Picket line for Seattle area concrete worker strike swells to over 300 people
Dec 10, 2021, 10:12 AM | Updated: 11:15 am
A concrete mixer. (Pexels)
(Pexels)
Concrete workers across the Seattle area are on strike this week after contract negotiations with their employers broke down.
Thousands of construction workers to start strike Thursday
The strike includes 330 Teamster concrete mixer drivers, dump truck drivers, and cement plant employees spanning at least six companies, stemming from an ongoing 18-day strike originally comprising 34 construction workers.
The union claims that their employers “fail[ed] to bargain in good faith,” after lead negotiator Charles Oliver submitted an offer that was “resoundingly rejected by Teamster membership.”
“Our members have had enough of Charlie Oliver’s insults,” Teamsters Local 174 Secretary-Treasurer Rick Hicks said in a news release. “He seems to believe these workers exist solely for him to exploit and abuse, and that they can be replaced at a moment’s notice. Well, now is his chance to prove it, or he can come back to the bargaining table with a legitimate offer rather than more insults.”
Teamsters warn that “the clock is ticking on all construction going on in King County” now, and that “without concrete, the impact of this strike will be strongly felt throughout the region.”
Entering into the holiday season, the union also notes that the strike “is taking an economic toll” on its workers, “especially those with children at home.” Employers have allegedly informed customers that they expect the strike to last at least into the new year.
