Unions Pressure Bank to Intervene in Labor Dispute

Wielding a tough new pressure tactic, several major unions threatened Tuesday to withdraw more than $113 million from a bank here unless it uses its influence to help settle a labor dispute between Washington Gas Co. and the International Union of Gas Workers.

With strikes at a 50-year low and companies willing to hire permanent replacement workers, unions are looking at other methods to gain an edge in labor disputes.

The Teamsters, the Service Employees International Union, the Laborers International Union and the Communications Workers of America, as well as local unions, joined in an unusual show of financial unity to put pressure on Crestar Bank, where Washington Gas has a line of credit.

Patrick Maher, president of Washington Gas, is a director at Crestar Bank, and Kern Hastie Williams, a Washington attorney, serves on the boards of both firms.

“We judge our business partners by their actions concerning workers,” Jorge Rivera of the SEIU, which has $30 million in accounts at Crestar, told a news conference called to show support for the 1,000-member gas workers union.

But Crestar Bank said Tuesday that it is caught in the middle. “We are not a party to the dispute. We are neutral as to the issues between them,” said Barry Koling, a spokesman for the Richmond-based Crestar, which has $18 billion in assets and operates 377 branches in Washington, D.C.; Virginia; and Maryland.

An array of union officials, decrying what they said was a harsh climate for workers, said they have a valuable new weapon in the ability to lean on firms not directly involved in the labor disputes. “The rules of the game have changed,” said Daniel Stewart of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers.

Although the strike weapon is much weaker these days, unions have at their disposal pension funds, payroll accounts, normal operating capital for their organizations and even the mortgages on their buildings, according to Ray Rogers, a veteran organizer and consultant hired by the gas workers to develop a campaign against Washington Gas.

Rogers said he also has been hired by a group of public employee unions in New York, which cannot go on strike because they would face huge punitive fines. These unions will try to use massive public pension funds to bring pressure in contract disputes with the local government authority that operates subways and commuter trains, he said.

The labor dispute at Washington Gas, which has 700,000 customers in the Washington metropolitan area, accelerated last summer when the company locked out union members for more than 100 days after the union refused to accept its contract offer. The workers have since returned to work under the terms of the company’s last offer, which has no pay raise and which the union says weakens job security for workers.

Washington Gas wants to settle the dispute, spokesman Jack Raymond said Tuesday. “We have said all along we will discuss anything the union brings to the table. We respect the unions’ right to express their views, and they are doing so legitimately,” he said. But “what they are doing by pressuring Crestar is turning the focus away from the real issue, which is coming to terms on the contract.”

“Washington Gas and Crestar are intimately linked,” said James Mort, president of the gas workers union. “We will not tolerate union busting in the capital.”

The company is increasing use of outside contract workers, he said. “More and more unions” will join the campaign to take money out of Crestar, Mort predicted.

The Teamsters surprised the other unions at Tuesday’s news conference with the announcement of the biggest potential withdrawal at Crestar, $80 million in pension funds, dues deposits and payroll accounts. Teamster officials will meet with Crestar within the next 10 days “to send a loud and clear message,” said Tom Nicholas, the Teamster representative. “We want to give Crestar every opportunity to use its leverage to end the injustice,” he said. “Otherwise, we will find a new place to do business.”

The Laborers Union may pull $3 million out of Crestar. In addition, some local unions are threatening to cancel their accounts, and one local will have the mortgage on its headquarters refinanced by another bank.

The unions said they want Crestar to insist that Washington Gas offer a better contract to the gas union workers.

“Obviously, we would prefer the unions to understand and appreciate our position of neutrality,” Crestar’s Koling said. He declined to discuss the amount of Washington Gas business with the ban, or the size of any union accounts.

“We do a lot of business with the unions,” he said. “If someone wants to withdraw money, that is a customer’s prerogative.”