Workers at Caterpillar’s Joliet, Illinois plant continue their 12-week-old strike against a company that is “trying to pioneer new territory, seeking steep concessions from its workers even when business is booming.”
Despite earning a record $4.9 billion profit last year and projecting even better results for 2012, the company is insisting on a six-year wage freeze and a pension freeze for most of the 780 production workers at its factory here. Caterpillar says it needs to keep its labor costs down to ensure its future competitiveness.
The company’s stance has angered the workers, who went on strike 12 weeks ago. “Considering the offer they gave us, it’s a strike we had to have,” said Albert Williams, a 19-year Caterpillar employee, as he picketed in 99-degree heat outside the plant, which makes hydraulic parts and systems essential for much of the company’s earth-moving machinery.
Caterpillar, which has significantly raised its executives’ compensation because of its strong profits, defended its demands, saying many unionized workers were paid well above market rates. To run the factory during the strike, the company is using replacement workers, managers and a few union members who have crossed the picket line.
What’s outrageous here is not Caterpillar’s stance – what else would you expect from an aggressive exploiter? – it’s the silence and lack of solidarity from the rest of labor’s leadership even though its clear that all workers will suffer if Caterpillar’s offensive is successful. Is it blindness or class collaboration driving this tragedy?