Caterpillar to Take Back Most Workers

Caterpillar, saying it wants to “rebuild good working relations,” reversed its position Thursday and said that nearly all of its 13,000 striking workers will be welcomed back, beginning Monday.

The exceptions, said Caterpillar Inc. Group President Gerald S. Flaherty, would be fewer than 10 employees who he said may be discharged for disciplinary reasons related to their activities on the picket line during the five-month strike by members of the United Auto Workers.

The company’s announcement, which softened a stance it took earlier in the week, was greeted with cynicism by union officials.

“Didn’t they care about good working relations yesterday or the day before?” asked UAW Local 974 President Jerry Brown, referring to the company’s statements on Wednesday that it was considering not rehiring up to 15% of the striking workers.

The company had said that more than 1,000 striking employees would not be rehired because of efficiencies discovered during the strike, which officially ended Tuesday when workers agreed to return to work without a contract while negotiations continue.

Since then, employees have been turned away at the gates of Caterpillar plants throughout Illinois by managers who said they needed more time to assess current work force needs.

Union officials accused the company of “deliberately delaying” the return of workers and of “continually threatening people with the loss of their jobs.”

Flaherty said Caterpillar needs 1,350 fewer workers now than it did five months ago. But he said the company would reduce its work force through attrition rather than selective rehiring, “out of genuine concern for the well-being of our employees.”

Wayne Zimmerman, executive vice president for operations, said the company was instituting a “strictly voluntary” early retirement program to induce workers to retire.

Managers said the company would begin recalling workers on Monday. “It will vary facility by facility, but the majority of our employees will be back in the next two weeks,” Flaherty said.

In a statement released from Detroit, UAW Secretary-Treasurer Bill Casstevens accused the company of deliberately delaying the return of workers “in an obvious and cynical move to deny the returning strikers the holiday pay for Good Friday to which they would otherwise be entitled.”

The union also criticized the company for its threat to discharge workers based on their behavior on the picket line. “If anybody is discharged for exercising their union rights, we will take appropriate action,” said Karl Mantyla, a UAW spokesman.

Bill Lane, a company spokesman, pointed out that the proposal the union accepted brought employees back to work without a contract was identical to one rejected March 26.

Under Tuesday’s agreement, worked out during talks with Bernard DeLury, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the workers are to go back under the terms of a final contract offer that Caterpillar unilaterally imposed April 6.

The company’s last offer would raise top minimum pay for workers already employed from $35,318 annually to $39,915 by September, 1994. The union wants top minimum pay of $40,458 annually by September, 1994, and does not want new workers hired at lower pay than the rest of the work force.

Caterpillar is the world’s largest maker of heavy construction equipment. Most of its manufacturing facilities are located in Illinois.