Greetings,

Help Win Justice for Local Union 359 Members
Employees Of Washington Manufacturing
In Washington, Iowa

Washington Manufacturing in Washington, Iowa for 50 plus years has been one of the places people in and around the community liked to work.  For the last 39 years or so employees chose to be, and were, represented by the GMP Union. Working conditions, although at times difficult and dirty, were tolerable.  Employees were treated with respect and dignity.  Although owners changed several times during the last 39 years, other than normal transitional growing pains, employee’s lives were not severely or adversely affected by the ownership changes.  The various owners negotiated in good faith with the employees and their union.  Negotiated wages, benefits and conditions of employment were fair and competitive for the industry they were in.  Employees were able to provide an acceptable standard of living for their families and be proud contributors to their communities.  The situation changed in 2005 when Fansteel Inc. (a Illinois based Co.) sold the plant to Whitesell, an Alabama based corporation.

For the first 18 months of Whitesell ownership not a lot changed.  Whitesell accepted and honored the provisions of the union contract that was in effect at the time they bought the plant.  However when the union contract was about to expire in June, 2006, Whitesell’s attitude towards the union and their employees in Washington changed dramatically for the worse.

Whitesell retained the services of a Kansas City attorney to negotiate for them.  From the first day of negotiations it was obvious that Whitesell intended to extract massive concessions from the Washington employees.  When the union refused to concede to Whitesell’s unfair and unreasonable demands, Whitesell unilaterally imposed its demands and concessions on their Washington employees.

Whitesell made the following unilateral changes.

• Reduced holidays by 2
• Reduced vacation (nearly 1/3 of their employee’s immediately lost earned vacation).
• Deleted the guaranteed retirement plan.
• On 9/1/06 insurance costs to over ½ of their employees increase by 400 % - 500 %
• Deleted employer paid weekly sickness and accident benefits.
• Implemented a “discipline and fire for any reason” policy.
• Implemented a meaningless seniority policy for bidding, layoff, and recalls.
• Implemented a wage increase evaluation policy based on supervisor discretion with no meaningful employee input and without recourse for an unfair evaluation.
• Grants to Whitesell the right to change any contractual wage, benefit, and condition of employment and/or policy without employee or union recourse.
• Eliminated and/or reduced overtime premium pay for Saturday and Sunday work and for work on a holiday.
• Eliminated "report-in-pay" provisions.
• Reduced recall rights from 2 years to 1 year.

Faced with such intolerable demands and concessions the Union and members could have gone on strike.  However to do so would have played into Whitesell’s favor.  Union members were therefore encouraged by their Union leadership to continue working without a contract and to continue attempts to resolve the dispute and to reach agreement at the bargaining table or through other legal actions. The Union remains flexible and willing to bargain with Whitesell.

 The Union and employees are engaging in work place actions designed to convince Whitesell that it is in their best interest to negotiate a fair and reasonable agreement with their Washington employees. The Union and employees are also enlisting public support for their goal of achieving a fair and reasonable agreement with Whitesell.

How can you help? Contact Whitesell and demand fair treatment and a union contract for GMP Local Union 359

Friends and family of Whitesell employees and citizens concerned for the fair treatment of working people and members of the community can assist the Whitesell employees in their quest for fair and reasonable terms of employment by any or all of the following actions.  The Union requests that you be polite and courteous but assertive in your communication.

• Phone Washington Plant – (319) 653-2168
• Fax Washington Plant – (319) 653-6068
• Write – Whitesell – 800 E. 7th St. – Washington, IA 52353
• E-mail – clibera @ whitesellcorp.com
  (Communication to the Washington plant should be addressed to Cris Libera in the HR Dept. or Ralph Holt the General Manager.)

Phone Whitesell Inc. (800) 826-3317
Phone Whitesell Inc. – (256) 248-8500
Fax Whitesell Inc. – (256) 248-8578
Write - Whitesell Inc. – 2703 East Avalon – Muscle Shoals, AL 35662
E-mail – bwiese @ whitesellcorp.com
(Communication to Whitesell Inc. should be addressed to HR Manager Cris Libera or CEO Bob Wiese.)

Bring public attention to these issues.

Write letters to the editor of the Washington, Iowa newspaper.
Washington Evening Journal
P.O. Box 471
Washington, IA 52353
(319)-653-2991
Fax (319) 653-7524

• Write letters to the editor of the Muscle Shoals, Alabama newspaper.

Times Daily – Letters to the Editor
P.O. Box 797
Florence, AL 35631
(256) 766-3434
Fax (256) 740-4717
E-mail – vent@timesdaily.com

Information for Public Knowledge
Presented by Local 359 Members of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers International Union AFL-CIO-CLC