Union-busting consultant Jim Frazer strikes again


Union negotiators representing Portland area manufacturing workers frequently find themselves across the bargaining table from a slight, gray-haired employer representative named Jim Frazer. Frazer, who works with the United Employers Association (formerly known as United Metal Trades), has been known to reach an agreement. But he has also frequently been associated with negotiating tactics that result in bitter labor disputes.

"Frazer is a very mild-mannered guy," says Tom Leedham, president of Teamsters Local 206. "He reminds you of Mister Rogers. And he's responsible for the most cutthroat and vicious labor struggles that I know of."

Frazer's fingerprints are on the current strike at Williams Controls in Tigard, and numerous others:

* In January 1996, about 65 members of Machinists Lodge 1005 went on strike at Voith Sulzer Paper Technology, a paper machine repair and production facility in Portland, after rejecting a company proposal that union representative Brian Severns described as "anemic." Frazer was then brought in, and the tone changed. The next employer proposal was worse than the one they'd rejected. Strikers were permanently replaced. The strike lasted 22 months, ending finally when the union "disclaimed" the unit, since most of the strikers had moved on.

* In January 1999, 24 Machinists Lodge 1005 members in the Parts Department struck Cummins Northwest, a North Portland repairer of diesel engines, refrigerator units, and generators. Four months later, one striker who had worked at Cummins most of his adult life committed suicide, writing in a note that he couldn't take what the company was doing to him. Workers accepted the employer's final offer and agreed to go back to work, but the company had hired replacement workers, and refused to take them back.

* At Parman & Ellis, a Northwest Portland manufacturer of haybalers, Lodge 1005 walked away from a unit of 30 members after it was unable to win a contract.

* At Columbia Cascade, a manufacturer of playground equipment, Lodge 1005 disclaimed an 87-member unit after more than a year of fruitless negotiations.

* At Atlas Copco Wagner, a mining equipment manufacturer, 142 members of the four-union Metal Trades Council struck in August 1999 after company demands for economic takeaways, more arbitrary discipline procedures, and elimination of early retiree health coverage and earned personal leave time. They ended their 47-day strike after the employer replaced Frazer and concluded an agreement.

* On Oct. 21 of this year, at Mount Trailer in Portland, eight employees represented by Lodge 1005 staged a four-hour walkout to show their dissatisfaction with stalled negotiations on a new contract.

Severns, who has dealt with him a number of times, described Frazer's approach as "tedious, monotonous, non-productive - all in an effort to increase his billable hours."

"His goal is to stall long enough to avoid getting a contract," Severns said.

Severns says he thinks several employers have dropped Frazer because of his high-stakes union-busting approach. "He unnecessarily antagonizes the union side," Severns said. "He (annoys us) so badly we can hardly think straight."

Is Frazer simply executing the wishes of employers who want to bust unions or bargain takeaway contracts? Or does he sell employers on a high-conflict strategy with promises of economic gains and no more union - a strategy that includes a profitable role for himself, as drawn-out negotiations increase his billable hours? Union leaders don't know for sure. Either way, he's earned a place on the "watch out" list for many.


November 1, 2002 issue

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