Portside

Louis Wery, who helps manufacture bathtubs, joined 2,000 other union members on Thursday in returning to work for the Kohler Company – a leading producer of sinks, tubs and toilets – after a 32-day strike that focused on one of the most contentious issues in labor today: two-tier contracts.

Wery, a Kohler employee for 42 years, attacked Kohler’s demand to keep its two-tier pay system, saying such contracts are grossly unfair because they often pay new workers far less. “Aren’t young people who work alongside me supposed to be treated the same, aren’t we supposed to be equal?” said Wery, a top-tier “tub grinder” who earns more than $25 an hour.

Before the strike began on 15 November, Kohler, with 48 factories and 30,000 employees worldwide, threatened to move many of the production jobs from its headquarters city here, 57 miles north of Milwaukee, if it were forced to end its two-tier contract.

“This site remains the company’s highest-cost manufacturing location in the world,” David Kohler, chief executive officer of the 142-year-old, privately held company, wrote in local newspaper, the Sheboygan Press. “We can no longer be cost-competitive from this location at the (top tier) Tier A wage level. If the two-tier wage disappears, so do the local manufacturing jobs.”

Before walking out, the workers voted overwhelmingly – by a 94% majority – to authorize a strike and reject Kohler’s demand to keep its two-tier contract. Kohler first pressured the United Auto Workers into accepting a two-tier contract in 2010, when Kohler’s business was ailing because of the Great Recession and weak housing market. Not only did the UAW agree to a new, lower tier that earned 35% less on average than top-tier workers, but it also accepted a five-year wage freeze.

Tim Tayloe, president of UAW Local 833, said it was inexcusable that some lower-tier workers still earn just $11.50 an hour. The union says Tier A workers average $22.50 an hour, but Kohler says $23.45.

After a month of picketing, often in rain or cold, the workers voted late Wednesday to approve a new contract even though it retains two tiers. Tayloe told the workers, gathered in a high school auditorium for the vote, that the deal was far better for the Tier B workers than the original, rejected offer. The minimum pay for virtually all Tier B workers, he said, will rise to $15 an hour – a few will earn $14.70 – and while he had to swallow a continued two tier, he said the new contract achieves a vital goal. “Now everyone will be receiving a livable wage,” he said. “One worker was earning so little he was living in his car. If you have a job like this, you shouldn’t be making $11.50 an hour.”

Tayloe added that under the new contract, some lower-tier workers will earn $19 to $21 an hour, as much as some top-tier workers. According to Tayloe, the average raise for the Tier B workers will be $4.70 an hour spread over four years – which translates into a 37% raise, according to the union. The UAW. says the nearly 400 lower-tier workers average $12.50 an hour, while Kohler says they average $14.69 (although statistics on a company website show they average $12.70).

The top-tier workers will receive raises of 50 cents a year for four years, and many will receive one-time payments of $2,000. Tayloe said the improved deal means $7m more in wages over four years than the rejected offer.

Judging from the mood at the Wednesday night ratification vote, the workers were feeling good about the settlement.

“It’s a lot better than it was, but I’m sorry the two-tier is still there,” said Antonio Spearman, a Tier B foundry operator, who added that he was glad he would soon receive a $3-an-hour raise.

Bruce Pahl, a Kohler foundry worker since 1973, also voted to approve, saying he was happy to battle for the younger workers. “We’re like a big family,” Pahl said. “They gave more to the young people. Now they have an opportunity to climb up the ladder and move up. I think it’s going to be a very Merry Christmas for everybody here.”

Crystal McDonald, another bottom-tier worker, applauded the deal. “It’s a significant raise, although it would be good if other things could be addressed.” She sounded less worried than some other workers about David Kohler’s threat to move jobs. “They have invested too much money into the plant,” she said. “They’d never move it. People didn’t buy it.”

Among the workers, there was a strong sense that their sticking together along with robust community support had forced Kohler to bend more than it had intended – even as they recognized that Kohler had dug in on retaining the two tiers.

“I think Kohler was shocked by the 94% who backed the strike” Tayloe said. “I think they thought that Tier A would fold, would not stand up for the Tier B workers.”

After the ratification vote, the company issued a statement: “Kohler Co maintains a competitive wage structure that is essential for our Wisconsin facility to grow jobs going forward. Most important, we welcome our associates back to work, where together, we will continue to work hard to exceed our customers’ expectations.”

Inside his UAW office on Thursday, Tayloe looked exhausted, with dozens of workers dropping in to pick up their $200-a-week check for strike pay. They had to navigate their way around hundreds of toys on the floor – Star Wars Monopoly, Good Kids dolls, Monster Treads Wheelie Tractors – that had been donated for the strikers’ children. On Wednesday, 219 strikers went to the food bank at the union hall (again formed from donations) to pick up essentials to feed their families.

Some days the union had more than 1,000 strikers march and picket. Their signs included, “Equality – Tier- B Lives Matter”, and “Hey, Kohler, Your Offer Doesn’t Hold Water.”

Tayloe said he was pleased that only around 30 of the 2,000 workers crossed the picket line. Inside the UAW hall were flyers with the names of those who crossed, saying “No Longer Our Union Brothers or Sisters. A scab is a scab. Don’t be afraid to point them out.”

Kohler has a notorious labor history. In 1934, after workers went on strike to seek to replace the company-supported union, the walkout turned violent. The strikers turned back a coal car, and in the ensuing battle, two strikers were killed and 40 injured. In 1954, after 2,800 of the 3,300 Kohler workers here walked out, Kohler brought in replacement workers and the strike lasted six years. The dispute only ended when the National Labor Relations Board ruled in 1960 that Kohler had refused to bargain in good faith. It ordered Kohler to pay $3m in back wages and reinstate 1,700 workers.

Outside Tayloe’s office is a blown-up photograph of that $3m check. On his desk is an elaborate scrapbook with news stories about the 16-day strike of 1983. “They used the same tactics as in the last strike, threatening to move jobs,” Tayloe said.

After governor Scott Walker pushed through legislation in 2011 to cripple the state’s public-employee unions – and defied a huge labor protest in doing so – Wisconsin’s unions have worked hard to support each other. The carpenters union donated $42,000 to the Kohler strikers, while the teachers union donated several thousand dollars and often dropped off hot chili to the picket lines. The Texas Roadhouse restaurant donated many meals, while friends in the community repeatedly dropped of hot chocolate, coffee and donuts. Many also donated wood to sustain the burn barrels – the 42-gallon metal drums filled with firewood to keep the picketers warm.

“The whole labor movement has backed these brave Kohler workers,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, secretary-treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. “There’s a sense of solidarity: ‘We’re family. This is our fight.’ ”

The Kohler workers were mindful of the UAW’s recent negotiating battle with General Motors, Ford and Fiat-Chrysler. Rank-and-file autoworkers were eager to end their two-tier contracts with the Detroit Three, and after the Fiat-Chrysler deal was initially voted down, the union got the three automakers to agree to phase out the two tiers over eight years.

“For the UAW, unless you make some significant improvement in the wage gap between Tier A and Tier B, it’s a deal breaker,” said Robert Bruno, professor of labor studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago “Until you manage to do that, you were going to be between a rock and a hard place. If you can make significant improvements in narrowing the gap and the company can afford it, that’s the sweet spot. And here, it looks as if they hit the sweet spot and both sides can walk away and feel they did right.”

The union’s solidarity and the community’s strong backing, Bruno said, helped push Kohler to reach that sweet spot.