WA/OR Strike

[Former Wrench]

I've been watching the online news a lot and there is little about the Weyerhaeuser strike. It's been about a month and little fresh news. For those who have not scene the Longview WA mill and export yard, it is worth a Google Earth visit.

 

[John C.]

You are right about no media coverage at all. We don't have much in the way of Weyerhaeuser forest land in King and Snohomish counties anymore.

 

[JPV]

It doesn't sound like there is much progress so far, that Longview facility is a very busy yard that we haul into a lot. I have heard (don't quote me) that the sawmill can cut 1.3 million board feet in a day and is one of the highest producing mills in the US if not world. With it shut down the other mills in the area are getting a lot of wood so where we can take ours changes a lot. I hope they get going soon!

 

[Tugger2]

It seems like things are changing with strikes . Seaspan towboaters are on strike up here right now. Not much on the news and i hear some of their barges are still being moved by other boats. Back in the day that was grounds for pickets ,threats and even a bit of sabotage. Seems these days lawyers and injunctions rule.

 

[skyking1]

stinks that I don't even know about either, is the media that deep in the business pockets?

 

[John C.]

Which election propaganda, a foreign war, the baseball playoffs, bad calls in the NFL, sensational court verdicts and penalties, and so on, labor strikes are just not new worthy anymore.

 

[Birken Vogt]

I have a question. How many people are on strike? Vs how many it would have been 30+ years ago? My impression is mills have a lot less employees so a strike is not that impressive to anybody outside.

 

[Former Wrench]

About 2,600 on strike. Don't know about years ago. In fact, I believe it was a different union then.

 

[John C.]

When I went to work in the White River mill there was three shifts working and I started on the bull gang. We were a labor pool that did the odd jobs until needed somewhere on the production line. I got sent to the green chain where there were seventy men working. They were replaced by an automated green chain and package maker that took four men to do the same work. There were multiple sections like that in the mills. Mill pond had two or three men per shift, I don't know how many in the saw mill. The the dry kiln and planer mill probably had fifty and finally the shipping shed. There were two shifts of mill wrights of about six to nine men and I forgot about the saw filers. We also had a steam plant that had at least two or three people on each shift and they ran twenty four seven. The log sorting yard was another section of the company.

I'm guessing there were over 500 or so people working there each day five days a week. This was just one mill. The Snoqualmie mill was bigger. Aberdeen had the export yard and saw mill which was about the same and then there was Longview/Kelso plus Raymond. We haven't even touched on how many were working in the woods. I'm guessing five to ten thousand or more people in total operations probably wasn't out of touch just for the lazy W back in 1973. That kind of strike would be news worthy. Now we have Raymond, Longview/Kelso and maybe some in Oregon.

 

[Brad Wooldridge]

I have heard very little about it (here in Ellensburg WA)

 

[Plebeian]

Pot luck meal on October 15th.

https://cgsentinel.com/article/community-comes-to-support-weyerhaeusers-striking-workers

 

[Jumbo]

When I went to work in the White River mill there was three shifts working and I started on the bull gang. We were a labor pool that did the odd jobs until needed somewhere on the production line. I got sent to the green chain where there were seventy men working. They were replaced by an automated green chain and package maker that took four men to do the same work. There were multiple sections like that in the mills. Mill pond had two or three men per shift, I don't know how many in the saw mill. The the dry kiln and planer mill probably had fifty and finally the shipping shed. There were two shifts of mill wrights of about six to nine men and I forgot about the saw filers. We also had a steam plant that had at least two or three people on each shift and they ran twenty four seven. The log sorting yard was another section of the company.

I'm guessing there were over 500 or so people working there each day five days a week. This was just one mill. The Snoqualmie mill was bigger. Aberdeen had the export yard and saw mill which was about the same and then there was Longview/Kelso plus Raymond. We haven't even touched on how many were working in the woods. I'm guessing five to ten thousand or more people in total operations probably wasn't out of touch just for the lazy W back in 1973. That kind of strike would be news worthy. Now we have Raymond, Longview/Kelso and maybe some in Oregon.

You may want to throw rocks at me, but I worked on the crew (D.W.Close Electrical) that installed the automated green chain at White River. White River was quite the experimental mill, they were always trying new systems to increase profit. (Cut people to zero.) Working as an outside contractor it was quite interesting.
Now, I realize I was one of the last to work in and around a real-live sawmill. When I retired, the last mill in King County (White River) had been closed for over a decade.

 

[Hallback]

The company loggers are 100% anti contractor & do nothing but bash us & look down upon us but now want our support & "unity"?!?!

It is really screwing up all the other outfits though & weyco contractors have started cutting throats & working for free to stay running.

 

[Tugger2]

Not sure how it is down there with weyco, but up here they came in and destroyed what was left of Macmillan Bloedel . Effectively ruining most of out great forest industry here. weyco is not well liked here

 

[Jumbo]

This all started in about 1984 with the big strike Weyerhaeuser forced on everybody. When all was said and done, wages across the board had been axed up to 30%. You could no longer feed a family working in the brush. Then, Weyerhaeuser wondered why production fell and they could not keep hands. At Snoqualmie, (I left in '78) less than 40% of the woods crew was left 6 months after the strike.
Then, they started in on the contractors. It has been a long marathon to the bottom and after 40 years, here we are. In 11,12 and 13, I hauled for a father and son operation as a hobby job after retirement. Five years ago, the father wanted out, but he refused to sell to his son because it is only time until he is forced into bankruptcy. He told his son (38 at the time) to go back to wrenching in construction, that it is no good working in the woods.
I understand Hallback's frustration, but when you are just getting by, everybody is your enemy. It doesn't have to make sense, it is human nature to fight for the last scrap or crumb. All this is is the result of 40+ years of economic mismanagement done to the majority.

 

[Tugger2]

Almost seems theres been a concentrated effort to destroy all industry as we knew it. Word up here now is young guys cant work in industry until they are 18. I set chokers on a tower when i was 15 , my son worked around our piledriving rig from 13 on. Big corporations and helpless people is all i see coming.

 

[John C.]

Industrial jobs became illegal down here in the fifties and sixties for anyone under eighteen.

 

[Hallback]

My Little Salesman has many of my machines listed on it as we speak.
Eff this industry & everyone that has made it a crime to be profitable.

 

[John C.]

Hallback: I'm sorry to hear that but understand exactly how you got to that point. Are you down sizing or quitting the business completely?

 

[92U 3406]

Almost seems theres been a concentrated effort to destroy all industry as we knew it. Word up here now is young guys cant work in industry until they are 18. I set chokers on a tower when i was 15 , my son worked around our piledriving rig from 13 on. Big corporations and helpless people is all i see coming.

That's what the kids today want: somebody to wipe their butt for them while they get paid to do as little as possible.