No surprise: Business leaders’ answer to the port backup is to eviscerate environmental and labor regulations. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which represents the Donaire workers, has noted that employees at a Rich plant in Murfreesboro, Tenn., earn an average $6 an hour more than those at Donaire, even though the cost of living is higher in Southern California.īusiness Column: The real victims of the port logjam are its neighbors and workers. That said, Rich Products has taken a firmly utilitarian approach to the wage issue at Donaire. Dandes, Rich’s government affairs officer, told the supervisors in the company’s letter. a steadfast commitment to treating our associates, customers and communities the same way - like family,” Jonathan A. More than 50 union members have crossed the picket line, as have Teamsters who perform equipment maintenance on overnight shifts. Moore says the Donaire strike is the first in the company’s 77-year history, which the company argues shows that its employment practices are fair. “There is a very popular narrative that is trying to make corporations that have created lots of jobs the bad guy in a negotiation,” says Ed Moore, Rich’s chief human resources officer. The company is plainly aware that it’s being painted as a heartless monolith in the labor dispute. The senators urged Rich to “reach an agreement as soon as possible on a contract that is fair and that includes good wages, decent benefits, reliable schedules and safe working conditions.” The workers’ goals, they wrote, are “not radical.” along with five other Democratic senators, wrote Tuesday to Bob Rich Jr., chairman of family-owned Rich Products, expressing their support for the strikers. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The Donaire strike is also starting to receive national attention. The job-gain narrative is competing with the inflation narrative in assessments of the economy, and the inflation narrative is winning. The company added that as several claims and counterclaims between the company and the union are before the National Labor Relations Board, “public officials should not therefore be taking a side.” (The NLRB, however, is a federal agency, not a county-level body.)īusiness Column: The Biden economy is booming. The five Los Angeles County supervisors recently wrote Rich in support of the strikers, prompting the company to respond with a letter stating it was “highly disappointed” at the outcome of the last vote. The strike has begun to get political support. No further talks are scheduled, according to the union and Buffalo-based Rich Products. The employees overwhelmingly voted it down. Just before Christmas, the company offered a $4.10 hourly increase over three years but would substitute the existing union-sponsored health plan with one workers considered inferior. The workers have asked for raises of $3 an hour over the life of the contract. “We feel we’re getting underpaid,” Lujan told me simply. The main topic of contract talks is wages.
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