Cambion: Not over yet

The seven-month-old strike at Cambion ended Monday, but the dispute between members of UE Local 262 and the Cambion Corporation is far from over.

Union president Sandi Polaski said last week that union leadership advised the rank and file to vote to end the strike as a "tactical move," apparently to preserve the union at the plant.

Explaining the decision, union officials said that about 100 of the original 250 striking workers had been forced to find other jobs, and that 35 formerly striking union members had returned to work in recent weeks.

But most important, they said, it had become obvious that Cambion was not going to negotiate, especially after management canceled meeting that had been arranged by neutral parties.

The union now hopes that a hearing November 17, in which the National Labor Relations Board has charge Cambion with refusing to bargain in good faith, will result in a ruling against the company.

If Cambion refuses to comply with an NLRB order requiring it to bargain, the case could go to a United States Court of Appeals. The company could be found in contempt of the Labor Board's order. The court might require Cambion to pay back wages to workers for the time it had refused to bargain.

A source at the NLRB said yesterday there is no clear precedent for requiring a company to pay back wages. Some courts require this measure, others do not.

At any rate, union officials said they hope appropriate sanctions will be imposed on Cambion, so that the union will have "bargaining leverage" when the rest of the contract expires April 14. (The strike that just ended was over wage classes which came due for renegotiation after one year of a two-year contract.)

Other issues continue to complicate the dispute. Five members of the union--including president Polaski, the vice-president and a member of the bargaining committee--have been fired by Cambion.

Union officials believe the firings are a reprisal for the strike activities. They plan to challenge the firings through grievance procedures in the existing contract with Cambion.

Seven union members still face charges stemming from arrests in picket-line incidents. The company's industrial relations officer has been charged with assault and battery on a worker.

In addition, one woman who was permantly disabled as a result of injuries sustained in a picket-line incident in May said she may sue the company.