great pitch was better than Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan, there were 55 Teamster members in Manchester, PA voting on the last best and final offer from their employer. The offer they were voting on did not aspire to the lofty goals of greatness or even making things better. As one worker told me, “This is a slap in the face, and I’m not taking another.” Ultimately, the workers overwhelmingly decided that their coworker was right and rejected the company’s offer, knowing that a strike was imminent. And so, on Wednesday, November 4th, at 8 a.m., the day after Election Day, as the nation was glued to their TVs, radios, smartphones, and computers to find out what the fate of the nation was to be, these 55 long time, loyal employees turned off their Dunn’s, took off their gloves, and began walking the picket line.
This day was set into motion months earlier as the worker’s contract was approaching its expiration date. On August 31, 2020 Navistar International Inc., a dominant global corporation in the automotive industry, notified the International Brotherhood of Teamster’s Local 776 that they were terminating their members’ Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) effective October 31, 2020. This meant that the 55 members the union represents would immediately lose health care contributions, retirement contributions, seniority, working conditions, or more simply put, they lose everything covered under the 2016 agreement. The company announced they would no longer honor the worker’s contract. This move backed the workers into a corner. Do they accept another subpar contract that raises the costs of their health insurance and retirement, offers wages that don’t keep up with the cost of living, and fundamentally changes their working conditions, or do they take a stand and strike for better wages, hours, and conditions?
The company’s last best and final offer was overwhelmingly voted down by these Teamsters for the same reasons many workers are frustrated in today’s workplace. Their work is not being rewarded. They are working harder and longer for less and less. These workers spoke of massive cost shifting that would make health care more unaffordable, and their 401(k)s are packed with costly maintenance fees. Complaints about how they are expected to cover the increased share of health care premiums, co-pays, and deductibles on a proposed wage increase, that for some workers, does not even cover the additional costs, let alone make their lives better.
Wages and benefits are not their only complaint, as one by one they rattle off numerous frivolous work rules changes the company has proposed such as mandatory holiday requirements that make it harder to spend time with one’s family. They tell stories of unattainable increases in production quotas as the number of lines they must do in a day have increased, and of poor and unequal treatment by some supervisors. While it may seem like the workers are only complaining, they are not. These are people who have dedicated their lives to the Navistar company. They like the jobs they do and the people they do the job with but feel, as changes in ownership have occurred, the company’s commitment to them has diminished.
Sadly, this is what the work landscape looks like in 2020 America. Talk of Making America Great and Build Back Better resonates with these courageous workers as they believe they are doing both simultaneously by going on strike and demanding the dignity and respect that comes with a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
According to the workers, this is a pattern of behavior at Navistar at their sister facilities in Chicago and Atlanta have been forced into a similar situation by the company in the recent past. Some workers believe this is an attempt to break the backs of the union members, or at least their wallets. Others see it as more corporate greed. In talking with these workers, one can feel their frustration and anger as they are struggling to make ends meet in their personal lives only to see the wealth created by their labor simply grow the bottom line of globally-dominant corporation Traton Group.
Persio Lisboa, Navistar’s new President and Chief Executive Officer, makes $4,743,680 a year while the people who do the actual work earn somewhere between $35-$45,000 per year. According to Navistar’s December 17, 2019 press release, their “fourth quarter 2019, the Truck segment recorded a profit of $86 million” and for the “2019 fiscal year, the Truck segment recorded a profit of $269 million.” These workers are not asking for $4 million a year but they are asking not to fall behind. They have had enough and are demanding to be treated with dignity and respect, and that starts by negotiating a fair contract that protects their families as well as their economic, health, and retirement security. These Teamster members in Manchester, PA are paid significantly lower wages then other workers in the Navistar system. They feel disrespected.
This is a direct result of the Trump administration’s NLRB decision giving employers more power over their workers. To highlight this point, Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) tweeted on March 31, 2020, “The Trump NLRB takes this moment (during a global pandemic) to publish a rule that will make it harder both for workers to unionize and to keep unions they have, Shameful does not even begin to describe this." While shameful doesn’t begin to describe what is happening to these employees, greedy and opportunistic do. While the pendulum of power has been shifting for the past 70 years, we are now at a break point where the nation’s labor laws are so irreparably broken and unequal that these emboldened employers are flexing that power more and more. That is why this story of 55 brave warehouse workers is so important. They have found their voice through their union and are taking a David stand in the face of Goliath and saying, “No more! We are standing our ground. If we lose, we will do so knowing we put up our best fight.”
They understand they are not alone. They hear the same stories echoed from friends and family. The only difference here is they have an avenue to do more than just complain. They can, and are fighting back. If we truly want to Make America Great and Build Back Better it starts with organizing workers to fight for economic equality and close the massive gap between them and the CEO class. The time is now. Show your support by commenting to the hashtag #NavistarDoBetter