ANTIOCH — More than 100 union workers at the Georgia-Pacific wallboard plant here walked off the job in protest this week, frustrated over their wage and contract negotiations.
A day after staging a walkout, workers gathered outside the production plant on Minaker Drive on Tuesday, holding placards that read “on strike” and “unfair to organized labor.”
Christian Ortega, a production and shipping union representative, said two union groups met with management of the Atlanta-based pulp and paper company but workers felt the meetings were not conducted in good faith, with the company offering only a 3 percent wage increase.
“What they offered us was basically a slap to our faces. Their lawyers told us that we lived in a three-percent world, meaning we would not get anything more than that,” Ortega said.
He said despite the unions citing the difficulties in coping with the rising cost of living in California, their pleas fell on deaf ears from company lawyers who do not live in the Bay Area.
“These negotiators come from states like Kentucky where the cost of living is not expensive, so when they see what’s presented here, they think it’s all inflated,” Ortega added.
Stephan Noorwood, who has worked with the plant for six years, said the company has also brought in busloads of salaried workers from Texas and Las Vegas to keep the facility operating during the strike.
Jose Tobar, who has been with Georgia-Pacific for four years, said the unions’ 2018-2022 contract was extended for two years, resulting in a flat 10 percent wage hike. That contract expired on July 1, he said.
“They had to give us a raise, so they came up with (an extended) contract and said that moving forward, there will be a better one in the future but that didn’t happen,” said Tobar.
Ortega said union workers plan to protest outside the plant until management brings a proposal that includes a “fair” wage increase. Protests involving about 130 union workers will go from 3 a.m. to 5 p.m., Ortega said.
“We just want to sit down and talk to them so they can offer us an honest contract so our guys can go back to work, because we have a lot of good employees here,” Ortega said.
Antioch Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe, who attended the protest in support of the unions, said Georgia-Pacific is one of the largest manufacturing plants in Antioch and the workers deserved to be paid decent and fair wages. The mayor said any violence in the city can be tied to a lack of well-paid jobs.
“I’m tired of people telling me why there are shootings in Antioch. Do you want to know why? Because they don’t have work. They need jobs in our community,” said Hernandez-Thorpe, adding that providing adequate employment opportunities with fair wages is the “best crime-fighting prevention” a city can have.
When asked for comment Tuesday, a representative from Georgia-Pacific said they would provide a written statement soon.
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