by John Dowd
It is often said that business owners take all the risk, when it comes to business. This may be true in the sense that they are invested and attached to a business; if it fails, they fail. However, according to Jeff Kempka and Mark Anderlik, members of the Western Montana Workers Alliance (WMWA), workers often sacrifice just as much, because they are the ones who can easily lose their jobs.
Kempka is a member, and Anderlik is secretary, of the organization, which has been around since before COVID-19. They, among others, formed the group to aid workers in Montana. “We’re only six people, but we’re punching well above our weight,” said Anderlik.
The program is not a union, but is working to become more like a “union of unions,” so to speak. Their main work is to put out information to help workers understand their rights as employees. However, they hope to grow the program far beyond that.
They come with a lot of experience which they want to utilize to help workers form unions, if that is the direction the employees wish to go. “The full idea is to be a full service for free, no politics involved,” said Anderlik. They want to help workers at every stage of the process, and meet them wherever they are, as well as to navigate any difficulties they may feel they have.
Anderlik has been in this line of work for many years. For over a decade he was president of the Missoula Area Central Labor Council, also called the AFL-CIO. The group is a coalition of unions. However, though Anderlik enjoyed what he did for that organization, he did not like how not everyone could be included. For him, the goal of the WMWA is to create something that can help everyone, including “those workers that couldn’t belong to AFL-CIO.”
According to Anderlik, the reason many could not be accepted by AFL-CIO had to do with how established a union already was, being that the organization had limited resources and resources were only available to members. In other words, the organization liked to pick cases they knew they could win. Anderlik said, “We are trying to fill that gap.” Kempka added, “We don’t give up easily.”
The WMWA also wants to promote democratically run unions, organized and run by the workers instead of committees. They are currently supporting six different unions across western Montana.
According to Anderlik, workers are often getting the raw end of the deal, especially in wages. He added that there is really “no working class party, either in D.C. or in Montana,” to represent these people. Therefore, they should organize their own, he says.
One of the main powers workers have is the power to stop working, which Anderlik says can be effective when done in extreme cases, and is not a new concept. However, there are also legal rights workers should understand, especially if they feel they are getting the short end of the stick. They can utilize various tools to address low wages, job security, due process and more. Regardless of the method of pursuit, Anderlik added that employees are more likely to get what they need if they are organized. The WMWA is there, according to Anderlik and Kempka, to help that happen.
They are there to provide moral and informational support so “people are not afraid to speak up on legitimate issues,” said Anderlik. He explained it from the other side, saying, “Why would workers want to bankrupt their employer? They would be out of a job.”
Kempka said that he is coming at the problem from a personal perspective. His father was a machinist and “the hardest working man I have ever known.” Kempka said his father was abused on the job and “he is a perfect example of somebody that deserved better.” Kempka wants to help grow the group and to give workers a chance in a situation he and others with WMWA are concerned is weighted far out of their favor.
Kempka wants the group to grow in the Bitterroot, and plans to start holding meetings and putting out flyers. Currently, the hub of the WMWA is in Missoula. According to Anderlik, there are probably around 3,000 union members in Ravalli County already.
Both men spoke on the strong union history in Montana, talking about the Butte Miners’ Union, which Anderlik said was “one of the only democratic checks on the Anaconda Mining Company, which ran the state.” The WMWA wants to help “revive the labor movement in Montana,” as Anderlik explained.
For anyone interested in contacting the WMWA, it can be reached by email at westernmtwa@gmail.com or by phone at (406) 207-1884.