The bulk of the papers included on this microfilm concern the Uniform Labor Agreement, a long-standing labor contract achieved on the Pacific Coast between representatives of the two major paper workers' unions and representatives of the coastal paper manufacturers. Early in the 1930s, representatives of the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers (IBPS&PMW) and the International Brotherhood of Paper Makers (which later became the United Papermakers and Paperworkers - UPP) decided to join forces in bargaining with Pacific Coast paper manufacturers. The locals of these unions on the coast formed the Pacific Coast Pulp and Paper Mill Employees Association. Together with the Pacific Coast Association of Pulp and Paper Manufacturers they worked out the Uniform Labor Agreement (ULA) in 1934. For three decades this Agreement, renegotiated at regular intervals, has been credited with keeping relative peace in the coastal paper industry. When contrasted with the internecine strife prevalent in many industries (e.g., the woodworking industry), not only between labor and management, but also between rival unions, this achievement was remarkable.
In the early 1960's, certain elements within the IBPS&PMW and the UPP began to feel that the administrative structure of the Internationals was no longer sufficiently responsive to the wishes of the rank and file. Within the IBPS&PMW the Rank and File Movement for Democratic Action (RFMDA) achieved momentum, and a similar movement developed within the UPP. Although these movements spread throughout the country, they were most active on the Pacific coast.
The final crisis came on the Coast in 1964 during a “Pre-Wage Conference” of the Pacific Coast Pulp and Paper Mill Employees Association preparatory to labor-management negotiations under the ULA. Dissident locals of the IBPS&PMW and the UPP withdrew from the Conference and from the respective international unions. They formed an entirely new union, the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers (AWPPW), several of whose officers had previously held high position in the RFMDA and the Employees Association.
The new union claimed to be heir to the Uniform Labor Agreement, and approached the manufacturers, many of whom had been confused by the turn of events, and were reluctant to bargain with an untried union. However, the Western Association managed to win an NLRB election covering the unit. Finally, in the fall of 1964, in order to demonstrate to the manufacturers their strength and solidarity, the new union decided to call a strike--the first major strike in the Coastal paper industry since the institution of the ULA. After several weeks the manufacturers agreed to bargain, and new ULA negotiations commenced between the Western Association and the Pacific Coast Association of Pulp and Paper Manufacturers.
In the meantime, immediately after the bolt of the rebel locals, the old Internationals filed suit against the AWPPW, claiming funds of their formerly affiliated locals reverted to the treasuries of their respective Internationals when they disaffiliated, in accordance with clauses in the constitutions of the IBPS&PMW and the UPP. Lengthy litigations have so far [written in 1967] proved inconclusive. In the principal suit of the Internationals against the Western Association, the Oregon Circuit Court for the County of Multnomah concluded in favor of the Internationals in March, 1966. Two subsidiary suits against particular locals in Oregon and Washington were subsequently decided against the Internationals. All cases are being appealed to higher courts.
Apart from the controversies over funds, the Internationals have maintained that procedures in the Western Association are no more democratic, and perhaps less so, than those the rebels had criticized in the parent unions. Moreover, they contend that the new union is at a distinct disadvantage in negotiating with the manufacturers as compared with the older, more experienced Internationals. By late 1966 the Internationals were beginning to hope that a certain amount of “backlash” sentiment was developing which might eventually accrue to their benefit in future NLRB elections. Indeed, of the original 64 locals participating in the ULA prior to 1964, 30 of them (although not the largest) had remained loyal to the Internationals, despite their somewhat anomalous and disadvantaged position due to closed-shop provisions of the ULA.
