Former Phelps-Dodge head caught 'selling' union-busting plan to Oregon Steel

By Dennis DeMaio

PUEBLO, Colo. - While Oregon Steel executives were publicly stating their intentions to bargain in good faith with Locals 2102 and 3267 of the United Steelworkers of America, company officials were apparently putting together a "game plan" to bust the two unions at the Pueblo plant.

In a secret letter to Oregon Steel President Joe Corvin, former Phelps-Dodge President Richard Moolick boasted about his union-busting work for Pueblo-based Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I).

About 1,000 union workers remain locked out of their jobs in a bitter labor dispute that has dragged on for over 22 months. During this time, the company has committed well over 100 unfair labor practices. One worker has been killed and one maimed due to company negligence.

In the second largest fine in Colorado history, the Occupational, Safety and Health Administration fined the company $400,000 for 61 serious, willful, and/or repeat violations of health and safety laws.

In a highly questionable fundraising plan that may be in violation of federal and state laws, the ex-president of Phelps-Dodge sought to cash in on his union-busting advice in order to collect contributions for the non-profit mining museum he is associated with in Leadville, Colorado.

In a secret April 5 letter to Corvin, Moolick wrote, "In 1997 I supplied Mike Buckentin with the game plan he used so successfully in combating the Steelworkers at CF&I in Pueblo."

Moolick went on to write, "Naturally our goal was to help in industry vs. labor, and we did not charge for our services. But as the Chairman of the non-profit Federally Chartered National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum in Leadville, I am always looking for contributions."

Writing on the letterhead of the federally chartered non-profit, Moolick went on to suggest in the letter that Oregon Steel make a $5,000 contribution to the museum.

From several sources, including the museum and Oregon Steel, it has been confirmed that a $5,000 check was issued to the non-profit from Oregon Steel's subsidiary, Rocky Mountain Steel Mills (RMS).

The $5,000 check was issued from an RMS bank account with Norwest Bank in Glenwood Springs, Colo. - the city where Moolick resides. Although the notation on the check suggests that it is a "charitable contribution," the circumstances around the check raise a number of questions about the legality of the contribution.

When contacted about the letter and Moolick's reference to a union-busting plan, Oregon Steel denied any union busting plan ever existed. In discussing Moolick's reference to a "game plan," Oregon Steel spokesperson, Vicki Tagliafico, told me, "That is at best an overstatement."

After a copy of the letter was faxed to Oregon Steel and the check number was given to the company, Tagliafico called me back to explain the circumstances. She said RMS was just being a "good corporate citizen" with its donation to the museum.

"There never was any plan to bust the union," Tagliafico told me. She went on to say that Moolick's assistance was limited to providing contacts for legal counsel.

Although Tagliafico admitted that the company's discussions with Moolick might have extended beyond the mere referral of counsel, she insists that Moolick was never part of any union busting plan. "We never wanted to see the Steelworkers go out on strike," Tagliafico said.

I later reached Moolick on the phone at his home in Glenwood Springs. When read quotations from the letter and presented with evidence of the check, Moolick responded, "So, there is a mole."

When asked to explain the "game plan," he referred to in his letter, Moolick said, "What I told [then CF&I plant manager Mike Buckentin] basically is what you can do and what you can't do. I told him what had worked for me effectively in the past. I'm not going to elaborate beyond that."

What Moolick has done effectively in the past is break unions. In his fundraising letter to Oregon Steel, Moolick wrote, "In 1983 I took on the Steelworkers Coalition at the Phelps-Dodge copper properties in Arizona and Texas and was successful in breaking some 35 unions." (See related story, this page.)

Moolick is more than just a footnote in the history of industry's war against labor unions in this country. As the former president of Phelps-Dodge, his role in breaking unions spans 40 years.

In 1959, Moolick fired striking workers and brought in scabs in a labor dispute in Morenci, Arizona. As superintendent of a Phelps-Dodge New Mexico operation throughout the 1960s, he took on one union after another in his zealous campaign to eradicate unions from the mining industry.

"You're naive if you think it's good to operate with a union," Moolick once stated. "I was born with the thought that you walk through a picket line. Nobody can keep you out. You walk right through."

During his campaign in the 1980s to dislodge Steelworker locals in Arizona, Moolick publicly urged other companies to "take the unions on."

According to the book, The Copper Crucible, Moolick was largely responsible for pioneering a legal strategy that is widely used across the country today. Moolick was notorious for his deft use of labor laws to replace union members when his hard-nosed bargaining strategy precipitated a strike.

It may be no small coincidence that Oregon Steel has adopted similar tactics in its 22-month labor dispute in Pueblo. Although it may be a mere coincidence that RMS happens to have a bank account in a remote town where Moolick resides, at least one check from that Glenwood Springs account has been funneled into interests controlled by Moolick.

Although both Oregon Steel and Moolick are quick to downplay the role that he has played at CF&I, his legacy of union-busting is alive in Pueblo today.