The UAW is mulling a nationwide union and business boycott against Caterpillar Inc., United Auto Workers officials said Thursday.
The union has discussed such a campaign as one option to halt the 5-month-old strike and curtail any effort by Caterpillar to bring in
replacement workers, said UAW spokesman Karl Mantyla in Detroit.
Reeling from years of losses, many U.S. union leaders view a highly publicized consumer boycott and joint effort by unions as the latest and best trump card against major employers.
They said such efforts helped the United Mine Workers in its duel with Pittston Coal Co. and newspaper unions that were pitted against Tribune Co. and the New York Daily News.
Caterpillar is the world`s largest manufacturer of earth-moving and construction equipment, but sells only 40 percent of its products in the U.S. The union is eagerly searching for ways to foil the giant Peoria-based manufacturer, which will begin interviewing replacement workers next week in Aurora, Peoria and Decatur.
There have been so many calls from prospective employees that the company may halt its newspaper advertisements, Caterpillar officials said.
Donald Fites, Caterpillar president and chairman, said this week that the company received 47,000 calls Tuesday, the first day it placed the advertisements in newspapers.
With its phone lines swamped, company officials urged applicants to mail in their resumes.
The company says it should be able to employ the replacement workers by early May, and analysts say the company apparently is building up its basic supplies so it can boost production by early summer.
If Caterpillar carries out its threat, it will be the largest replacement of a work force in U.S. history and a crippling blow to the labor movement.
About 4,000 white-collar workers and non-union personnel are now running Caterpillar`s production facilities at vastly reduced rates.
Caterpillar continued Thursday to report growing numbers of workers trickling back to its facilities, while the union challenged the company`s claim that at least 400 employees have crossed pickets lines to resume work.
No injuries have been reported since Caterpillar opened its gates Monday to the 12,600 striking Caterpillar workers with the warning that they would lose their jobs if they did not go back to work.
But Caterpillar filed charges this week with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming that workers crossing the UAW`s picket lines were subject to harassment and intimidation.
UAW officials denied the claims, and added that the union`s members have the right to take down workers` license numbers and reach them at home.
”We think it is perfectly legal for our members to contact non-strikers and for them to try to persuade them to change their minds,” said Mantyla.
