Some strikes strike out

10/29/2009, 9:30 pm

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Kevin Foster, Guest Column

I was glad to learn the Ottawa High strike was settled. My experience had a much different ending.

Way back in the 1980s I worked for DuPont at their Seneca works plant. Itwas a good-paying job and helped me get my family off to a great start inlife. Everything was going wonderful until they decided to sell us off.

Nothing much changed with the new company until our union contract came upfor negotiation. Usually this was just a matter of accepting a raise andrewording a phrase or two. This time it was different.

The one major change the company wanted was the right to lay us off thenrehire us "temporarily" at roughly half the current wage. This, of course,was unacceptable. When the company wouldn't budge on their final offer, wewent on strike.

The first few days walking that picket line we felt we were pretty much incharge. We were together as brothers and sisters. We were strong and moralewas high. We didn't figure the strike would last very long. Once thecompany realized how much money they were losing we'd ink a deal and getright back to work — we thought.

Before we walked out the company had brought in all kinds of equipment andprovisions to make the company folks as comfortable as possible. They wereplanning on settling in for the long haul.

After a few days some of our members crossed the picket line. One was nearretirement and he crossed with our blessing. Others crossed for their ownpersonal reasons. They didn't really hurt our cause but they certainlydidn't help it either.

After a while — it could have been days, weeks or months, I don't evenremember now — the company started hiring replacements. Naturally, thesereplacements weren't getting nearly the same pay or benefits that we walkedaway from. That was the company's intent all along. They wanted to reducetheir costs and the easiest way to do that is through wages and benefits.

The strike went on for months and months. We even parked campers at the mainentrances to keep up the show. Eventually we all found new jobs and thestrike seemed to just fade into a bad memory. I'd heard after a while thatwe actually signed an agreement to end the strike just so that some folkscould receive their retirement benefits and others could simply move on.

I think it only took about a year or two but most of the plant was shut downand the replacements were let go. There isn't much left at that plantanymore except for the weeds taking over the crumbling parking lots. Lookingback at the whole episode it was probably a good thing that we got out whenwe did.

Nobody won that strike but it sure did create a lot of animosity amongpeople we used to call friends. If we had it to do over again, knowing whatwe know now, I don't think we would have walked out. What's done is donethough and I've lived with the sorry feelings for the rest of my life.