海角大神

The end of a machinists' strike at Caterpillar Inc., after a 3-1/2-month standoff, not only points to the weakened state of the American labor movement, but also bodes poorly for the manufacturing worker 鈥� even those in high-skill jobs that many say are the future of manufacturing in the US.

The bitter strike ended Friday, as workers at a plant in Joliet, Ill., agreed to numerous concessions, including a virtual pay freeze. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers had been on strike against Caterpillar, one of the world鈥檚 largest heavy equipment manufacturers,聽since May 1.

鈥淚t鈥檚 one more small piece of evidence that the lower half of the income distribution is struggling while the people at the very top are faring quite well,鈥� says Richard Hurd, a professor of labor studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

The workers agreed to concessions that have become familiar in labor negotiations throughout American manufacturing. The six-year contract froze pay for older and higher-paid workers and granted a 3 pecent raise for newer, lower-paid workers. Like many manufacturers, Caterpillar pays newer workers at a lower wage scale than older workers. Workers at the Joliet plant, which builds hydraulic components for heavy machinery, earn wages ranging from $11.50 to $28 an hour.

Workers also agreed to Caterpillar鈥檚 demand that they pay more for their health insurance and switch from a defined benefit pension plant to 401(k)s. Each worker will receive a $3,100 bonus for ratifying a new contract.

The machinists鈥� defeat suggests that 鈥渨ages in manufacturing will be flat in the foreseeable future,鈥� says聽Michael LeRoy, a professor of labor relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Analysts say they were surprised by one twist in the dispute: The concessions were demanded not by a company struggling to survive, as US auto makers were in 2008 and 2009 when auto workers agreed to concessions to help keep American car manufacturing afloat, but by a thriving firm. Indeed, Caterpillar is earning record profits, including a profit of $1.7 billion in the second quarter of this year, 67 percent higher than a year ago. Last year top executives also received hefty raises.

The machinists had previously rejected two offers from Caterpillar, but the strike鈥檚 length had begun to wear them down. About 780 workers went on strike, and union officials conceded that more than 100 had since crossed the picket line to return to work. Striking workers had received $150 a week in strike benefits from the union.

Caterpillar has been described as a hard-nosed negotiator in labor relations. Experts say it wasn鈥檛 always so. Until the 1980s, the company enjoyed fairly amicable relations with workers, says Mr. LeRoy. But the company suffered a long slump and emerged as a much more 鈥渁ggressive鈥澛� company, he says. In the 1990s, it fought the United Auto Workers Union 鈥� and won. Early this year, Caterpillar shut down a plant in London, Ontario, in a labor dispute that cost 450 workers their jobs.

Caterpillar argued that it needed to reduce labor costs because of the possibility of more difficult times in the future. But such arguments 鈥渄on鈥檛 stand up to logical analysis,鈥� says Robert Bruno, professor of labor and employment relations at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In that case, he says, workers would never share in their companies鈥� prosperity.

Caterpillar did not return messages Friday asking for comment.

Through many of the most prosperous years of American manufacturing, beginning in the 1950s, there was a 鈥渟trong linkage鈥� between the well being of workers and the prosperity of the companies they worked for, Mr. Bruno says. Workers prospered when their companies did, and they accepted concessions when their companies faltered.

鈥淚t was a path to social mobility and into the middle class,鈥� he says.

That link is broken now, he says.

Strikes have become rare in the United States and now number in the dozens, instead of hundreds in past decades. Today only about 7 percent of workers in the private sector are unionized, compared with 35 percent in the 1950s.

鈥淲orkers have this sense that there鈥檚 a larger dynamic that鈥檚 playing out,鈥� says Bruno. 鈥淚f you cant wage a good battle and get a good contract now, when will you get one? In that sense, this is their last stand.鈥�

Tim Flaherty, the plant manager in Joliet, said in a written statement that Caterpillar is happy that the strike has ended and that employees are returning to work. "I聽think everyone involved is ready to get this behind us," he said.

Workers who had gathered Friday morning at a union hall on the edge of Joliet, a working-class city just south of Chicago, to vote on the new contract endured an intense, emotional meeting that lasted several hours. Many workers left feeling angry and exhausted.

鈥淚鈥檓 very disappointed,鈥� said Sean Gallaway, who has worked at Caterpillar for 17 years and who voted against the new contract. 鈥淏ut we live in a democratic society, so I鈥檓 going to go with what the majority says.鈥�

Although he's unhappy about how the strike ended, Mr. Gallaway says he'll be "glad to go back to work."聽