Still no strike

I thought this picture from the 1950s strike was pretty cool, from Life.com.  This picture was taken in 1957, 3 years after the strike started!  Could you imagine going to the picket line every day for that long?

The picture was taken from the southeast side of Kohler, at the entrance off of PP.  If you know the area, it looks quite a bit different now.

I do have some pictures from Wednesday's informational strike, I will try to get them developed and up soon.  It was a pretty impressive event and a lot more people showed up than I think most anticipated.

Right now it appears that Kohler Company and the UAW 833 will be extending negotiations into next week at least.  That likely means that at least some progress is being made.  We'll see what happens next week.  At this time either side can break off negotiations with 48 hours notice.

Some things never change.

In early October of 1983 the UAW 833 last went on strike at Kohler. One of the major reasons for that strike? A two-tiered wage for union employees. Meaning essentially that current working employees are paid at a higher rate, and may have different benefits, than new hires and those that are called back from layoff.

Now, almost exactly 27 years later, days away from another possible strike, what is one of the major objections to the company proposed contract? A two-tiered wage.

It's remarkable that almost three decades later this would still be a major factor in labor disputes. And it seems like this more than in recent memory.

This will be an interesting test of wills.

Monday

If you don't read the newspapers and aren't in the UAW 833, you probably wouldn't have any idea the possibility of labor unrest not seen in almost 30 years in this community existed. Either that's a good thing, or its the calm before the storm.

We do know these things:

- Kohler Company and union officials are supposed to resume negotiations today. The union will continue working under its existing contract until at least Friday. At that point, either party can end that arrangement with 48 hours notice. That means, worst case scenario, there could be a strike starting Sunday October 11th.

- The union is planning to make picket signs and then do some form of picketing on Wednesday October 6th. This could be a major turning point if it gets that far.

More to come, for sure.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog called Kohler on strike.  I will attempt to provide some inside perspective on a major company vs. a major union.  There is a lot of history to this dispute, with some of the longest and most violent strikes on record.

There is still a week before a strike can be called, as both sides have agreed to keep negotiating a contract.  If an agreement is reached, obviously this blog will likely become unnecessary.  If a strike is called, hopefully we can provide some perspective not found in regular media sources.

Speaking of regular media, here's what they're reporting now:

Sheboygan Press article