July 17, 2008

Strike may delay plant start-up in Spring Hill

Johnson Controls supplies parts for new GM crossover

By G. CHAMBERS WILLIAMS III
Staff Writer

Workers for a Columbia company that builds seats and consoles for the new Chevrolet Traverse crossover utility vehicle, which will be built at General Motors Corp.’s Spring Hill plant, went on strike Wednesday, threatening to delay the Sept. 2 start-up production of the new vehicle.

The United Auto Workers union called the strike after the GM supplier, Johnson Controls Inc., refused to recognize the union as the exclusive bargaining agent for the 172 workers at the plant, said Michael O’Rourke, president of UAW Local 1853 in Spring Hill.

"JCI doesn’t want to recognize the union, so the folks are striking for recognition," O’Rourke said. "Of the workers there, 170 of 172 have signed union cards. These people have a right to organize, and the right to have a union."

After the union informed Johnson Controls on Tuesday of plans to call the strike, the company called workers to a meeting and handed out a letter warning them that they would be subject to replacement if they decided to strike, Torango said.

The union authorized the strike to begin Wednesday morning, and a picket line was set up around the plant on Oakland Parkway in the Maury County Industrial Park shortly after 5 a.m., said Mike Herron, chairman of Local 1853, which represents the GM workers at Spring Hill, as well as the JCI employees.

JCI Plant Manager Robert E. Steckler, reached by telephone Wednesday afternoon, said he had "no comment" about the strike, though JCI does have union employees at other facilities across the country. GM officials were not available to comment on how the strike might affect the start of Traverse production.

Production of the components that will go into the Traverse is scheduled to begin Sept. 2 to coincide with start-up of the GM assembly line, said Johnson Controls employee Paul Torango, one of the approximately 150 workers who joined the strike Wednesday morning.

But seat and console production at the Columbia facility hadn’t begun yet, as the workers were still in training as of Tuesday.

In the Tuesday letter to the workers, released by the union, the company said, in part:

"We certainly hope that the UAW rethinks its position and chooses not to call a strike or set up picket lines at our plant. However, if UAW does do this, we hope that you will decide to come to work to make sure someone else does not fill your job and our business with GM is protected."

A few cross picket lines

Some work was still going on in the plant on Wednesday, Torango said.

"About 20 did cross picket lines," he said. "Some told us flat-out they were afraid they would lose their jobs. But the majority are standing fast, and we will stay out until Johnson Controls recognizes the United Auto Workers and sits down to bargain a contract."

O’Rourke called the facility a "sweat shop," saying that the plant "isn’t even air conditioned."

Workers are making $11 an hour during training, Torango said, but pay is scheduled to drop to $10 for some when production begins.

"It’s a converted warehouse, it’s very warm in there," he said. "They have installed overhead ceiling fans, but they just move hot air. There is no relief for bathroom breaks, no sick leave, and there is an over-extended probationary period, so workers can be fired for no reason."

Workers must pay $60 a week for their health insurance, O’Rourke said, so "after they pay that, taxes, and their gasoline to drive to work, they’re broke."

Herron said all the company needs to do to end the walkout is to recognize the union as the bargaining agent.

"This thing was so avoidable," he said.