TEAMSTERS SUE AIRGAS, INC., OVER CLOUD OF UNIDENTIFIED GASES

BERGEN COUNTY, N.J. (PAI)— Teamsters Local 701 has a big conflict with Airgas, Inc., in northern New Jersey and Peoria, Ill. Plant bosses are committing unfair labor practices and the bosses released white clouds of unidentified gases from two New Jersey plants and the other in Peoria, forcing several picketers to seek medical attention.

So the local went beyond picket lines and marched into Superior Court of Bergen County, N.J., on August 1. It filed a civil suit on behalf of eight members saying the vented gases, whatever they are, are possibly a hazard to picketers’ health. Not to mention the health of residents who dwell near Airgas plants.

The strike began as a normal conflict over economics between Local 701 and the bosses of Airgas, a manufacturer, seller and distributor of industrial and medical gases. But Airgas broke labor law, the union says. That converted the strike into one about the firm’s unfair labor practices, the formal name for such violations.

The distinction is important: When unionists walk out over economic issues, bosses are free to hire scabs—and to try to keep them on when the conflict is settled. But if the union wins an unfair labor practices strike, the company has to fire the scabs.

In both New Jersey and Peoria, Airgas or its contractor “released unknown hazardous gases into the atmosphere which formed a dense white cloud which enveloped the area of picketing and surrounded, engulfed and blanketed the employees,” the suit says.

It called the venting of the gases “acts of negligence that violated Airgas’s duty not to harm and alarm the employees who were picketing.” The gases enveloped the workers on July 8 in Peoria and two days later at the Oakland, N.J., plant, the local said. Its other northern New Jersey plant is in the town of Lincoln Park.

In its release on the lawsuit, the Teamsters pointed out the firm, whose factories put it smack in the middle of Northern New Jersey’s belt of chemical plants flanking Northeast Corridor rail lines and Interstate 95, has a long record of unfair labor practices, and environmental, job safety and health violations over the last decade.

This time, several workers had to seek medical help for exposure to the gases, the union said.

“Our members were exercising their lawful right to picket when Airgas released toxic chemicals on them,” Local 701 President Ron Lake told the national union. “This was not an accident.

“That this took place at two separate facilities within a two-day period suggests to me it was an intentional attack meant to intimidate and harm. Airgas crossed the line of moral decency, and our members will hold them accountable.”

The union wants a court injunction to stop further dangerous gas venting in New Jersey and Peoria. It also demands damages for “medical expenses, pain and suffering, emotional damages, psychological harm and mental distress, plus punitive damages, to be determined at” a jury trial.

Meanwhile, the strike itself has spread since it began in June. Airgas has 15 plants in 11 states, and their farthest westward plants are in Hawaii. The 34 workers there, members of Teamsters Local 996, walked out on July 28. Key issues are low pay and general disrespect from Airgas bosses. The workers unanimously authorized a strike several days before.

The big problem, Local 996 President Kevin Holu told Hawaii News Now, is “a total disrespect to these members.

“We have three locations here on Oahu. A lot of these guys put in 20-plus years in this company. They have never went on strike. They’re just tired of the disrespect and being treated like second- class citizens.

“They’re just tired of the abuse. They’re tired of the management reducing bodies and adding more responsibilities onto the next and being overworked. They’re just tired of that.”

“I have members coming up to me and telling me about management doing our job, management overriding seniority, and it plays a big role as a member,” Airgas worker Ryan Cullen told the publication. “Every union member knows seniority plays a big role, especially with other people doing our job. Got to keep union jobs in union hands.”

Cullen added, “I’ve been at the company almost 20 years and this is what we come to. We’ve worked in bad situations, but this, this is enough. This is enough.”

Another bargaining session was scheduled for August 1, via zoom, and Holu reported some progress in previous talks with Airgas’s local bosses. “Like anything else, when (we) started this contract negotiation, we’re a galaxy apart. Right now, we’re worlds apart,” he told the Hawaii publication.