Union Campaign Wins Big Raise At Rocky Mount Engine Plant

[Omaha Steve]

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2014/07/15/union-campaign-wins-big-raise-at-rocky-mount-engine-plant/

Posted on July 15, 2014 by paulgarver

UE News

[Eds. note: Because of the relevance to the topic of how minority unions can function in the South, Talking Union is departing from its usual practice of not reposting organizational press releases. We applaud the patience and persistence of the UE's long term organizing strategy, and hope that other unions will emulate it.]

A year-long campaign of rank-and-file worker action, organized by UE members at the big Rocky Mount Engine Plant (RMEP) owned by Cummins Engine, has resulted in a big wage increase for all workers. Technicians (production and operations workers) will receive an 80 cent across-the-board hourly raise and skilled trades will get 75 cents, even though they don’t have a contract or a certified majority union.

The struggle was led by the non-majority UE union in the plant, the CDC Workers Unity Committee, part of the Carolina Auto, Aerospace and Machine Workers Union (CAAAMWU), which is the manufacturing section of UE Local 150. The union has been active in the plant for more than 20 years, although it does not have majority membership among the approximately 1,000 employees, who manufacture diesel engines. The union organizes and agitates over workers’ issues and has won some major victories prior to the recent win on wages.

The wage campaign began last year after Cummins gave skilled trades workers a 75 cent raise, but technicians got zero, making employees very upset. The union called the campaign “75 cents plus more.” Petitions to the company’s top executives were signed by 330 workers. Workers also wore stickers saying “RMEP Workers Want Fairness,” and displayed the Unity News, the union’s shop newsletter. Workers made their concerns visible to the company last October when Cummins CEO Tom Linebarger and the corporate board of directors visited the plant. Hundreds of workers wore protest stickers and several of them spoke up directly to Linebarger on the pay issue. These included skilled trades workers who had received raises in 2013, but let the CEO know that it was wrong to deny raises to technicians.
“Everybody was excited and pleased, and everyone knew why they were getting the raise, even though the plan manager made the point that the union had nothing to do with it,” says Jim Wrenn, a leader of the union. “We’ve been here many years, and the union makes a difference at that plant, even though the company wants to deny that the union exists.”

FULL story at link.