Lessons learned on the line
Unionization doesn’t mean confrontation. In fact, 98 percent of the time, UAW members ratify agreements without a strike. But if we have to take other action to protect our members and our rights, we will, as we did in the 1954 Kohler strike.
“The one thing I still brag about is how the UAW stood behind us all the way, pushing this from the local courts to the Supreme Court, always making sure we got our weekly check and health insurance,” said Charlie Conrardy, who was 22 when the strike began.
The former UAW Local 833 president retired in 1992 and lives in Sheboygan, Wis., home of the seven-year-long Kohler strike – the longest in UAW history.
Unable to break the workers’ spirit of resistance, Kohler was finally forced to recognize the union and bargain a contract that was ratified in 1962.
Conrardy, who started at Kohler in 1949, received about $700 in back pay
with the new contract, but “it was more important to receive those 13 years
in pension credits,” he added.
Long and bitter strikes, unfortunately, are not a thing of the past.
In the 1980s and 1990s, UAW members at Caterpillar stood up to strikebreaking, massive firings and daily intimidation.
More recently, UAW members at Peterbilt and CNH ratified agreements after the companies locked them out in bitter disputes.
We may not always win – especially when an anti-worker administration is in power – but as the old-timers used to say, “There is no such thing as a lost strike.”
When we learn from it, gain strength from it and come back from it, the union lives to fight another day.
