Above photo: Moore Mechanical plumbers and apprentices picket outside the Shaw Walker Project in Muskegon, Michigan. Fight Back! News.
Muskegon, MI – On November 13, plumbers and apprentices working for Moore Mechanical Grand Rapids began picketing outside the Shaw Walker Project in Muskegon, Michigan. They were joined by other union members of UA local 174 as well as a handful of community members.
UA local 174 organizer Johnny Ortiz explained the situation, “After talking with the workers and after getting a majority of those workers that want a contract there at Moore Mechanical. We went in there and said “Hey! we have a majority!” We showed them copies of authorization cards that they had filled out. These are cards that the workers filled out and they request that 174 is their bargaining representative.”
Plumbers and apprentices working for Moore Mechanical Grand Rapids demanded voluntary union recognition on September 29. Due to the government shutdown, NLRB certification of union elections is indefinitely halted. Moore has used this as an excuse to avoid recognizing the union and delay elections and negotiating with workers.
The organizing campaign comes in response to longstanding discontent over Moore Mechanical’s management practices.
“It was the drive time, training, the unorganization of management.” said plumber Sean Flora. “They changed the handbook at will, at their will.” He explained that one of the recent policy changes means workers are no longer paid for the 45 minute drives between the shop and jobsite at the beginning and end of their shifts. Flora has filed an unfair labor practice suit against Moore following his illegal firing for his organizing efforts.
Workers expressed frustration over a range of other issues from poor maintenance of company vehicles to unaffordable employer provided health insurance that comes out of their paycheck.
“There are people who work around the company, around the whole state that will say the same thing: unorganized and unfair,” said Brendan Nelson, another Moore Mechanical employee. “Instead of standing up like we are, they just leave.”
When asked what he hoped would come next, Nelson said, “Well obviously I am hoping to get a contract out of this and maybe even expand it past here, get a lot of the guys I used to work with on board with this.”
Despite the refusal of the company to engage with them in good faith, the striking workers remain determined in their fight for union recognition and a decent workplace.
