The Oregonian, July 6, 2007, Friday

Copyright 2007 The Oregonian

The Oregonian

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News

July 6, 2007 Friday

SECTION: BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL NEWS

ACC-NO: 20070706-PO-STRIKES-LABOR-20070706

LENGTH: 752 words

HEADLINE: Are strikes increasing, or just unease?

BYLINE: Brent Hunsberger, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

BODY:

Jul. 6--First it was drywallers. Then beer truck drivers. Now, truck-making machinists. Metro-area ambulance drivers could be next.

With that broad swath of workers getting past, threatening or carrying out a strike, it might seem as though organized labor -- long in decline -- suddenly is flexing its muscle.

That's far from clear.

The U.S. Labor Department tracks strikes only at large employers. Its numbers so far this year show no spike in work stoppages.

But labor and public opinion experts sense strikes are on the increase and might be symptoms of a curious undercurrent of economic insecurity among workers in an economy that traditional measures suggest is quite healthy.

Even as corporate profits remain high, consumer health care, energy and food costs are increasing. Those pressures, coupled with a global trend in offshoring, appear to be leaving workers feeling unsettled, polls indicate.

"I have a feeling there may be an uptick in strike activity because there is a frustration (that) times are getting better for corporations but not for workers," said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University.

In 1981, the U.S. Labor Department stopped tracking strikes at employers with fewer than 1,000 workers, leaving researchers with no good way of tracking stoppages, Bronfenbrenner said.

Through May, the Labor Department reported six large strikes nationwide, compared with six over the same period last year and 12 in 2005. That's far fewer than 64 strikes through the first five months of 1981.

Still, four actual or threatened strikes have garnered local attention in the past month, with health care, offshoring or gas costs playing apparent roles:

Drywallers in the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters staged a 19-day strike last month, claiming increased gas prices a driving force. The union settled for an average 5 percent wage increase.

About 150 Teamsters truck drivers at Eugene-based Western Beverage Co. went on strike June 25, accusing the beer distributor of trying to break the union to save on health care and retirement costs.

Machinists at Freightliner this week voted down a contract proposal recommended by its leadership and ratified by three smaller unions. Union members object to a proposed elimination of retiree health care, and they also cite the truck maker's production shift to Mexico.

A union representing 600 American Medical Response workers approved going on strike as soon as July 16, in part because the company wants workers to pay 25 percent of health insurance premiums.

By most measures, the nation's economy seems healthy. Oregon's unemployment rate of 5 percent is near historic lows. Consumer price increases remain below 3 percent annually.

But employers continue to pass more health insurance costs on to employees. And, the nation's trade imbalance and the trend of moving jobs out of the country increasingly bother Americans.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted between March and May found that 48 percent believed free trade agreements have harmed the United States, up from 32 percent in October 1999.

Tim Hibbitts, a Portland pollster, said in his firm's 30-year existence, never have so many voters reported fewer gains from an economic recovery. Although that sentiment has improved since last year, roughly only 25 percent to 30 percent of voters in recent polls reported feeling better off, Hibbitts said.

National polls reflect similar unease. A Gallup Poll in June found seven in 10 respondents thought the country's economic conditions were getting worse -- the highest rate since September 2001.

"I think that's fascinating, given the (stock) market is at an all-time high, and we're told unemployment is low," said Hibbitts, co-owner of Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall Inc. "Clearly, that's not registering with a lot of folks out there."

Regardless of how current strikes end, Hibbitts said, policymakers need to pay attention to the larger work force's unease.

"If these are the good times, you have to wonder what things are going to look like when we head into a downturn," Hibbitts said.

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