Striking UAW workers hope for accord with Williams Control

Members of United Auto Workers Local 492 on strike at Tigard truck part manufacturer Williams Controls wanted to use a Nov. 14 company shareholder meeting to get answers to some questions.

So, marching out from a 100-strong solidarity rally, a union delegation presented stock certificates to waiting security guards and was waved through to several lines of folding chairs arranged in a parking lot at the factory's side entrance. As they waited for some appearance by management, strikers asked each other - didn't it seem an odd way to welcome company owners - an outdoor meeting on a chilly Thursday morning with a chance of rain? Only union stockholders were present as the 10 a.m. meeting start time approached.

The door opened. Williams' chief financial officer Dennis Bundy came out, flanked by an attorney, and announced that he held enough shares to open and close the meeting (which was a holdover from the Sept. 19 annual meeting) but not enough to accomplish the meeting's purpose - approval of a new stock issue that would facilitate a debt-for-equity swap intended to turn Williams' debtors into owners. A new meeting was set - Dec. 13 in Sarasota, Florida. And as for the questions from the stockholders? "Management does not believe it would be in the best interest of the company to respond to questions," Bundy said.

The strike continues. The union reports not a single worker has crossed the picket line since the strike began on Sept. 9. At the Nov. 14 rally, organized by Portland Jobs With Justice, supporters from as many as 16 union locals joined strikers in lining up to greet the expected stockholders. "Williams management turned its back on workers and now is trying to solve its problems on the backs of workers," Oregon AFL-CIO President Tim Nesbitt told the crowd. "We salute you for your efforts to stand up to this company and do the right thing."

Union negotiators report some progress at the bargaining table, including agreements on overtime and seniority language. Still, management seems in no hurry to resolve the dispute, spending an entire day wrangling over where the union bulletin board can be placed. And it hasn't backed off from its unsupported demand for across-the-board wage cuts. Mike Mayermik, for example, a Williams employee since 1971, would take a 34 percent pay cut. Mayermik said he'd rather stay on strike than accept that.

"It gets really damned hard," says Bargaining Committee Chair Dave Himebauch. So far, one striker has been evicted, and another had his Chevy Blazer repossessed.

Himebauch says he thinks picketing and leafleting by Portland Jobs With Justice caused one temp agency, Lake Oswego-based Talent Tree, to stop sending workers across the picket line. But several other agencies continue to provide strikebreakers. And because of a threatened lawsuit from one of Williams' suppliers, picketers no longer block traffic going in and out.

Still, strikers report they're keeping their spirits up. Passing motorists frequently honk their support, and seldom does a day pass without members from other unions joining the Williams picket line at 14100 SW 72nd Ave. Now that it's winter, strikers have set up a portable woodstove to warm themselves and prepare the occasional hot chocolate. And the strikers have been adopted by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, whose headquarters one block away has become a de facto pit stop and warm-up spot.

Himebauch said he has some hope that the company could come to an agreement by the end of the year.

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