Read our editorial “The Significance of Strikes” here.
Workers at Bradford White Water Heaters in Middleville, Michigan, have ended a nearly seven-week strike after ratifying a new contract.
The workers narrowly ratified the new contract by a margin of 58% on November 1 after rejecting two previous offers from the company by a margin of 95% and 94.6%, respectively.
While the exact details of the ratified contract remain unclear, the most recent offer from October 26 included employee’s spouses in their benefits plans, a demand of the workers since the beginning of contract negotiations, and a pay raise of $2 per hour.
The strike was organized by United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 1002 and began on September 16, with over 1,200 workers picketing outside the facilities 24/7 for a month and a half. To win the contract, they had to overcome injury and intimidation, including scabs attempting to cross the picket line by driving trucks into at least three workers.
Union bargaining team Chair Randy Tobias told CBS affiliate WWMT during negotiations that while he “doesn’t feel like [the deal is] there (…) it’s better than what we have been offered.”
Rick Beebe, a health and safety worker speaking with ARC West Michigan, expressed frustration with the paltry offer. “We’ve suffered with 17.5% inflation rate over the last six years,” he said. “Doing so, you know, if the average person’s making $20 an hour, you’ve lost $3.50. You’re doggone near minimum wage.” (Michigan’s minimum wage is currently $13.73 per hour.)
As The Worker has previously written, the UAW’s continued failure to win the contract that workers demand continues the trend of the union leadership colluding with Bradford White “in wresting concessions from workers for the benefit of the company—part of a broader trend of the labor aristocracy to help shore up the profitability of the monopolies under the guise of protecting jobs.”
The workers returned to work on November 4.
Image: Workers at Bradford White Water Headers on strike in Middleville, Michigan. Credit: Jennifer Dawn Phillips on Facebook.
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