On the Cutting Edge
Ohio skilled-trades workers are sharp at the bargaining table
Any way you slice it, UAW Local 959 skilled-trades members at Crescent Manufacturing Co. in Fremont, Ohio, are a sharp bunch.
It’s a small unit — just seven tool-and-die makers and six machine repair workers among the 70 hourly workers at the specialty blade manufacturer in northwest Ohio.
But don’t be fooled by their size. In their last two contracts, they’ve
been able to negotiate language that compels management to meet with them first
before outsourcing their work.
For a small independent plant, they’ve carved out a nice slice of work
for themselves, particularly when so much U.S. manufacturing is moving overseas.
Crescent, which is just one a handful of U.S. companies left in this field, will try to sell its blades in China this spring — instead of making them there like some manufacturers.
“We build the machines that run our product,” said Chris Babione, skilled-trades spokesman for the Crescent unit of Local 959. “We have to think we can do it better than other people when you build them in-house.”
Essentially their contract language states that management will meet with the skilled-trades representative before any decision to outsource is made. The union gets a shot to make its business case.
“These skilled-trades workers are a classic example of union brothers and sisters looking out for the best interests of everyone,” said UAW Vice President Cal Rapson, who directs the union’s Skilled Trades Department. “They are keeping work inside the plant as well as making quality products that few others can make.”
Gary Haubert, a 24-year veteran tool-and-die maker at Crescent, embodies
that quality. The operator of an electronic discharge machine that uses brass
wire and electrical current to cut punches and dies, Haubert was working on a
bow-hunting arrow tip model called Shockwave. He said tool-and-die makers at
Crescent work with tolerances that are much more exacting than in other manufacturing
plants.
“You have to have some patience and concentration,” he added.
Regina Sanchez, Local 959 unit chair at Crescent, said a microscopic flaw in a pork-skinning blade, for example, could lead to the product being cut incorrectly. That could lead to tissue build-up on the blade and possible food contamination, not a favorable outcome for a food processor — or its blade supplier.
Blades are checked under a microscope for a variety of flaws. Mike Williams, president of Local 959, is one of the employees entrusted with checking.
“Everything has to be perfect,” Williams said as he checked a ceramic dicing blade used to cut computer chips. “Any flaw in a blade and the blade doesn’t go out the door.”
And with emphasis on keeping their work, that’s not all the skilled-trades workers at Local 959 prevent from going out the door.
