INDUSTRY & BUSINESS
Crisis strike plan wins by two to one ICWU convention votes approval for Walter Mitchell's program of coordinated bargaining
For the International Chemical Workers Union, its 20th constitutional convention in Montreal week before last was the best attended (670 delegates representing 350 locals registered) and perhaps the most significant in its 24year history. For its president, Walter L. Mitchell, it was a personal triumph. For the chemical industry, it was one more indication that the industry's production and maintenance workers are growing more militant. After voting early in the week for a 50 cent-per-month increase (to $2.80) in dues payable to the international union (C&EN, Oct. 24, page 27) delegates went almost all the way with Mr. Mitchell's proposals before the week was over. At the closing gavel Friday afternoon, they had approved: • The key to his program for coordinated collective bargaining—a crisis plan that will replenish the union's strike fund at the rate of $5.00 per member per month whenever the fund's balance dips below half a million dollars. • Re-election of Mr. Mitchell and his slate, which included all of the officers except veteran vice president Jim Gallagher. Mr. Gallagher was defeated by international representative Paul Davis, a leader in last winter's 15-week strike against Harshaw Chemical. • Annual salary increases of $5000 for Mr. Mitchell and secretary-treasurer Marshall Shafer and $3000 for the nine vice presidents. With the raises, Mr. Mitchell's annual salary will be $23,000, Mr. Shafer's $21,000, and the vice presidents' $15,000 each. • Constitutional changes that give Mr. Mitchell (or his designee) authority to approve or disapprove the terms of collective bargaining agreements reached by local unions and managements. If he does not approve the terms he can authorize that a proposed contract be signed without his approval. Thus, local unions will now need either his approval or his authorization before they enter into a contract. 30 C&EN OCT. 31, 1966
HELP. Auto workers president Walter Reuther urged ICWU delegates to vote for president Walter Mitchell's program
The crisis strike plan passed the test of a roll call, the vote running two to one in favor. There was some opposition, mainly over the amount to be payed into the strike fund during emergency months. Delegates from right-to-work states expressed fear that their locals would lose large numbers of members when the crisis strike plan is triggered for the first time. An attempt to organize their opposition failed when less than 100 delegates showed up for an opposition caucus. But it was their booming voices that forced the issue into a roll-call vote. Mr. Mitchell did not have the entire week his way. There were a few flies in the ointment. A proposal to make it more difficult to call for a roll-call vote in convention and another calling for four-year instead of two-year terms for the international officers were scrapped in committee. The increases in salaries that passed on a voice vote were shaved (before they reached the floor) from the $8000-and-$5000 formula originally proposed. There were also token showings of opposition to the re-election of Mr. Shafer and Canadian vice president Tom Sloan. On the convention's opening day Auto Workers president Walter Reuther spoke. His appearance in the hall set off a well-planned demonstration complete with balloons, noise makers, confetti, and a four-piece band. As president of the AFLCIO's industrial union department, Mr. Reuther has long been a proponent of coordinated bargaining. He endorsed the proposals before the convention, telling the delegates that he would vote for them if he were a delegate, to which, in the words of the minutes, "the assemblage arose and applauded."
It was the week's first indication that the proposals Mr. Mitchell began selling nearly a year earlier (C&EN, Dec. 6, 1965, page 21) would pass. As finally approved by the convention, 25 cents of the 50 cent-permonth dues increase will go into the strike fund (the other 25 cents goes into the general fund). With the 25 cent-per-month payment already in effect, the total monthly income of the strike fund amounts to 50 cents per member per month. Whenever the strike fund balance drops below $500,000 (it is about $800,000 now), members will kick in an extra $5.00 per month for at least three months. The payments will continue beyond three months only until the fund builds back up to its previous high. However, $5 million is the fund's upper limit. The strike fund is used to pay local unions $20 per month per member during a strike. Locals then distribute the money to strikers as they deem best. In plants where the local union has the flexible checkoff, and many have such provisions in their contracts, the local union will merely notify the company to begin deducting the additional payment from member's pay envelopes when the crisis plan is triggered. Had the crisis plan been in effect this year, it would not have been triggered by this year's increased strike activity, Mr. Mitchell says. Nor does he expect it to be triggered during the coming year, partly because many of the union's major contracts have already been settled for the next two or three years. But he counts the fund as a big psychological weapon "hovering over" and "focusing on" each strike situation.
