Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501230013
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
After leading employees of Yokohama Tire Corp. in a nearly 12-week strike, the former competitive arm-wrestler couldn't deliver a contract that he and many employees were happy about.
Now that members of Local 1023 of the United Rubber Workers are back to work, Friend appears to be in for a difficult re-election campaign in November.
Some in the 750-member union particularly resent events in Friend's past that they say make him unfit to lead the union. Friend, an 18-year Yokohama employee, admits he crossed picket lines before joining the union in the 1980s.
He won the local union presidency in 1992, however, by a nearly 2-1 margin.
It's too soon to know who the challengers might be. Nevertheless, Friend said he is certain someone will step forward.
"I'm down on the totem pole," said Friend, 46.
But Friend said he is not backing down. He believes the three-year contract with Yokohama was the best the union could get. He believes that, even though about 175 employees hired since Jan. 1, 1984, became eligible to work required, regular 12-hour, no-overtime weekend shifts for the first time.
"Looking at where Pirelli and Firestone are right now, I think the majority of the people made a good decision in accepting this contract," he said. "You may not like everything that is put in the soup but you may like the overall flavor instead of starving."
Pirelli Armstrong Tire Corp. and Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., with many strikebound plants, have hired permanent replacements for some URW strikers and the strikes continue.
The issue of weekend work - the chief sticking point for Yokohama employees - aside, Friend said the company made about a dozen important concessions that increase the value of fringe benefits. For example, the company increased the maximum monthly pension benefit from $27 to $37 per year of service, Friend said.
The debate over who will lead the 750-member union next year and beyond could go in many directions. Friend made clear he is prepared to defend himself for re-election.
With regard to some workers' grousing that he once opposed the union he now leads, Friend said he can't deny his past.
"I did cross a picket line," he said. He is quick to add: "I didn't belong to the union."
Reared in Pulaski, Friend was an assistant foreman in a furniture plant in 1976 when he accepted a job offer from Yokohama, a change that would boost his income.
As Friend recounts the rest of the story, he is vague on dates but clear on who did what to whom. Soon after starting work in his new job, he said, Yokohama workers made threats designed to draw him into the union. He declined. A strike was called to begin at 10 one night, and he completed his shift, which ended at midnight.
Later that night, someone fired a shotgun blast at his home, he said. The buckshot entered the house, passing over the bed in which he was sleeping with his wife, he said. No one was hit.
Friend said he worked through that strike and another a few years later. When he finally felt no one was pressuring him to join the union, he signed up in the early 1980s, he said.
His actions no doubt bothered some people, he said, "and rightfully so."
Friend continued to turn heads as union president. At one point during the strike, he was one of several people who stomped on a historic Japanese flag in front of the tire plant, which is owned by Tokyo-based Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd.
"We got a little carried away," he said. He said the company had previously stopped flying the American flag. The flag is back up.
The local's newsletter, which Friend approves, taunts those who quit the union by listing their names beside a drawing of a pair of snakes and a menacing-looking insect.
But while some may disagree with Friend's tactics, some outsiders said they have found him to be fair.
"All my dealings with Wayne, he's been very forthcoming and upright," said Walter Wise, president of the Roanoke United Central Labor Council and business manager of Local 697 of the International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers
Indeed, Friend comes across as personable and dedicated to his pursuits, whether it's running the union, cutting wood, camping or arm-wrestling. He boasts that he was ranked sixth nationally in his weight class by American Armwrestling Association in 1989, a fact that the group confirmed. He adds that, at one time, nobody in the Roanoke area could beat him.
Some rank-and-file workers, however, seemed more focused on Friend's perks than his grip. His compensation package is a sore spot with some. While the contract bumped some workers to weekends, it designated Friend as the union's first, full-time paid president. Past presidents have worked production jobs in the plant and handled union business on their own time for a $60 monthly stipend.
"It definitely raises some eyebrows," said employee Scott Shaver, 33, of Salem. "It alienates him" from the work force, Shaver added.
Friend said he has actually lost money as president. His earned $41,000 during his first year in office, $6,000 less than the previous year, when he was a full-time production worker, he said. Now, he expects to earn something in between.
Friend is not scheduled to work weekends, as are some of those he leads, but said he often must attend union meetings and troubleshoot problems at the plant. He said he grieves over the contract's weekend-work clause and its impact on workers.
"It was the hardest pill I ever swallowed," he said.
Some believe Friend could have done more. Shaver, among at least 13 to quit the union since last year's strike, said he dropped out over the union's handling of negotiations and strike, a process overseen by Friend and the four other members of the negotiating committee. What resulted, Shaver said, was a divided union; the many close votes make that clear, he said.
On one side were younger workers, who generally wanted all employees to take their turn on weekends. On the other were senior employees, who wanted to avoid weekend duty and ultimately prevailed.
In the end, workers are quick to point out, the average employee lost $12,000 in wages for the period they were off work.
Workers also have reason to question how well the union is managing the new contract. Until earlier this month, the union and company were still tinkering with its wording. The two sides continued to disagree as of last week whether it took effect the day it was approved - Oct. 5, as the company contends - or the day after the old contract expired - July 24, as the union believes.
Until the matter is resolved, the contract can't be reduced to booklet form, so each worker and manager has a copy to refer to.
Friend himself is unhappy with what he said are sticking points with the company that should have been ironed by the contract's terms.
More often, after a long strike and negotiation, unions and companies stop bickering, "satisfied that this is the best they can do," according to Mary Houska, a labor economist and economics professor at Hollins College.
The case of the URW and Yokohama is apparently different. In effect, Houska said, "they're still negotiating."
by CNB