Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

The company i work for is going to lock us out

iowabucks

iowabucks

Member
Union vs the Company. Contract time and it's not looking good.

I work for a Major corn processing plant here in Muscatine (19 years), and our 5 year contract is ending Friday at midnight. 5 years ago the company came to the bargining table, slapped down a crappy proposal and said take it, you have no choice. Being scared, the majority voted it in. This time they did the same thing but we are fighting for this one. 100% of us, (360 people), voted not to accept it. They said it was their final proposal. Funny thing is the union didn't tell us that. We tried to file for a continuation of work to stay with the old contract until they hash things out. The company has said no way. They have not come out and said the word lockout yet, but have told all their strike training salary workers to expect to run the plant midnight friday. We left work today and saw many big, big, security guys at all the gates around the plant. Looked like the the whole offensive line of the Chicago Bears. Barricades are being set up too. We fully expect to be escorted out of the plant at the end of our shift tommorrow night.

The company knows they cut too deep with the contract 5 years ago, and we were at least hoping they would meet us halfway this time. Not even close. I'm not a hardcore union guy but i completely support our union and hope that we can get this straightened out before we end up losing our jobs.

Sorry, just had to rant.

UFCW local 86D
 
Most contracts have an agreement in them not to lock their employees out, too bad your union doesn't. Iowa is a right to work state, which weakens the unions. One thing you have going for you is that bio fuels demand is still very high and there's alot of money to be made. Harvest isn't too far away either. Hope everything works out for you and your coworkers.

UAW Local 450 JDDMW
 
That really blows! I have been through a strike situation and it is no fun. We had non-union "SCABS" crossing our picket lines every day keeping production going. Local trucking companies crossing our lines and hauling out the scab-produced materials while we were supposed to survive on $50 a week strike pay! I have never come so close to wanting to do bodily injury to so many people. If not for a baby on the way I would have surely ended up in jail. Hopefully your union is stronger than ours and can put up a good fight. The only satisfaction I got was a call from my boss asking me to cross the lines and come to work. I finally got to tell him what a P.O.S. he was and that I would never step foot in that S-hole ever again! Everything happens for a reason and lucky for me I went on to bigger and better things because of it. Stay strong and stick together, I'll be pulling for ya.
 
That sucks! Hopefully your union will get it taken care of for you...

We are not union and were informed a month ago that we are being laid off, but that a nice severance package would be offered to us the second week of August... well here we are, one week from our last day of work and no severance package offers yet - as far as I know they will give me $10 on my last day for a severance. I have no one to stand up for me, just me against a multi-billion dollar company that could screw me anyway they wanted - and they know it.

I have accepted a new job... like skully said, bigger and better. Just sucks that a company would treat anyone like this after 7 years of hard work I've devoted to them.
 
The days of putting in your 25-30 years and getting a gold watch and pension are gone. Anymore you have to look out for yourself and hope you are not sent out the door. I know it is hard now, but hopefully you will be able to look back at this as a blessing if it does not work out with your company.
 
I work in muscatine also. We voted on our contrast a couple months ago. We voted down the first proposal and voted to strike. A week later on the last day of our contract they came back with a proposal that was actually slightly worse than the first and enough people tucked there tail and it was excepted.
How messed up is that. Hopefully you'll stick to you're guns and get what you deserve for your hard work.
If not there's a pump company down the road that's hiring machinist. They have a new program that they'll hire people at a lower wage and pay for them to go to school to help them move up.
 
I wish more people in Iowa believed in unions ! I'm a union plumber and i see all the time non union contractors with in 10 to 15 dollars an hour of ours and pay their help haif the wages and no insurance if more people would band together and support strikers and unions the people of iowa would be much better off
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: livtahunt</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I wish more people in Iowa believed in unions </div></div>

I dunno. I was raised in a John Deere bedroom community. People went straight to JD out of high school. With the union, some were making $30+/hr. JD couldn't handle the "over head" and moved jobs out, killing our town. I can't blame JD for doing it. Even with the move, I still can't afford their product. /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

Thus, I have mixed emotions on unions. If they drive up the cost of production to where the product is no longer attractive to the consumer, what good are they?
 
Hold strong, they can't replace all of you at once. I'm not hardcore Union but I believe in fair wages and benefits. Our contract is up next year so I'm hoping for the best. Good luck! Sheet Metal Workers LU91
 
They walked us out at 7 pm instead of midnight, to keep from having any sabotage go on. It looks now like i can collect unemployment while all this is going on. A federal mediator comes in Monday to hash things out. Hopefully we get a fair shake from him and can get back to work before too long.

Looks like i got some time to put up some stands now.
 
Didn't realize there were that many people that work in Muscatine on here.. Add another one to the list.. When I'm home that is.. Iowabucks, do you work at GPC? That sucks they are doing that to you guys. I work at the family business, Trucks Unlimited, on the bypass.
 
Yep, that would be the place. Nice to meet you (over the internet anyway). I just realized over the last week or two that you are from town too. I should have said hi already. Be safe.
 
Thanks.. My brother-in-law used to work there.. you might know him.. Jason Denkman.. He quit after he got the crap burned out of him in the Extruder Building fire a few years ago. I didn't realize GPC was really as big as it was until I had to go in through the construction gate to work on a crane... It's like going through a city from another world. Well I guess if you like the union, there is always Union Tank. Anywho.. nice meetin' ya too.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: JNRBRONC</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Thus, I have mixed emotions on unions. If they drive up the cost of production to where the product is no longer attractive to the consumer, what good are they? </div></div>

This is how I feel as well. We should be lucky we have jobs.

I majorly remodeled my own house. Installed my own Furnace. Years later when it came time to get it repaired, the Furnace Repair guy gave me attitude because I didn't have it installed by a union contractor. They replaced the motor, and then were back the next day to replace the motor again because they didn't find the root of the problem. the second time they put in a older higher amp motor. They still never corrected the real problem which was with the computer. So my faith in that union contractor...... not very good

We dont have a union at my work, but the hourly people do. They bargin for the benefits and my group gets whats left over. They usually get over 5% increase every year and we get between 4 and 5%.

If I want to earn more money, I can just go work for someone else who is willing to pay it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom