The State - News from June 30, 1988

A strike by thousands of workers against northwest timber companies spread to California, but members of one union, threatened with replacement, returned to work in Bend, Ore. Members of the International Woodworkers of America widened their strike against Simpson Timber Co. to plants in Tacoma, Wash., and Arcata and Korbell, Calif., union officials said. The new walkouts, involving 700 workers, brought to 8,000 the number of lumber mill employees refusing to work in five Western states. But 175 members of the United Paperworkers International Union in Bend returned to work at the Willamette Industries’ Korpine particle board plant. Willamette had given them until Friday to return to work or be replaced, a company spokesman said. The workers, without a contract since August, struck June 11 over a demand for restoration of wage cuts averaging about $1.60 per hour accepted two years ago at the end of a six-week strike.