DANVILLE — Danville is no longer the union town it once was during its peak organized labor years in the 1970s and 1980s.

“The face of labor has changed,” said Bill Bounds, a prominent longtime Teamster, both locally and statewide.

Danville has lost a few union headquarters during the years to more populous locations, and union membership is down locally and nationally compared to 30 to 40 years ago.

“Twenty-two of 100 workers were in a union in the 1970s and 1980s, but nowadays only nine out of 100 workers are in a union,” Bounds said.

“The Teamsters (Local 26) sold its building and moved to Champaign, and the Pipefitters are out of Terre Haute. They have an office here, but they have limited hours.”

Most of the loss in union membership numbers in the Danville area is due to unionized companies that have left the area since the 1990s, Bounds said.

“Some plants closed their doors — some went to Mexico, like Valmont, and Georgia and other right-to-work states,” he said, referring to Heatcraft’s move to Tipton, Ga., in 2008.

“Organized labor is at a low right now, but a lot of things have transpired,” he said. “We just don’t have the numbers anymore since GM closed.”

Bounds said unions are not to blame for an employer’s decision to leave an area, particularly in today’s fragile employment climate.

“A lot of people have had layoffs. Look at Detroit, for example,” he said. “They blame it on the unions, but there’s a lot of blame to go around.”

New attitude

Bounds contends organized labor is far from fading away.

“Organized labor isn’t going any place,” he said. “Unions will come back strong.

“It’s not that they’re weak; it’s just there aren’t any jobs right now and the economy is bad.”

In fact, unions are doing more than ever to help employers preserve jobs during these trying economic times.

“In tough times, the tough get going,” Bounds said. “Unions are going the extra mile right now to keep everyone working.”

Ed Peevler, shop chairman of United Auto Workers Local 2128, which represents ThyssenKrupp’s forging division, said when a new automated production line threatened scores of jobs last year, the union members agreed to compromise and work four-day weeks to save 17 additional jobs that would have been lost.

“I’ve still got 100 people laid off, and I don’t think they’re coming back because of modernization and technology that wasn’t there five years ago,” he said.

“But we’re a small local and are willing to work with the company,” Peevler said. “It’s more than ‘What can I get? How much can I get?’ It’s about how we can work together to succeed.”

That new mindset and attitude is something that would have been unthinkable with union members of yore.

“The right thing to do is to keep as many people working as possible,” he said. “The union has to take a role to secure jobs and make things happen.”

Peevler said the company and the union depend on each other’s cooperation to ensure the company’s success and preserve jobs.

“To secure our job we need to secure their (management’s) job,” he said. “We need to work together because the success of the company depends on us.

“I’d like to retire from here someday, knowing that I was leaving this job for someone else.”

Vital role

Despite sweeping changes in workplaces across the country, a loss of jobs to overseas interests and an unrelenting national recession, Bounds contends unions still play a vital role today in protecting workers.

“There’s been a lot of change, but we’re still alive and kicking,” he said of unions. “There are a lot of good things that have happened because of the organized labor.

“Everything is changing, but I still like to see success stories — ones where people work together and do good things for the community.

“There are good employers in the area that aren’t in a union,” he said. “We just want them to hire local people to keep the money in the community. You starve them (local residents) out, though, by bringing in people from out of the area.”

It’s when employers start treating their employees unfairly that Bounds says workers consider organizing.

“When people have had enough, they reach out to organize,” he said.

Although the main purpose of unions is to protect workers’ rights, Bounds said non-union workers who think they are being unfairly treated by their employer can file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.

“They think if they don’t have a union, they’re not protected, and that’s not true,” he said. “Even at a non-union plant, a worker could file charges or a complaint and the NLRB would investigate.”

Some grounds to file a complaint would be if the worker feels threatened or if the employer lays off workers out of order and not according to seniority, according to Bounds.

“There wouldn’t be a lot of labor laws if it weren’t for unions,” he said. “We still fight the fight, and it benefits everyone whether they’re union or nonunion.”