'We Can’t Give Up'
Duffy Tool workers fight for first contract
Maurice Hodge shrugs and says he has “no idea” how he’s kept his job the past three years.
Hodge, a 37-year-old production worker at Duffy Tool & Stamping, is chief steward at the company’s Eighth Street plant in Muncie, Ind.
Since Duffy workers voted to join the UAW in 1996, the parts supplier has terminated most members of the union’s first bargaining committee and there has been nearly a 100 percent turnover in employees.
Bargaining opened in January 1997 and they still don’t have a contract.
“Our rights are being violated left and right,” said Hodge. “But we can’t give up.”
Take Jenny Harnish, for example. A former bargaining committee member, the 45-year-old machine operator was fired two years ago after being falsely accused of calling a supervisor a foul name.
Or James Simpkins, a heavy press operator who was fired in 1998 when he called in late after his wife collapsed at work.
“I realize that my job may be on the line, but we need to take a stand for what we truly believe in,” said Simpkins, 38.
Can I go to the bathroom?
Workers at the company formerly owned by fair-minded Edmund McDuffee saw little need for a union until British-owned Brittany Corp. took over in 1995. Duffy employs 420 workers at two Muncie plants.
“The company’s policies changed day by day,” said Timothy Martin, 41, a production worker fired in 2000 and member of the current bargaining committee. “It just wasn’t right.”
One such policy required workers to ask permission to use the bathroom.
“Sometimes they couldn’t even see me raising my hand, so I’d leave my area and they’d scream at me,” said Simpkins.
In addition, union supporters and activists — and virtually anyone with a union connection — would “just disappear,” according to Duffy workers.
Unfair labor practices
Martin and Simpkins were among 16 workers fired for allegedly violating the company’s unilaterally imposed attendance policy.
The UAW filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) over the firings. Here’s the status:
• The NLRB ruled that Duffy owed the 16 fired workers $431,083 in compensation. They’ve rehired the workers but haven’t paid up.
• The NLRB also ordered Duffy back to the bargaining table. The company hasn’t returned since the last session in May 2001.
• Further charges are pending with the NLRB.
Ugly stepchildren
In February, Duffy workers took a strike vote, and 70 percent voted yes, although no strike has been called.
“We’re not walking away from these people,” said UAW Region 3 Director Terry Thurman. “We’re going to stay with it until we get a fair contract.”
Pat Koger, the union’s bargaining committee chair, is hoping to gain some respect and dignity from the company.
“Sometimes we feel like the ugly stepchildren the way they treat us,” said Koger, 38. “If I could ask Duffy Vice President Jim Cook anything, I would ask, ‘How long will it be before they sit down and make an honest effort?’ ”
“They keep trying to ignore us like we don’t exist. Well, we are here and we’re not going away.”
