Caterpillar Halts Pay of Union Committeemen : Labor: The company files a federal suit saying they are full-time UAW operatives.

Caterpillar Inc. on Wednesday fired another salvo in its bitter war with the United Auto Workers union, seeking in a federal lawsuit to end a longstanding practice of paying in-plant union representatives.

A UAW official called the move an attempt to punish the union for trying to force Caterpillar back to the bargaining table.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Pa., contends that Caterpillar has been pressured to pay full wages and benefits, plus overtime, to 29 full-time union committeemen who address worker grievances in its plants while being technically on leave.

“We looked around and discovered that, in essence, federal law does not require us and in fact . . . says we should not be giving money to union officials for union work,” Caterpillar spokesman Jeff Hawkinson said from the company’s headquarters in Peoria, Ill.

“We believe we are correct in this, but want the court’s determination to that effect also,” he said.

Caterpillar, a large manufacturer of earth-moving equipment that has fallen on troubled times, stopped paying the committeemen on Nov. 16. It gave them the option of returning to their regular jobs or having the union pay their wages and benefits.

The Detroit-based UAW has argued before the National Labor Relations Board that Caterpillar actually is seeking to deprive UAW workers of in-plant representation. The NLRB has indicated partial agreement but has not officially ruled on the case.

Jim Baker, chairman of the UAW central bargaining committee, said Caterpillar is angry that the union is trying to slow down work and to influence customer companies to take their business elsewhere.

The union hopes the actions will force Caterpillar back to the table. The company’s final offer was implemented in April, when Caterpillar broke a 163-day strike by 12,000 Illinois factory workers by ordering them back under threat of replacement. The two sides have not met in months.

“Caterpillar again is trying to obscure the real issue by using the federal courts to distract away from their refusal to remove their final offer and get back to real bargaining,” Baker said.

Hawkinson said Caterpillar filed the lawsuit because it became clear that the committeemen were using their positions to foment discontent within the company and scare off business.

“The company decided, ‘Hey, we are no longer going to subsidize these types of activities,’ ” he said.

He said Caterpillar plans to file suit in other state where it has unionized factories.