To: Detroit/Seattle
Workers' Voice mailing list
April 25, 2022
by Phil West, Seattle Workers’ Voice
In an earlier article, I wrote about the ongoing strike of the concrete workers in Seattle. (1) These workers went on strike in late November against Gary Merlino, one of the concrete companies, and then expanded their strike on December 1 against all six concrete companies. This was after four months working without a contract because the companies refused to negotiate seriously over one of the chief issues, paid retirement medical care, no matter what the age of the retiree. This is necessary because working with concrete often causes severe health problems such as repetitive stress injuries, and early retirement is very common among the drivers. The workers are also asking for increased wages due to the high cost of living in the Seattle area.
After four months, the Teamsters Local 174 leadership has directed
the workers to end their strike at least temporarily. (2) This happened
after a number of events indicated that these workers were falling
under greater pressure to end their strike against the six companies
that dominate the industry. First, there was the news that the
owners had begun to use unmarked trucks, called “ghost trucks”, to haul
concrete to some customers. (3) These trucks may have been driven by
non-union drivers. Then the union offered to send some drivers back to
work on important transportation projects, but no deal was made to end
the strike. (4) Then Teamsters Local 174 declared that it would no
longer deal with the concrete companies as a combined group, but only
individually. (5) This opened the door for workers with some companies
to go back to work while the strike continued against other companies.
All of these events pointed to a gradual weakening of the position of the workers. The labor bureaucrats who negotiate for the workers did not pursue an energetic strike effort and failed to mobilize other building trades workers who were laid off because concrete was not available to carry on their projects. In spite of this, the workers carried out a number of dramatic actions, such as extending their picket line to the Port of Everett’s bulk storage cement facility for 3 hours, thus closing the Port. (6) Political pressure from the King County and City of Seattle governments was increasing. This weakened the struggle of the workers and isolated them from possible supporters. This was a serious setback for workers in the Seattle area, and it will take some time to recover from the loss of this strike.
But the workers didn’t end the strike willingly; they were told to
end it by the Teamsters Local 174 bureaucrats. Local 174
Secretary-Treasurer Rick Hicks had to be very persuasive to get the
rank-and-file to return to work. "They didn't want people to think this
fight is over because it's not. It's far from over,” he said, adding
“not a single mixer driver changed their vote to strike, and they could
have at any time."(7) This indicates that the issues that led to the
strike are still not settled and the path to a satisfactory contract is
not at all clear. But the union hacks told the workers that they were
causing hardship for the other building trades workers who were laid
off because concrete could not be poured. This was an excuse for
calling for an end to the strike, and the workers have yielded to it
for a while. But it is not clear how long this can be accepted.
This course of events was not inevitable. The union bureaucrats negotiating for the workers never set a strike date, and, all the time the carpenters were striking, did not present a contract for the concrete workers to vote on. They should have declared a strike in September while the carpenters were striking. Instead, they waited until November, and only agreed to a strike when the Gary Merlino workers presented them with a *fait accompli*. Striking while the carpenters were out would have bypassed the labor agreements that blunted the carpenters’ strike and brought about a much more powerful joint strike by the teamsters and the carpenters. This would have created a much more favorable situation under which members of both unions might have been able to win their demands. If the concrete drivers had stopped work in September, the contractors would have had to lay off the other building trades workers because of lack of concrete, and they all could have struck for their common interests.
(1) Phil West, “Concrete workers strike for over two months due to
the arrogance of the construction industry capitalists”, February 17,
2022, http://www.communistvoice.org/DSWV-220217.html.
(2) Heidi Groover, “Teamsters say they will end Seattle-area concrete strike, but still no deal with employers”, April 8, 2022, The Seattle Times,
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/teamsters-say-they-will-end-seattle-area-concrete-strike-but-still-no-deal-with-employers.
(3) Lauren Donovan, “Companies use ‘ghost truck’ workaround to move concrete during strike”, March 11, 2022, KIRO-7, https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/companies-use-ghost-truck-workaround-move-concrete-during-strike/7XPNNNVK6JFEDOQQXVH7FSJJRI/.
(4) Heidi Groover, “Teamsters offer to send some drivers back to work,
but still no deal to end Seattle concrete strike”, March 14, 2022, The Seattle Times,
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/teamsters-offer-to-send-some-drivers-back-to-work-but-still-no-deal-to-end-seattle-concrete-strike.
(5) Nick Bowman, “Seattle area-concrete companies make return-to-work offer to striking drivers”, March 25, 2022, My Northwest, https://mynorthwest.com/3407763/union-rejects-offer-seattle-concrete-companies-return-work-negotiations/.
(6) Steve Leigh, “Seattle concrete drivers suffer setback”, April 20,2022, Tempest, https://www.tempestmag.org/2022/04/seattle-concrete-drivers-suffer-setback/.
(7) Mark Stiles, “Concrete flows again in Seattle area but tensions still high as labor deal remains elusive”, April 13, 2022, Puget Sound Business Journal, https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2022/04/13/concrete-flows-again-but-tensions-still-high.html <>
Picture: Concrete workers on the picket line, https://www.tempestmag.org/v01_2020/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/strike.jpg
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