Employees of GBW Railcar Services in Chehalis hold up signs as they protest the lack of a union contract.
Protestors hold up signs showing their displeasure with their employer GBW Railcar Services in Chehalis. The union employees have been protesting for over a month.
GBW Railcar Services employees protest in Portland citing the lack of a union contract and low wages at the Chehalis company.
Employees of GBW Railcar Services in Chehalis stand outside of Kit Carson restaurant. Several workers are protesting the lack of an employment contract.
Cesar Robles, Troy Davis and Thomas Melvin stand outside of the corporate Greenbrier office in Portland as they protest the lack of a union contract and worsening conditions at GBW Railcar Services in Chehalis where they are employed.
A handful of employees at GBW Railcar Services in Chehalis have taken to the streets in the early morning hours before work to express their displeasure with the lack of a union contract and what they say are unfair labor practices.
A group of workers have protested for several weeks now, stating working conditions at the company have deteriorated since The Greenbrier Companies Inc. and Watco Companies LLC formed a railcar repair shop, now known as GBW Railcar Services LLC.
Thomas Melvin, 38, of Chehalis, has worked at the company for six years. He said things began to get worse after the merger in 2014.
“We have eroding conditions,” he said. “We’ve had a loss of raises for two years ... and over the last two years they’ve changed the bonus program multiple times.”
Jeff Sickles, plant manager at GBW in Chehalis, did not return a phone call from The Chronicle.
The workers, who are union members, are asking for raises, better insurance and a coverall allowance.
Since the union was voted in by a slim majority in 2016, the workers have not received a contract, although negotiations were underway this week, Troy Davis, a worker at the company, said.
Davis, 46, of Chehalis, has worked at the company for more than 18 years.
He said every year, his take home pay is less.
“Technically, I go backwards every year because insurance goes up and I stay where I’m at,” he said.
The duo, along with coworkers Cesar Robles, 26, of Centralia, and Spencer Horton, 20, of Mossyrock, told The Chronicle in January they felt the company was retaliating against those who were pro-union.
Earlier this month as the group was holding their signs, they claim another employee of the company swerved at them.
“It was pretty intimidating and scary,” Melvin said.
A police report filed with the Chehalis Police Department states the employees were protesting off the roadway between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Jan. 4 during the time of the incident. During a follow-up interview with the driver of the vehicle, the officer’s report reads, “He inadvertently turned the car in that direction and then quickly corrected the car,” adding the driver stated he had no intention of swerving at the protesters.
The report also states the driver felt harassed “because he doesn’t want to join the union.”
The officer was able to view footage of the incident. He stated the driver drove by the protesters and appeared to make a slight move back into the lane of travel.
“However, I watched another vehicle appear to make the same move while driving past the picketers,” the police report states. “The picketers do move around after (the driver) goes past them but do not necessarily jump back, according to the video.”
The protesters are certain the driver purposefully swerved at them, but the police report states there will be no further follow-up on the incident.
The workers have taken the protest down to the corporate office in Portland. There they said they spoke with officials of Greenbrier, but have since not heard back with any follow up.
Davis said the group has started to make fliers and plans to protest at other shops in Finley and Springfield to spread the word.
The employees stated that despite the long road ahead of them, they do not want to give up.
“For months, I thought, ‘I’m going to lose my job,’” Robles said. “Right now I feel like I’m raising hell for them and I want to give them a little taste of their medicine.”
As for Horton, who has only been with the company for a little over a year, he said it feels good to be part of something bigger.
“Now that we are doing all this stuff with our protest, I feel more united with them and it’s nice,” he said. “I don’t want to get screwed around by the company everyday, all day. They already do it enough at work.”
