Retrospect: Sheller-Globe employees were on strike

Forty years ago this week, a month-long strike began at the Sheller-Globe Corp. plants in Portland. 

An estimated 400 workers went on strike on May 22, 1978, in a dispute over a breach of contract between the plant and the Local 857 of the Allied Industrial Workers of America. The union, which represented most of the plant’s workers, did not sanction the strike.

The complaints over the workers’ contracts mostly related to the system of pay levels and an incentive pay plan. There were also complaints about employee discipline, job descriptions and job security.

Most of the first-shift workers did not show report for work May 22. The leaders of the local union were required to work their shifts as the strike was not sanctioned, and three non-union employees showed up for their shifts. The remaining employees were on strike. 

On May 25, a U.S. District Court judge issued a back-to-work order, which the strikers defied for fear of reprisals from Sheller-Globe. 

By the end of the strike after arbitration June 17, 120 workers had been laid off. One of the company’s major customers removed its equipments from Sheller-Globe’s plants when the strike led to unfulfilled orders. Forty-nine other employees were suspended indefinitely after reporting to work June 18 and 19. 

The original grievances that prompted the strike were not addressed at that arbitration and would be dealt with later that summer.