Bulldozing the U.A.W.

CATERPILLAR'S 12,600 STRIKING WORKERS IN PEOria, Ill., must have felt last week as if one of the company's mammoth earthmovers had just rolled over them. Despite the United Auto Workers' $800 million war chest (which could have provided up to $60,000 in benefits for every family on the picket line), the five-month-long siege suddenly collapsed. The union leadership failed to gain a single demand on wage and medical-care issues. The employees had to wait to be summoned back to work, while the company considered eliminating more than a thousand jobs. Many U.A.W. members seemed as bitter over the terms of their surrender as they were over the company's hard-line tactics. Said a frustrated 25-year mechanic: "We're not locked out, we're not on strike, we're in limbo. How can they agree for the workers to return to work and not let us go back?"

Caterpillar's main strikebreaking tactic had been to advertise for permanent replacements; unemployed workers throughout the region were lining up to fill the $35,000 vacancies. Some U.A.W. leaders feared that Caterpillar's success may have provided a tactical lesson to auto-industry executives who will enter their own labor negotiations next year. But Caterpillar's real trump card may have been the recession itself. U.A.W. president Owen Bieber bravely vowed that "the fight isn't over." If and when it resumes, Caterpillar workers would be better advised to find a stronger moment in a sounder economy.