THIS IS HOW WE WIN: Urban Ore Workers Secure Their First Contract After Years of Struggle

On Monday night, workers at Urban Ore, a Berkeley salvage yard and general store unanimously ratified their first union contract following more than two years of negotiations and a six-week strike that took place earlier this year. 

After winning a union, usually by election, the next step for most workers is to try to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement (also known as a union contract) that will improve their terms of employment and benefits. No matter the sector, industry, or employer, workers often have to fight just as hard to win their first contract as they do their initial union election. 

The workers, who voted to join the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in the spring of 2023, cited the strike as essential to winning their contract, which includes $3-4 raises, contractual protections that workers will only be fired for legitimate reasons (“just cause”), more generous paid family and bereavement leaves, and improved holiday pay. Workers also cited the lack of a “no strike” clause in their contract as a major win — employers often insist that unions agree to waive their right to strike during the life of a contract — but Urban Ore workers successfully kept such language out of their contract.

“The strike was absolutely critical in pushing the company to actually negotiate with us. Before the strike we got nothing done and since the strike we made all the progress we should have made after we won the election,” said Spencer Jordan, a member of the Urban Ore Union bargaining team who has worked at the store for four years as a salvager. 

Even after the strike, the union had to fight for management to honor an agreement for five laid off strikers to be reinstated, at one point threatening an informational picket if management didn’t relent.

“We are walking away with a much more clear-eyed and optimistic sense of our responsibility to our fellow workers in general."

The union’s ability to win that reinstatement was a direct result of the strength they had demonstrated during their strike. “Since the strike, the company has continued negotiations and been in touch with the union’s bargaining team,” said Jordan. “We had the organization to apply strong economic pressure on the company. Being firm about the company’s agreements with us about reinstatement, we were able to demonstrate the limits to their capacity to browbeat us into compromise at the table.” 

Across the Bay Area, since a surge of new workplace organizing began during the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of small businesses and nonprofits have seen employees successfully organize to form a union. Like the Urban Ore Union, many of these organizations have been supported by the Democratic Socialists of America’s East Bay Workplace Organizing Committee. But few have secured first contracts, and even fewer have waged successful strikes as part of their first contract campaign. 

Jordan’s advice to other unionized workers facing a situation similar to the one Urban Ore employees faced prior to their strike? Don’t be afraid to take militant action, if a strong majority of your coworkers are ready to stand with you. “In smaller shops, people can be worried their employer is particularly irrational or strong-willed or aggressive, and that might discourage them. I would say in those situations direct action is probably your best hope, as opposed to believing that you can negotiate with a party that fundamentally views your seat at the bargaining table as illegitimate. In those situations, I would urge bravery to organize for action.” 

Reflecting on the years-long fight to win a union and a contract, the material benefits aren’t the only victories that stand out. “We are walking away with a much more clear-eyed and optimistic sense of our responsibility to our fellow workers in general,” said Jordan. “That’s a wonderful thing.”