Freightliner union ends strike

Source: The Oregonian

Swan Island plant - Machinists gain job security pledges over previous contract offers

Tuesday, July 10, 2007
BRENT HUNSBERGER
The Oregonian Staff

They sat in the late morning sun and recalled past sacrifices they'd made for the company. They loathed that dozens in their ranks would pay more for health insurance in the years they will need it most. They worried that no matter what they did, the place they worked at for 15, 20, 30 years might still close before they die.

Meeting Monday on the bleachers of the Mt. Hood Community College stadium, union machinists at Freightliner voted to put down their pickets and go back to work making commercial rigs in Portland.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted 461-153 to accept the three-year contract, ending a weeklong strike that stalled work at Freightliner's most labor-intensive truck plant.

We're not going in defeated," union business rep Joe Kear told the crowd.


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