The company locked out the unionists after they had called off a 19-day strike against company concession demands.

UAW members at CNH manufacturing plants in Racine and Burlington, Iowa, a parts distribution center in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a design center in Burr Ridge, Illinois, had rejected the company’s “final” offer and authorized a strike one week after their six-year contract expired May 2. They worked without a new contract until the November 3 walkout.

“The main issues are heath-care costs for active and future retirees, caps on post retirement health care, and lower wages for new hires,” said UAW Local 180 president John Valko in Racine. The company plans to raise health-care insurance premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and total payments. The union calculated workers’ costs would go up by $4,000-7,000 annually. With the company proposing wage increases of only 3 percent in four of the six years of the contract, this means a significant pay cut.

Payments by retirees for health care would also jump because they would be calculated at 15 percent of the cost of whatever the plan charges the company.

At the Racine plant, 50 to 100 workers are eligible to retire now and more than 200 would be eligible by 2008, workers report. Caps on retirees heath care refers to a limit on the amount the company will pay for health care for each retiree each year. The company contract offer spells out a limit of $7,000 for those eligible for Medicare. CNH and its predecessors had already unilaterally cut off health-care payments at this level for hundreds of retirees, an attack which the UAW is opposing in court.

The company wants new hires to receive lower wages and fewer benefits than current workers. Those hired since 1998 would be reclassified as “new hires” and their pension contributions would be frozen. Those hired after 2004 would not receive a pension, but instead a 401(k) plan, which would tie workers’ pensions to the ups and downs of the stock market. Those hired after 1998 would never reach the pay rates of employees hired earlier.

After the lockout, the company mailed workers the “final terms and conditions” that they are unilaterally imposing in the plant. The list included, “greater use of supplemental employees,” (temporary workers hired seasonally) to up to 15 percent of the workforce with no defined benefits.

The company’s refusal to consider a union counterproposal on November 2 had sparked the walkout the next day. One week later, the company began transporting salaried employees and temporary replacement workers across the picket lines at the two manufacturing facilities in an attempt to start up production.

CNH then unilaterally declared talks were at an impasse on November 22, announced it would impose the same contract terms it had offered in May, and would hire permanent replacement workers. In the face of this threat, the UAW called off the strike and instructed its members to report to work under the terms of the current contract. The company rejected the union’s offer, turning back both the second shift workers that night and the day shift the following day.

The UAW responded to the lockout by setting up informational picket lines and filing a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. The union disputes the company claim that an impasse has been reached.

Support for the workers in the contract fight has come from individuals who stop by the picket to drop off money or donations of food. “Everyone is welcome to join the picket lines,” said local president John Valko. He pointed out that local unions in Wisconsin and Illinois have sent messages of support with donations and plans for food drives and adopt-a-family programs in solidarity with Local 180. He added that at this time last year, Local 180 supported meat packers on strike against Tyson in Jefferson, Wisconsin. Strikers report that the picket lines are solid, and no local members have crossed the line.

CNH reports its 2004 third quarter sales for farm equipment is up 14 percent over last year, contributing significantly to the company’s overall revenue gains of 19 percent to $2.97 billion.  
 
 
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