Groller: 'The language saved us'
Joe Groller has been fighting for his union brothers and sisters all his life, it seems. He grew up in Pennsylvania in a union family, and was a member of three unions before the UAW: the Cement, Lime and Gypsum Workers; Steelworkers, and Teamsters.
In his 17 years as a UAW member Groller’s had his hand in organizing, including the plant where he now works in the department that stores and distributes drugs and pharmaceuticals.
“I’ve been at AmeriCold since 1983. We organized the plant in 1990. There were lots of company takeaways, including part of our medical benefits. The pension plan was poor, and there were policy changes on working conditions. It’s gotten a lot better over the years, ” he said.
When he saw the need to organize he approached the UAW. “It seemed like a better fit for our situation than other unions. I liked the setup of the UAW. I knew the structure from the Mack plant,” Groller said.
The organizing drive took about seven months, start to finish. The company ran the usual anti-union campaign with captive audience meetings, but the workers voted in the UAW.
Then two years ago during negotiations, “we knew we needed engineering standards language in our contract. The company wanted no part of it, so discussions on this one thing alone lasted four months.
“In the end the language saved us,” Groller said.
The language and a tenacious shop chair.
“People have more confidence in the union now,” said Richan. “They saw how hard Joe worked for us. He never stopped.”
