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Everyone, it seems, has its own reasons for crossing the line.
Andy Pushchak, professor of education at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, walked the picket line at Wabtec Corp. Friday to support members of the Union of Power, Radio and Machinery Workers who have been on strike since Tuesday morning.
Pushchak said he came for a second reason: to honor the memory of his late grandfather, who was walking on the same picket line in 1969, the last time the EU crossed the same picket line at the # 1 picket line. 39, exterior of what was at the time GE Transportation.
"It's honoring his work and his memory," he said.
As the controversial strike approaches the end of its first week, it seems everyone has their own reasons for queuing, bringing food to those who do it or feeling that those who are on strike or supporting it make a serious mistake. .
Jeff Moore, president of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association in Albion, is introduced around 11 am at the entrance to Franklin Avenue in Wabtec to offer a sign of union solidarity in the form of donuts, containers containing hot coffee, crates of drinking water and a new supply of firewood.
The strike is a reminder that union members must remain united, he said.
"Wages and benefits, weekends and holidays, businesses do not give you a fancy heart," he said. "They give it to you because it's negotiated."
Like so many others who dropped food, Moore promised to come back.
Meanwhile, Greg Sbrocco, Wabtec's senior vice president of global operations, urged locals 506 and 618, representing 1,700 union members from the former GE Transportation plant, to return to the bargaining table. A meeting with a federal mediator is scheduled for Wednesday.
While salaried workers and temporary workers make up for part of the work of the striking unions, Mr. Sbrocco said that sending work to GE Transportation's former locomotive plant in Fort Worth, Texas , was not the only option available for Wabtec. based in Wilmerding, near Pittsburgh.
Even prior to the amalgamation, Wabtec itself manufactured locomotives, including at a Boise, Idaho, union center.
"We are sending work there today and they are happy to get it," Sbrocco said.
Less than two years ago, GE Transportation announced a plan to eliminate locomotive production at Erie by the end of 2018, including the production of locomotive kits and upgrades to older locomotives. For various reasons, this has never happened.
Sbrocco did not elaborate, but stated that Wabtec had come to Erie with the intention of expanding the plant's activities.
"I'm not going to speculate on numbers, but I'll tell you that I was part of the discussions and that they 100% wanted to develop and expand the Erie plant," he said. he declares. "They wanted to develop and expand the I-79 corridor between Pittsburgh, Grove City and Erie."
Although the Grove City engine plant has never been unionized, the salaries of this plant are historically similar to those of the Erie unionized workers. Mr. Sbrocco said that since the establishment of a two-tier pay structure for new employees, several years ago, a second plant was built in Grove City and that employment has almost doubled to about 1,000 jobs, he said.
According to Wabtec's terms of employment – those the company has asked the union to meet as of Monday – current employees would maintain their current salary, but new employees would earn between $ 16.75 and $ 25 an hour.
In both cases, the average salary of current employees is significantly lower than the $ 35 hour.
In Wabtec factories that pay on average $ 22 an hour, there is no shortage of manpower, Sbrocco said.
He stated that he saw a future for an Erie plant that would pay future employees what it considers to be a competitive salary, and he looks forward to seeing the negotiation resume.
Scott Slawson, President of Local 506 of the EU, said on several occasions that it was possible to talk about everything during collective bargaining.
But it was also clear that the union was deeply convinced that its members had contributed to the profitability of GE Transportation, acquired by Wabtec under a $ 11 billion contract.
In an opinion piece published today in the newspaper, the EU writes, "If the goal of Wabtec is to create a permanent marginal class in Erie, Pennsylvania, where 17% our citizens are already living in poverty, the package on the table is the solution, and if we accept to further devalue the value of our colleagues, the wave effect on the local economy is boundless. "
Elisabeth Joyce, a long-time English professor at Edinboro University and former head of the Edinboro Chapter of the Edinboro Chapter of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, said Friday that she was pleased to show support for other members of the union.
"We are unionized, we believe in fair work practices, there is an automatic link," she said.
The Erie Education Association, which represents teachers at the Erie School, announced Friday on its Facebook page that it would join Wabtec's striking workers outside the Water Street gates at 10 am Saturday.
Jim Wertz, Associate Dean of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Edinboro University, marched Friday in front of the picket line. John Ocampo, a Chicago-based EU organizer, led union members by chanting "Two-speed wages, we say no, must leave."
Wertz said that as an educator, he can identify with workers challenged to earn too much money.
But do not workers risk losing their jobs by going on strike?
"It's not a question of losing or not losing," said Wertz. "They are highly skilled workers and the value of their skills needs to be examined more carefully."
Sbrocco sees all this through a different purpose. He said that he saw an opportunity for the Erie factory that he did not want to be lost.
"I'm optimistic, sometimes up to the fault," he said. "But each passing day becomes harder and harder."
Jim Martin can be reached at 870-1668 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ETNMartin.
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