McCollester, Charles J.

Between 1937-1941, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 610 won representation elections at the Wilmerding, PA and Swissvale, PA facilities of the Westinghouse Airbrake Company. In the period from 1941 to 1966, contract negotiations were successfully concluded without a strike. Short strikes of two weeks each marked the renewal of the 1969 and 1978 contracts, but these were episodes in an otherwise relatively untroubled forty year history of successful collective bargaining. On November 1, 1981, however, UE Local 610 again decided upon a strike,which, in this case, proved extremely long and bitter. The Company's 1981 proposals concerning wages, pensions, and productivity were deemed unacceptable, and the approximately 3,700 UE members voted by a majority to walk off the job. Throughout November and December 1981, the courts ruled on the legality of the union's use of mass picketing and on the company's employment of non-union workers such as supervisors to perform assembly line work. In February 1982, in the midst of a cold winter of picket duty, noted folk singer Pete Seeger performed at a rally to boost support for the striking workers. In April the membership rejected a tentative agreement, partly because it did not include the reinstatement of 22 workers accused of strike-related violence and vandalism. The contract was finally agreed to on May 24th by secret ballot, with the stipulation that arbitrators would settle the strike-related accusations. This final contract included modest gains in wages, pensions and other benefits. In a climate of employer demands for wage concessions across the country, the national union hailed the 1982 contract as a significant victory. However, the future of the two plants represented by the Local remained uncertain, and only a few years after the 1981-1982 Strike, Local 610 faced the threat of plant closings. In 1986, the Union Switch and Signal Plant was shut down and later demolished to make way for a shopping center. Steep reductions occurred at the Airbrake at about the same time.