Workers at Ashland Specialty Chemicals didn’t get everything they’d asked for during weeks of contract negotiations but they reached an agreement and will return to work Monday following a 42-day Unfair Labor Practice strike.
The workers were most concerned about safety at the plant in Texas City where they make pharmaceutical additives and specialty ingredients for weight loss drugs, cosmetics and hair care products, among other things.
Jobs were being outsourced and workers were “misclassified,” being asked to do jobs outside the scope of their skill sets, Lewis Crawford, the lead negotiator for Texas City Metal Trades Council, AFL-CIO, told the Houston Press last month.
The new three-year contract restores bidding rights and a seniority advantage for workers who want to be promoted to new positions and sets limitations on workers assigned to jobs outside their craft. It also offers a 9.25 percent wage increase over three years, 80 hours of paid incidental sick leave, 25 weeks of short-term disability leave and increased vacation days.
Crawford acknowledged that they didn’t get some of what they requested, but they also hadn’t asked for salary hikes, and they got those.
“That’s how negotiations work,” he said Wednesday. “You should never get everything you ask for on either side. We fought back as much as we could and we minimized the damage where we could. We did get a few small wins. We’ll live to fight another day and go back in three years to try again.”
More than 70 engineers, machinists, plumbers and electricians, representing two-thirds of the plant’s workforce, joined the six-week strike and did not earn paychecks during that time. What they did get from the experience was a camaraderie that can’t be assigned a dollar figure, Crawford said.
“Our Texas City Metal Trades Council members showed up for each other, every single day,” he said. A strike is never easy. It asks everything of our members and their families, and this one asked more than most. We didn’t win every fight at that table, but we won something no contract can put a price on: trust, unity, and a brotherhood forged on that picket line. We’re not just going back to work. We’re going back stronger, together, than the [group] that walked out 42 days ago.”
The Texas City Metal Trades Council is made up of workers from four different unions, including the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 564, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 527, United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry Local 211, and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 776.
Since June 26, employees walked the picket line every weekday from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., and they have a large gathering during the 6:30 p.m. shift change on Friday nights. Even though the strike is over, they’re planning to meet on Friday, August 7, at the picket site for a celebration. “We don’t want this feeling to die,” Crawford said.
Throughout the negotiations, Ashland spokeswoman Carolmarie Brown has said only that the company is dedicated to the “safety, health, and security of our employees, their families, and the communities where we work and live.” As of Wednesday afternoon, Brown had not issued a statement regarding the end of the strike.
Some of the employees who were on the picket line have worked for Ashland for more than 30 years and were not willing to quit their jobs over the contract negotiations. Two people are still subject to losing their jobs to outsourcing but Crawford said the union is negotiating either buyouts or transfers to another position in the plant.
“We still have work to do on that,” he said. “We got some assurances with safety and training, and we’re going to hold the company to their word on that.”
