July 17, 2000
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Strategy sessions were held during the two-day event to define the areas that the organization will work in. They include: Confronting Rogue Corporations, WTO and Trade-Related Issues, New Initiatives, and Political Action. Workgroups were created and Co-Chairs assigned to address these issues and to carry on the work of the organization. The new Board of Directors later met in Spokane, Washington, July 8-9 to develop a more defined plan for the future.
To spread the word and forge new alliances, members of the ASJE traveled to Washington, DC, for the IMF/World Bank protests in April. Then in May the Kaiser/Maxxam/PL workgroup planned events around the Maxxam Shareholders Meeting in Houston. The group attended the meeting and confronted Charles Hurwitz on many issues.
Striking steelworkers ? the backbone of ASJE?s labor contingent ? received encouraging news on June 30 when the United Steelworkers of America and Kaiser Aluminum announced that a tentative agreement was reached to end their 21-month labor dispute. The two parties will submit their outstanding contractual issues to binding interest arbitration by the end of July. Unless a negotiated settlement is reached earlier, the arbitration will resolve the dispute before the end of September, and 2900 steelworkers will return to their jobs.
A few days later, on July 5, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board formally charged the operating subsidiary of Kaiser Aluminum Corp with illegally locking out the 2900 United Steelworkers of America (USWA) union members ?to pressure and coerce? them into accepting the company?s unlawful bargaining proposal. The formal complaint also charged Kaiser with unlawfully discriminating against employees to discourage membership in a labor organization, and with failing and refusing to bargain in good faith with the Union as required by federal law. The government will seek full back pay and benefits from January 14, 1999, the date Kaiser began its lockout. A hearing date of Nov. 13, 2000, in Oakland, CA, is set for the company to answer the charges.
USWA members struck Kaiser Aluminum in response to the company?s substandard contract offer on September 30, 1998, and offered to return to work on January 13, 1999. On January 14, the company illegally locked out more than 2900 USWA members at its plants in Gramercy, Louisiana; Newark, Ohio; and Tacoma and Spokane, Washington.
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TOC for Forest & River News, Summer 2000