After a 46-day strike, hundreds of Weyerhaeuser woodworkers across Oregon and Washington — including the company’s South Aberdeen and Raymond facilities — have reached a four-year union contract with the Seattle-based timber company.
The agreement passed by about 55% Thursday night, said Brandon Bryant, the district business representative for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Woodworkers District Lodge W24. This was the first major strike for Weyerhaeuser since 1986.
Employees are represented locally by the Woodworkers Local 536 union under the umbrella of the IAMAW while the union also includes employees in Aberdeen and Raymond, and Coos Bay, Springfield and Cottage Grove in Oregon for 14 contracts total.
Bryant said 85% of members voted for the contract that gives a 14% wage increase, no increase to healthcare premiums and improved vacation time and payout for sick leave.
Workers will also receive $750 a year to an individual Health Savings Account or a $3,000 lump sum bonus, he added.
“This has been a long journey and the end is not exactly everything the union wanted,” he said, “but it is better and improved from where we were seven weeks ago.”
The company released a statement Friday morning saying the roughly 1,200 union workers will resume work in the international company’s wood products and timberlands organizations.
The union voted to authorize the strike on Sept. 2 and officially stopped work and took to the picket lines on Sept. 13.
Since Sept. 13, groups of workers manned Weyerhaeuser gates like those the South Aberdeen facility and the one in Raymond, holding signs that read phrases like “Make Weyerhaeuser great again,” as passing vehicles intermittently honked in support.
Bryant said previous contracts were voted down because general wage increases were too low; some vacation time was cut; employees were asked to pay for healthcare premiums for the first time since at least around the 1990s; and retirement benefits weren’t improved.
Weyerhaeuser reported its “2021 financial performance was the strongest on record,” and a roughly 69% increase in net earnings from 2020 to 2021, according to a January press release. Bryant said the workers should be thanked for that success.
In Friday’s statement, Devin W. Stockfish, Weyerhaeuser president and chief executive officer, said workers are important to the company.
“Our people are what make Weyerhaeuser special, and we are committed to providing safe, reliable jobs with competitive wages and benefits that support our employees and their families,” he said. “We believe this contract accomplishes those goals, and we are excited to welcome everyone back and resume normal operations as soon as possible.”
