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August 7, 2020 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
McMinnville rubber recycler
goes nonunion
By Don McIntosh
Four years after workers at a
McMinnville rubber recycler
voted 34 to 23 to join United
Steelworkers of America, they
voted 32 to 14 to leave. The vote
to decertify the union at RB Rub-
ber Products—in mail ballots
counted July 17 by the National
Labor Relations Board—came
despite gains in the one collective
bargaining agreement negotiated
with the company. The contract’s
3% annual wage increases out-
paced inflation and amounted to
a 9.3% raise during the three-year
deal, while provisions on senior-
ity and “just cause” discipline
helped protect against manage-
ment favoritism.
But USW Subdistrict 3 direc-
tor Ron Rodgers said high
turnover contributed to the de-
cline in support for the union.
Very few original union support-
ers remained after four years. At
about $17 an hour, wages are low
at RB Rubber, which is also
known as Ultimate RB. And the
work is hard — grinding up tires
and adding polyurethane binding
to produce rubber mats for horse
stalls, playground equipment, and
other recreational uses.
“Those workers work their
asses off,” Rodgers said. “They
come out of there covered head
to toe black from rubber.”
The union had begun bargain-
ing a second contract, but a newly
hired worker decided to gather
signatures and file the request for
a decertification election on April
14.
To defend the union, a June 18
rally drew 50 participants, includ-
ing a strong turnout from union
fire fighters in McMinnville. And
Rodgers set up outside the plant
one day a week for six weeks to
campaign, but says he struggled
to squash rumors that USW had
said no to a company proposal for
a 15% wage increase.
“I tried to explain: There’s no
reason we would to that,” Rodger
says.
“I was disappointed and sur-
prised at the vote result,” said
Bob Tackett, president of USW
Local 330, the local that RB Rub-
ber workers were a part of.
What makes the vote to dump
the union more surprising: Most
workers were getting union rep-
resentation without paying for it.
The contract with RB Rubber
was “open shop,” meaning work-
ers weren’t required to pay union
dues. Most never paid, and by the
end, only six of 66 workers were
paying union dues.
“We’ll keep in touch with the
people who wanted a union there
and see how things go in the next
12 months,” Rodgers told the La-
bor Press. “If people realize their
mistake, we’ll give it another go.”
...Sheet Metal
From Page 1
offices.
The regional council is further
structured into Coastal and In-
land divisions, each overseen by
a vice president. Lance Deyette,
who was a business rep at Local
66, is the new vice president for
the Coastal region, which in-
cludes Alaska, plus Oregon and
Washington west of the Cas-
cades. Kolby Hanson, who was
business manager of Local 55, is
vice president of the Inland divi-
sion, which includes Idaho,
Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska,
and Oregon and Washington
east of the Cascades.
SMART Ninth General Vice
President Tim Carter, former
business manager of Local 66,
was appointed as the first presi-
dent of the new regional council.
Carter said the reorganization is
a response to the problem of un-
even level of representation for
the members.
“Local unions are all in vari-
ous stages of expertise,” Carter
said. “As we elect our leader-
ship, there’s always a period of
time of learning. Sometimes it
can take three or four years be-
fore you’re comfortable with the
job. Having staff employed by a
council provides some consis-
tency and a level of knowledge
and training that serves mem-
bers better.
“The idea behind a council is
that local structures stay in place,
but there’s centralization of
funds for five locals, and central-
ization of oversight,” Carter said.
“It provides flexibility so that re-
sources from one local area can
assist in another area, where be-
fore they were kept separated.”
Carter says his focus the next
three years will be above all to
protect and increase the wages,
benefits, and working conditions
of members by growing market
share and bargaining strategi-
cally with employers.
Carter has been a member of
the union since he became an
apprentice in 1980 with Sheet
Metal Local 99 (which later
merged to become Local 66). He
got active in the union, and was
elected as business rep in 2002,
eventually serving as Local 66
business manager for six years,
and ninth general vice president
of the international union. He’ll
now oversee the regional man-
agers serving each local.
For Local 16, that’s Joe Har-
ris, who has served as a business
agent for Local 16 since 2016.
Harris and Dustin Hysmith will
serve three-year terms as re-
gional council delegates for Lo-
cal 16. New delegate elections
for all the locals will take place
in June 2023.