The 1 1/2-year showdown between the United Auto Workers and Caterpillar Inc. took a new twist this week at a Las Vegas trade show when the union delivered its message as an exhibitor instead of its usual role as outside protester.
The union, whose 12,800 Caterpillar members have been working under a company-imposed contract for 11 months, set up an exhibit table under the registered name of “Contract Action Ltd.” at the ConExpo ’93 construction equipment show, passing out information about the labor dispute.
But not long after the six-day show began Saturday, the show’s organizer, the Construction Industry Manufacturers Association, intervened on the grounds that it wasn’t aware of the union’s plans and doesn’t get involved in labor disputes.
What led to the confusion was the application form for a booth. On it, the union used Contract Action Ltd. of Howell, Mich., as its name and stated that it planned to display “research publications,” said Roger Kerson, a union spokesman.
Since Caterpillar workers returned to their jobs last April after a five-month strike, under threat of replacement and without a union-endorsed contract, the UAW has set up “contract action teams” to help organize its protest against the Peoria-based company. The union also publishes a newsletter, Contract Action Times.
“We applied in what we thought was a proper and correct manner,” Kerson said. “When we met with the ConExpo people they said we applied correctly. They said it was their fault for not investigating.”
After an early Sunday morning meeting with the union, the show’s organizers decided that Contract Action did not qualify as an exhibitor and rescinded its exhibitor space. But they decided to then designate the same space a “1st Amendment area” for information dissemination and allowed the union to continue distributing pamphlets and other information, according to the association.
The union targeted the convention because it attracts thousands of purchasers and users of machinery made by Caterpillar, the world’s largest manufacturer of earth-moving equipment. Caterpillar had an exhibit at the last ConExpo show in 1987 but decided four years ago not to take part this year for marketing reasons unrelated to the labor dispute, said company spokesman Keith Butterfield.
“The UAW’s use of false pretenses to obtain the ConExpo booth shows the extent the union will go to try to turn customers away from Caterpillar,” said Caterpillar Vice President Wayne Zimmerman.
The new tactic was in sharp contrast to union picketing last fall in front of the Las Vegas Convention Center during the MineExpo mining trade show. Police arrested several dozen union members for trespassing, but charges were eventually dropped.
