Fight Back is the original — and still the best — strategy ever devised to combat nonunion and double-breasted contractors.
Local 627 members display a mock check representing their portion of a $12 million settlement with Fluor Daniel. Joining in the presentation are, standing, BM-ST Allen Meyers, third from right; Blake & Uhlig attorney Mike Stapp, fourth from right; D-CRS/AIP Gary Evenson, seventh from right; and IST Bill Creeden, eighth from right.
Fluor Daniel settlement checks arrive just before Christmas
FIFTY BOILERMAKERS who participated in the union’s Fight Back strategy against Fluor Daniel Inc. in the 1990s received early Christmas presents last December. Settlement checks for those members arrived at L-627 (Phoenix), L-40 (Elizabethtown, Ky.), and L-582 (Baton Rouge, La.) and were distributed to 42 living members and the heirs of eight members who are now deceased.
International President Newton B. Jones announced the record-setting, $12 million settlement last October (See story in Oct-Dec 2009 issue of the Boilermaker Reporter). A total of 167 union members from various construction trades received back pay and interest payments that ranged from $8,000 to $217,000.
Three different Fluor Daniel projects were involved in the settlement. They included a coal-fired power plant in Kentucky (Fluor Daniel II) as well as a nuclear power plant in Arizona and a refinery project in Louisiana (Fluor Daniel III). The Boilermakers and other trades charged that Fluor Daniel had engaged in antiunion hiring practices at all three jobs.
Using the Boilermakers’ Fight Back strategy, and a similar program used by other trades, union members had attempted to obtain jobs with Fluor Daniel, applying as “voluntary union organizers.” They were denied employment in all but a few instances, even though they were well qualified and available to perform the work.
Union members, Fight Back leaders recall organizing efforts
AS LOCAL 627 (Phoenix, Ariz.) members gathered at their union hall to receive settlement checks from Fluor Daniel December 23, they were joined by several Boilermakers who were instrumental in leading the Fight Back strategy in the 1990s.
Attending the meeting were IST Bill Creeden, the Director of Organizing when the Palo Verde nuclear power plant organizing drive began in 1994, and Director of Construction Recruitment Services Gary Evenson, who led that drive. Evenson congratulated the Local 627 members as well as members of other trades in attendance who were also receiving checks. “You waited more than 15 years for justice,” he said. He paid tribute to the union members who passed away before the settlement was reached.
Palo Verde is the largest nuclear power plant in the United States, with an output of 4,050 megawatts. Located 60 miles west of Phoenix, it had been built and was maintained by signatory contractor Bechtel. When the maintenance contract was later awarded to Fluor Daniel, a non-union contractor, 79 of the former Bechtel craftsmen participated in a Fight-Back effort to win their jobs back. Fluor Daniel’s refusal to hire those craftsmen led to an unfair labor practice charge and ultimately a settlement in 2009.
Evenson recalled those who initiated the Fight Back strategy, including International President Newton B. Jones, the late organizer Connie Mobley, International Secretary-Treasurer Bill Creeden, retired organizer Barry Edwards, and “the two Mikes” [Mike Stapp and Mike Manley, attorneys with Blake & Uhlig].
“We mentored under these guys,” Evenson said. “They really deserve all of the credit. They are the Fight Back pioneers who really did break new ground, really did change labor law in this country. All we did here was to implement their efforts and ideas with a bunch of motivated members.”
Officials from the National Labor Relations Board Region 28 delivered $5.8 million in U.S. Treasury checks to the Local 627 union hall for distribution to Boilermakers as well as other trades that were involved in the Palo Verde effort. Boilermaker Local 40 and Local 582 held their own check presentation ceremonies. Other trades involved in the Kentucky and Louisiana cases also received checks.
“Fight Back is the original — and still the best — strategy ever devised to combat nonunion and double-breasted contractors in the field construction sector,” said IST Creeden. “The results we celebrate today speak volumes as to Fight Back’s effectiveness.”
