Walk on the boss at McCall Oil

(1/3/2005) -- On January 3rd, the New Year greeted a new effort to unionize. With the cold wind blowing and the cheers of 15 community supporters standing outside the chain link fence, a dozen workers from McCall Oil marched to management’s office. Once there, the workers presented the company president, Jim Cherrier, with a petition to unionize with IBU, the Inland Boatman’s Union, which is the marine division of the ILWU. Workers for the company are 100% united in their desire to be represented by the IBU and made the unified presentation to get immediate recognition.

Despite the demanding nature of this service industry, and the erratic work schedule, the production workers of McCall Oil gathered for the first time to “walk on the boss.”

While the company president delayed response, the workers were upbeat after their meeting -- chanting “union yes” as they walked back to the entry gate to announce “mission accomplished.”

Safety an issue

Safety is a major concern for workers at McCall Oil. The company serves as a transfer station for petroleum products where oil, asphalt and other petrochemical products move between barges, rail and truck. Workers risk injury during the transfer process. They have suffered burns when transferring hot asphalt or from the steam heating it. Despite having two employees on duty at all times, employees are often and frequently isolated from each other and working alone. So in part, the organizing drive was borne out of workers wanting a voice in creating a safe work environment.

Next Steps

Now the workers must wait for a response from management. Under the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, the company would have to recognize the union because a majority of the production workers (100%) signed authorization cards. Under the same act, McCall would face serious penalties if the company retaliated against the workers for organizing.

Unfortunately, the Employee Free Choice Act is not yet law. Currently, the company could delay recognition by demanding a review of the signed union cards and request an onsite vote for union representation. Given the unity of the McCall workforce, this will only delay the inevitable.