Union Member in Keokuk, Iowa: 'We want to work'

  Dailygate.com

By Steve Dunn/Managing Editor

For the second time in eight days, locked out Roquette America, Inc. workers Thursday asked the Keokuk City Council for support.

“All we want is our jobs back,” said John Miller, a member of Local 48G of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union that was locked out by Roquette Sept. 27 after contract negotiations broke down. “We want to work and that’s all we’re asking.”

Roquette won’t come to the bargaining table, Miller added.

Another union member, second generation Roquette employee Richard Moore, said Roquette wants to hire new people who would need three years to get up to full pay.

Two city council members, Roger Bryant and Dan Winn, also belong to the union and have lost their jobs for now.

“All we want is a fair and equitable contract so we can go back to work and support our families,” Bryant commented.

Winn said the ongoing labor dispute divides the city.

“It’s a difficult position to be in to be on the council and in the union,” Winn added. “We need this to be settled. We don’t need another hit.”

Three other city council members – Mike Girard, Scott Nichols and Zane Zirkel – work for Roquette but don’t belong to the union.

Mayor Tom Marion said he spoke to Roquette CEO Dominique Taret earlier in the day.

“I encouraged him to get that bargaining going,” Marion said. “I’ve encouraged him to keep that contract going and people working (while a new contract is negotiated).”

The mayor also invited union members to come to his office and speak to him any time about the situation.

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Here's another article in today's Daily Gate

Kearns: Lock out came too quickly  
By Cindy Iutzi/Staff Writer

Concerns about the Roquette America, Inc., maintenance and production workers’ union lock out are growing as each day passes without resolution to the labor dispute.

Today is the 11th day since union workers rejected Roquette’s last, best and final contract offer and were kept from returning to work.

As state Rep. Jerry Kearns, D-Keokuk, walked from his car this morning to the Keokuk Business and Professional Women’s breakfast at the River City Mall, he said the company’s action to lock out workers came too quickly.

“I think it was planned,” Kearns said. “It happened so quickly. They didn’t stay at the (bargaining) table long enough. If they wanted people to be able to work, they would have let them work on the contract while they talked. The union said they’d work under the old contract. The company said, ‘No,’ and locked them out. It was not a good faith effort.”

Roquette spokesperson Aliza Golan takes exception with that notion. She said this morning that the company had planned and prepared for covering union workers’ jobs on vote day.

“The union decided before the vote they had no more room to move on the proposals and they stated that the next available date to talk would be Oct. 22,” Golan said. “The company took the proposal that was on the table, moved it closer to the union position and the union rejected it before reviewing the whole contract. Those actions indicate they rushed to reject it prior to receiving it.

“I don’t think the union negotiating team is doing a fair job of representing the employees,” she added.

Golan also strongly refuted the rumors that Roquette is trying to break the union.

“That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Our commitment to our employees, the local community and our customers remains unchanged.

“We remain committed to reaching a mutually acceptable agreement. I believe the next step is for the union to come back with a proposal that can be discussed.”

Kearns is concerned about the effects of the lock out on the community and Lee County as well as its effects on Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, Local 48G workers. He hopes the two sides can get back to the bargaining table and resolve their differences.

To that end Kearns said he contacted Gov. Chet Culver’s office and asked that both parties be encouraged to come to an agreement.

No matter what happens it’s highly unlikely that the Legislature will become involved.

“There was a strike at Bridgestone in Des Moines that lasted for a year,” he said. “There was no legislative interference there. It would be highly unusual.”
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Community letters to the editor on the issue posted at the Daily Gate website:

Bullying won’t work in America, reader says

Roquette says they have invested so many dollars in our Keokuk community and how they value their laborers. I have a different opinion. If they value their employees, why do they make them work swingshift. A different shift each week might be 7-3, 3-11 or 11-7. Sometimes they work two to three different shifts in one week. They are scheduled a fifth crew week to be able to work an extra week of days.

Locked out union workers aren’t asking for much

It truly saddens me to know that a company that my whole family has always respected and stuck up for is now hurting us and the community. I have always thought that if you worked at Roquette then that was the job to have even though you might have to work holidays, weekends and swing shift. It was a place that this community has held to high importance.

Roquette has stronghold on town, union member says

In a time when banks are too big to fail and companies are too big to be told no to concessionary contracts, it’s good to see so much of the community behind Local 48G as they are locked out by Roquette.

And for good measure, on another topic..

Republican pledge doesn’t match the truth

John Boehner, the Republican House minority leader, when introducing the Republican “Pledge to America” made this statement: “We’re not going to be any different than we’ve been.” That’s where the truth ended and the lies began. So, before you take the pledge or buy in to the sound bites you are hearing from the Republican candidates or believe the baseless chain emails you are receiving, please educate yourself on the facts.