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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums780 Caterpillar Workers Unexpectedly Go on Strike in Illinois
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/13161/780_caterpillar_workers_unexpectedly_go_on_strike_in_illinois/JOLIET, ILL.Youre a rotten animal, thats what you are. You are a piece of a road kill. Stay off my picket line scab! shouted Caterpillar worker Gareth Beeson, through his Scablaster 3000 megaphone on Sunday.
Since last Tuesday, May 1, 780 members of Beesons union, International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local 851, have been walking the picket line against their employer at Caterpillar's hydraulics plant in northern Illinois. Local 851 went on strike to protest what they see as an extraordinarily concessionary contract.
Put it this way: Under their proposed contract, I wouldnt be able to afford to take my kid to the doctor, says Beeson. Basically, this contract wouldnt make this job worth working anymore. I would still pay union dues under this contract, but I wouldnt have a good union job anymore.
Workers say the six-year contract proposed by Caterpillar would nearly double their healthcare costs. In addition, according to IAM Local 851 President Tim O'Brien, it would effectively freeze their wages for six years. The contract would lower pay for certain groups of workers resulting in pay cuts by as much as $8 an hour, O'Brien says. Under the contract, new hires in the second wage tier of the contract, who currently start out at $13 an hour, would instead have their starting wages determined by the market based formula set by Caterpillar. That could potentially allow the company to pay workers even less, O'Brien says.
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780 Caterpillar Workers Unexpectedly Go on Strike in Illinois (Original Post)
xchrom
May 2012
OP
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)1. GOOD STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE!!
progressoid
(49,991 posts)2. “market based” formula...
The Chinese market?
ashling
(25,771 posts)3. Just squish 'em
Oh, sorry
I thought this was about the "War on cad-uhr-pillers "
lark
(23,102 posts)4. Actions of the 1% to empoverish the 99% are on display here.
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)5. Caterpillar has been working hard on this crap for some time now.
They closed down a shop in Canada because workers wouldn't sign a contract to slash their pay in HALF.
http://ourtimes.ca/Between_Times/article_188.php
NickB79
(19,246 posts)6. Caterpillar hates unions with a passion
Which is ironic, seeing as how much of their equipment is used by unionized labor.