Henderson history: Henderson’s longest labor strike began in 1998 at Accuride

Henderson’s Accuride Corp. plant has had only two strikes since it began operation in 1974. The first lasted four months in 1979-80 and won recognition for Local 2036 of the United Auto Workers. The second began in 1998 and lasted four years. It ended when the UAW withdrew its support of the local.

Negotiations began Jan. 21, 1998, and the more than 400 union workers at Accuride were mad because it appeared the company was trying to drown their concerns under a wave of wage increases and new benefits.

“At first we thought, jiminy, look at the money,” Local 2036 President Billy Robinson said in The Gleaner of Feb. 15, 1998. “Then we started to look at the contract language,” which union negotiators maintained would weaken the union’s power, hurt its finances, eliminate valuable overtime, and force workers to take on additional job responsibilities.

Union officials maintained the company was trying to bust the union so it could reduce the workforce. Company spokeswoman Eva Schmitz insisted Accuride had no plans to cut jobs. (Subsequent events proved her wrong.)

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Accuride was offering a six-year contract that would provide about $10 million in higher wages and better benefits. But reworked job classifications affected about half the union members, which they feared could lead to job cuts.

Robinson, who had worked at Accuride since 1977, said in the Feb. 18 edition that he thought a strike was likely because Accuride was digging in for a battle. It had hired Phoenix attorney Nate Niemuth, who was a “union-busting” specialist, he said, as well as Vance International Inc., a security firm founded by a former Secret Service agent.

“They (Vance operatives) will assist you in crossing any picket line that may exist,” said Audie Hammond, the plant’s director of operations. He told employees in a letter to “not make the mistake of assuming a strike will last only a couple of weeks.”

The Gleaner of Feb. 21 reported the local had rejected the company’s offer by a resounding 371-9 margin and that a strike had begun at midnight when the old contract expired. Robinson warned his members to behave. “We told them no obscene gestures and to not do anything that would reflect badly on our union.”

The plant continued production with about 150 salaried employees and contractors.

Accuride President and CEO William F. Greubel had an open letter published in The Gleaner of Feb. 24 in which he noted hourly employees had free health insurance, generous time off, and a “lengthy Christmas shutdown.”

But the plant had higher costs than its competitors, he said, and “what we will not agree to are constraints on our ability to run our business in a competitive manner.”

The strike took an ugly turn, according to the Feb. 26 edition, when caltrops damaged tires on several vehicles leaving the facility. Caltrops, sometimes called jackrocks, are an ancient defense against cavalry. Modern ones are nails that have been bent and welded together so that when dropped on the ground one sharp point always sticks up. Schmitz said enough were picked up to fill a freezer bag.

At the end of March two things happened almost simultaneously. The union was getting ready to vote on what the company called its “last, final and forever” offer. Before that could happen, though, the company locked the union out because it had received “numerous reports” that some workers planned sabotage when they returned to work.

Union officials called that a ploy. “It gives them a reason to lock us out,” Robinson said.

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The union took a vote anyway and the results were pretty much the same, 354 to 9, according to the April 1 Gleaner. But on April 7 it offered to go back to work under the terms of the old contract until a new one could be reached.

That made them eligible for unemployment.

Up until then union members who had not crossed the picket line were getting $150 a week in strike pay plus medical insurance. With the lockout, however, they were eligible for up to $256 a week in unemployment benefits. (Accuride contested but strikers got unemployment for six months.)

The Gleaner of April 23 reported Accuride intended to eliminate 110 job positions when the union returned to work because the two-month work stoppage had demonstrated they were not necessary.

My former colleague Chuck Stinnett wrote the vast majority of stories about the Accuride strike and The Gleaner of April 26 published his column on the subject – which said the two sides were as far apart as ever.

He noted Accuride officials complained of more violence following the caltrops: a gun-waving incident, a shotgun blast that damaged the home of a picket line crosser, and the threats that prompted the lockout. On the union side, “Local 2036 officials and members said Accuride is trying to break the union with the help of a tough Arizona labor lawyer as its chief negotiator and beefy paramilitary guards from Vance Security International.”

In mid-May, after the union refused to take a second vote on the company’s “last, final and forever” offer, the company submitted a proposal that scaled back its original offer, shaving one of a series of wage increases and imposing higher medical costs.

The Gleaner of Sept. 20 noted union members rejected that downgraded offer by a margin of 210 to 119. “I don’t know where this leaves us,” said union president Robinson. “We’re extremely disappointed the union did not achieve ratification today,” Accuride spokeswoman Schmitz said. “This decision unfortunately only prolongs the situation.”

In August 1999 UAW leadership in Detroit cut off strike pay and health insurance for Local 2036, although it was reinstated 14 months later after local union workers picketed their own national headquarters. It happened again in early 2002, which prompted another picketing of the national headquarters on Jan. 13.

Meanwhile, the UAW took control of Local 2036, according to The Gleaner of April 27, 2000. A letter from headquarters maintained the local “failed to perform its duties as a collective bargaining representative in a prudent and realistic manner.” Translation: The local’s leadership wasn’t holding votes on company offers. One possible reason, late in the saga, is the company’s offer to recall only 50 workers of Accuride’s choosing.

The Gleaner of Nov. 4, 2001, reported the union rank and file had once again rejected Accuride’s offer. And it did the same in February 2002. At that point, the UAW threw in the shop rag, according to the April 2, 2002, Gleaner.

A one-sentence letter from regional UAW director Terry Thurman to chief Accuride negotiator Niemuth read, “The International Union and its Local 2036 hereby disclaim interest in representing hourly employees at Accuride’s Henderson, Kentucky facility.”

The local Accuride plant had more than 400 hourly employees in early 1998. Henderson Economic Development reports total current employment is 187.

100 YEARS AGO

A steeplejack was leisurely painting the cross atop Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, according to The Gleaner of Feb. 17, 1923, oblivious to gawking passers-by.

And high winds blew the interurban trolley ferry against the Kentucky shore, according to the Feb. 18 edition.

About 30 passengers were stranded for more than eight hours, and a rescue had not yet been attempted when The Gleaner went to press. The ferry crossing to Evansville, which usually took five to eight minutes, wasn’t accomplished for 10 hours.

That ferry operated between 1912 and 1928 and was the only one of its kind on the Ohio River.

75 YEARS AGO

A history of the Henderson County Farm Bureau was published in The Gleaner of Feb. 15, 1948, noting that before it was founded in 1919 it was preceded by the Crop Improvement Association in 1913.

The Farm Bureau initially had offices in the Stites-Barret building on Second Street where Citi Center Mall is currently located. At the first of 1923 it rented offices in the Nicholson building at First and Main streets, and the Farm Bureau Co-operative bought that building in the fall of 1937 before transferring it to the Farm Bureau in February 1948.

The Farm Bureau apparently moved into the old David Clark mansion on Green Street near the railroad tracks while the building at First and Main was being razed in 1958. New offices were built on that site and the Farm Bureau remained there until it moved to 201 Klutey Park Plaza about 1981-82. Current offices are on outer Second Street.

50 YEARS AGO

Old Orchard Shopping Center partially opened, anchored by a Big K department store and a Winn Dixie supermarket, according to The Gleaner of Feb. 16, 1973, but was threatened with closure by the end of the month because of safety concerns.

The main problem was traffic on U.S. 41-North. Barret Boulevard was supposed to take some of that traffic to U.S. 60 but it was only about half built when the center opened. The road opened later in 1973.

Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at YesNews42@yahoo.com or on Twitter at @BoyettFrank.

This article originally appeared on Henderson Gleaner: Henderson history: City's longest labor strike in 1998 at Accuride