Machinists union
drive costs Precision
Castparts $12 million
A Machinists Union organizing
campaign at Portland’s Precision Cast-
parts Corp. cost the company $12 mil-
lion, the Oregonian reported.
On June 7, Precision Castparts
workers voted 1,258 to 932 not to join
Machinists District W24. It was the
largest private-sector union organizing
drive in Oregon in the last 30 years.
Turnout was very high, with 2,210
workers casting ballots over a two-day
period at five sites in Portland, Mil-
waukie, and Clackamas.
Precision Castparts employed con-
sultants and waged a tailor-made cam-
paign that followed the standard em-
ployer playbook for fighting unions.
“They hit all the standard misinfor-
mation marks,” Machinists national
spokesperson Frank Larkin told the La-
bor Press following the vote. “Both
above ground and below-ground cam-
paigns stirred the rumor pot with
threats of outsourcing to Mexico, or the
prospect that if you join a union, you
go on strike.”
Managers and consultants led
mandatory-attendance anti-union
meetings in the workplace, while deny-
ing union representatives access to
company property.
In its quarterly filing, Precision
wrote that “aerospace sales were flat
from the prior year ... However, growth
was deferred due to the impact of union
organizing activity at our Portland lo-
cation, which negatively impacted
aerospace sales by approximately $12
million.”
Only $13.75 a year for union members.
Special group rate of 38 cents an issue on orders of 50 or more
That’s less than the cost of a First Class stamp!
Expires 08/31/2013
PAGE 24
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
AUGUST 16, 2013