To the concerned citizens of the Duluth and Superior,

As well as the local media does an excellent job in reporting the news and issues of this community, one often wonders what stories are not told that should also be brought to everyone?s attention. How many tales of greed, despair and turmoil are never heard? How many lives are touched with situations that leave families devastated and are doomed to become another statistic in some surveyor?s poll? What kind of effects does this have on our local communities? We always hear of the big stories; the ones that effect large numbers of people, but wouldn?t the same economic impact be felt by a community if there were lots of smaller, similar incidences? This is where I feel it is in the interest of this community to report on an issue that has ?fallen through the cracks.?

Case in point, I am part of a bargaining unit with a small local union here in West Duluth. No, we?re not part of the Iron Range Steel Workers or AFSCME or the Teamsters. Those are the ones you usually hear about. We are The Cabinetmakers and Millmen Local 1865, part of the Carpenter?s Union. We have been working hard in trying to negotiate a new contract with our employer for the past two months. Our contract has since expired a month ago. Everyone who lives here knows that good jobs are hard to come by what with the situations we hear of from the media on the war in Iraq, the rising cost of crude oil, rising insurance and interest rates, the fluctuating stock market and the up and coming elections in November. Everyone is being more conservative nowadays. In response to these conditions, some employers are cutting back to save their businesses as well; but at what cost?

The members of my Union are aware that an employer must indeed be careful in today?s markets, to spend their money wisely and make good decisions as to not create a bankruptcy. However, when it seems an employer?s selfishness and malice against its employees may be a major influence in his decision making; this is where it leaves us wondering, ?When do we say enough is enough and make a stand?? When an employer can give others who are employed at the company, bonuses and dividends in profit sharing throughout the course of the year, invest large amounts of capital in machinery and then we are told we must accept nothing in raises for another year, it really makes you think.

Now don?t get me wrong, most of my fellow employees have lived in the Duluth/Superior area for many years or are life-long residents. We know that Northeastern MN economy is not always ideal. We understand that. We?re not asking for the world to be served on a silver platter; we realize the importance of cutting back, but let?s all do the math. We are all full aware of the current rate of inflation and the rising cost of living which in today?s economy is at about 2%. We are asking for a raise that is about a 1.5 to 2% increase in our wages at the cost of roughly $8,000 to a company whose gross annual sales in this area are in access of 14M dollars. Basically, this raise increase will be about enough to keep up with the expected annual increase in our health insurance premiums. I?m sure you have all heard about those before. Most of us will see a minimal increase on our weekly paychecks after paying a portion of our insurance premiums.

When an employer who is able to fly into Duluth on a private company airplane to meet with the members of its collective bargaining unit accompanied by their attorney not once, not twice, but on three separate occasions from an out of state location; sit down and tell their employees, ?No, I?m sorry to say we have nothing for you, but when conditions improve we?ll see what we can do, you have to trust us to turn this around,? this is what we are concerned about. After our contract expired, the company I work for spent what we were asking for in a raise flying people to Duluth from out of state to perform our work thinking we would go on strike (which we did not do). These people will not give anything back to the Duluth/Superior communities. Instead, they were here to prevent us from trying to increase or keep up with the standard of living that we currently have.

We are also aware that Duluth is trying to be a place where businesses are always welcome. With them come good-paying jobs and in turn their employees tend to live in the community and send their children to our neighborhood schools. If a business such as ours closes and leaves, I am sure our city leaders will not be happy to hear of the potential loss in revenue either.

As I mentioned earlier, this letter was not written to jab the local media; they do a splendid job in covering the news in our area. I understand there is only so much time allowed for news coverage in a given time slot. That?s why I felt I should write to all of you and tell you about my story of ?the little guy.? These are the types of stories that seem now all too common place. You may not hear about them on television or radio reports but we seem to hear more and more of them from friends and family everyday. What I am hoping will happen as a result of this letter is to generate enough concern to those of you who are out there to keep us in your thoughts while my fellow employees and myself go through this troubling time.

We would also hope that if you have any questions, concerns, or opinions that you would wish to direct to my employer in regards to resolving our contractual issues and avoiding a possible strike, that you would please call Mr. Mike Walsh of the Radford Company in Oshkosh, WI. The toll-free number is 1-800-444-0345.

Any support for us can also be directed to our Union, Cabinetmakers and Millmen Local 1865. The telephone number is (651) 379-0275. Your support is very much appreciated.

Respectfully,

Alan D. Irons - Member of the negotiating committee for Local 1865
Duluth