***** Sorting union differences delaying Honda vote push
From the May 14, 1999 print edition
Doug Buchanan Business First
A decision to push for a union election at Honda of America Manufacturing Inc. has been delayed until at least late June as the Teamsters and United Auto Workers await word on which union can attempt to organize workers at the automaker's Marysville plant.
Meanwhile, some observers say a union's chances of attracting workers are better now than when the UAW attempted to organize the plant a decade ago because Honda's workers are getting older - and closer to retirement.
The executive committee for Teamsters Local 413, which is coordinating the organizing bid, decided May 12 to postpone filing an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board until it hears from the AFL-CIO on a UAW complaint that the Teamsters is stepping on its turf. The sides will appear at a mediation session with the AFL-CIO on May 18. A decision is expected to take about a month.
"As it stands right now, everything is on hold," said Zeke Totten, in charge of the organizing effort for Teamsters 413. "We will pay respect to the (UAW)."
Totten said the Teamsters are still verifying union eligibility for about 1,000 of the 5,000 signature cards returned to the union. He said 1,800 cards have been verified - enough to meet the NLRB's requirement for an election - but the union wants about 3,000 verified signatures before petitioning. The Teamsters need the support of 30 percent of the 5,800 workers at the Marysville plant to gain an election.
The conflict between the unions centers on the UAW's claim it has exclusivity in organizing attempts at Honda because of election petitions it filed in 1985 and 1989. Elections were abandoned in both cases.
Honda, which started making motorcycles in Marysville in 1979 and cars in 1982, now has a work force older than DaimlerChrysler's, said David Cole, director of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation at the University of Michigan.
"We're seeing age kicking in," Cole said. "I think one of the realities is work that's great for a 28-year-old is different for a 43-year-old."
And that difference leads to a subtle shift in how workers, as they age, perceive their benefits, said Nelson Lichtenstein, a University of Virginia professor who's written about the UAW's history.
"For first-generation workers who come from the farm or who worked in fast food or light industry, it seems like `Wow' for the first 10 years," he said. "But auto work is physical labor, and when you're in your 40s and 50s, it's hard to go in every day."
Retirement benefits have emerged as a key issue for workers seeking representation from the Teamsters. Standard union contracts in the auto industry have a "30-and-out" clause for retirement: Work 30 years and retire with full benefits regardless of age. At Honda, retirement with full benefits comes after 20 years of employment but only after age 62, said spokesman Roger Lambert.
Workers can take early retirement with reduced benefits after 10 years of service at 55.
Lambert said focusing on "30-and-out" overlooks Honda's other benefits, including a 401(k) with a company match of up to 4 percent and full post-retirement medical benefits.
"We think it's very competitive in the industry," he said. "30-and-out is by no means the full picture."
Besides, he said, with a plant that is just 20 years old there are few workers approaching the 30-year standard of most contracts. He said pay and benefits have been upgraded regularly.
The only Japanese plants with unions are Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America in Normal, Ill.; AutoAlliance International Inc. in Flat Rock, and New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. in Fremont, Calif. All are or were in joint ventures with U.S. automakers.
Two attempts to organize Honda workers and another to unionize Nissan Motor Corp.'s plant in Smyrna, Tenn., were halted before votes were cast.
"I think part of the problem is the UAW for a long time didn't do much organizing in the auto industry," said Kim Moody, director of Labor Notes, a union activist group that publishes a magazine on the labor movement. "Like a lot of unions they were going after the easy targets who can't move to Mexico. This is a union that's pretty rusty at this."
<http://columbus.bcentral.com/columbus/stories/1999/05/17/story4.html> *****
***** Teamsters end bid at Honda
From the August 27, 1999 print edition
Too few worker signatures, threat of vote clash with UAW curtail organizing effort
Laura Newpoff Business First
A bid by Teamsters Local 413 to organize workers at three Honda auto plants in Central Ohio is finished -- the union local's organizer saying the effort had become trapped in a no-win situation.
Local 413's campaign to represent production and maintenance workers at the Marysville, Anna and East Liberty factories has been stalled since April, when the United Auto Workers union complained to the AFL-CIO that it holds exclusive rights to organize at Honda by virtue of its past unionizing attempts.
Honda of America has 13,500 workers in the state but 8,000 would be represented by a union. Teamsters Local 413 of Columbus needed signatures from 30 percent -- or 2,400 -- of those employees before an election could be requested.
"We never did acquire enough signatures," organizer Zeke Totten said. "If I file a petition with 3,000 signatures, the UAW can attach my petition to theirs with only 10 percent of the required signatures. That forces a three-way vote between the Teamsters, the UAW, or no representation. We can't win that."
Based on the prospects of a three-way vote, Totten said Local 413 -- even if it had enough signatures -- wouldn't file an organizing petition. The 1,876 signatures that Local 413 received, he said, can't be turned over to the UAW, however.
The UAW has not revved up an organizing drive since it filed its complaint against the Teamsters in the spring, sources inside Honda said. That has left pro-union efforts within Honda in neutral.
Business First has learned UAW President Stephen P. Yokich this month wrote to a representative employee at Honda stating pro-union workers would hear from a UAW representative "within the near future." One production worker at Marysville, who asked not to be named, said that is not the kind of effort some had hoped for from the UAW.
"The Teamsters have done more for us in three or four weeks than the UAW has ever done," the employee said. "Why does the UAW have a hold on us? Why can't we choose which union we want?"
Known mostly for representing production workers at the Big Three automakers, the UAW filed election petitions in 1985 and 1989 at Honda in Marysville, but no elections took place.
Frustrated by that, pro-union employees approached the Teamsters about representation.
Mark Sweazy, president of UAW Local 969 in Columbus, said the union remains interested in organizing Honda's Ohio plants.
"It's just a matter of getting that base support," he said. "We've never received that because of threats to employees. We're still interested and a lot of workers have contacted us. But first, I'm going to talk to Zeke."
Kent Darr, spokesman for the AFL-CIO in Columbus, said if the Teamsters and the UAW could come together, it would aid an organizing initiative at Honda.
"If they combine their resources and contacts, it helps the overall organization effort," he said. "The workers will gain if two international unions can come together and use both their resources to bring this about."
Totten said Local 413 would be "happy to support and help" a UAW organization attempt.
The Honda employee said the unions have been unable to secure enough signatures for an election because "people are scared."
Kim Moody, director of Labor Notes, a monthly trade publication in Detroit, isn't surprised workers are fearful.
"These workers are going to be somewhat hesitant," he said. "People get fired in organizing drives. The figure is phenomenal; maybe one in 10 get fired. Even though it's illegal to do that, it has a chilling effect on the organizing drive."
Another Honda employee, Edward Gass, a production worker at the East Liberty plant, said he doesn't think workers are so unhappy that a union drive would prevail.
"For the most part, everyone seems to be relieved since all the hubbub settled down," Gass said. "I don't see the Teamsters coming back, but I've heard that the UAW said they weren't done with us, even though we are done with them."
Roger Lambert, a Honda spokesman, said there hasn't been organizing activity at Honda for months.
Moody said the UAW likely has failed in prior organizing attempts at Honda because of the traditional nature of its drives.
"The problem here is that the UAW, until very recently, has not really had a particularly high-powered organizing department," he said. "They send out a professional organizer and he gathers (signature) cards in the traditional way, and that doesn't work much of anywhere."
Moody said the unions' dilemma at Honda reflects "a bigger problem that the UAW and labor movement have had for a long time."
"Changes are taking place where it's best to use rank-and-file members to do the organizing," he said. "In the case of Honda, the people came to the Teamsters and said: `The UAW is never going to do it, so we want you to do it.' But if it is a three-way race, the Teamsters are right. It will just kill them."
<http://columbus.bcentral.com/columbus/stories/1999/08/30/story1.html> *****
Yoshie