Reinstated worker helps win new safety protections at ZF

Lisa Tierce, an assembler at ZF Lemforder in Tuscaloosa, Ala., went through two shoulder surgeries within two years.

She tore her rotator cuff on the job, creating nerve damage in her shoulder so severe she could not make a fist.

"Your blood pressure is back to normal. Did you finally win that union election?"

Adding insult to injury, management at ZF – which is a supplier to the Mercedes plant in Vance, Ala. – terminated Tierce in 1999, using the excuse that they didn’t want to injure her any further.

In fact, Tierce was targeted by the company because of her strong support for her co-workers during a union organizing drive. With assistance from the UAW, Tierce filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, and she returned to work in 2000. By that time ZF workers had won union recognition, and Tierce now serves as a first-shift steward.

“The injury rate was so high back then and they just kept sending people back to work without even trying to adjust the work areas or jobs,” said Tierce.

“After people ended up so broken down that they couldn’t do the jobs anymore, management would tell us that maybe we needed to find another line of work.”

When workers organized a union at ZF and sat down for first contract negotiations, health and safety was a critical issue. The company continued to use an outside consulting firm to evaluate the workplace, but union bargainers demanded better and safer work standards.

A breakthrough finally came after the latest round of negotiations in 2006. A joint ergonomics committee was established, and now there’s language to protect ZF workers.

Listening to line workers

“Who knows these jobs better than us? They finally listened to our arguments,” said Tierce. “I didn’t want my injury to happen to anyone else.

“Before we had a union, they just cursed at people when they couldn’t keep up. We changed the way they treat us.”

The joint ergonomics committee now has input from the workers on the shop floor as well as managers.

Jobs are now routinely evaluated for safety and ergonomics to reduce stress on the body. Some jobs that once were done by only one person are now done by two.

“Having the union showed people that the company couldn’t get away with what they did to me. That made a lot of difference to a lot of people,” said Tierce.

“Things are better now – and they’re going to keep getting better.”

Gwynne Marie Cobb