Uploaded April 2014 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
This documentary follows members of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW) Local 4-620 at the BASF chemical plant in Geismar, Louisiana, during one of the longest lockout of workers from their jobs in US history, from its inception in July 1983 to 1988. Relations had been shaky between BASF and OCAW members before the company shut the plant gates. In July, 1983, BASF had unilaterally broken its signed agreement to allow union officials to consult with workers on company time. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that BASF had illegally withheld lost-time pay, and the company was ordered to repay the workers. In February 1984, BASF posted notices in the plant urging workers to disavow the union by signing a petition for its decertification. BASF also distributed "supervisory confidential" memos explaining how to decertify a union, but the company's intentions were no secret. No one signed the petition. On the first day of negotiations on a contract to replace the one expiring in June 1984, BASF unveiled a 100-page proposal with provisions which would abolish the seniority system, slash benefits and cut wages by up to $3 per hour. The union rejected the proposal, and, two hours before the existing contract expired on June 15, 1984, BASF locked out the 370 union members. While the company pleaded competitive pressure as a rationale for its harsh labor policies, internal records indicate that the plant's $66 million in gross earnings between January and October 1985 was more than all of the company's other U.S. chemical facilities combined. To replace the locked out workers, BASF hired temporary workers who, OCAW charged, were insufficiently trained, jeopardizing their own health and safety as well as that of the surrounding community. Billboards calling BASF "Bhopal on the Bayou" were posted in Ascension Parish, as on a daily basis, tons of the chemicals phosgene, chlorine, ethylene oxide, ico-cyanates and hazardous wastes were processed in the Geismar plant. The same substances leaked from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India in December, 1984, killing more than 2,500 people. BASF's image during the lockout was tarnished by a number of spills and leaks. Union officials say the plant suffered four minor fires and 12 spills in one month in 1985 and a phosgene leak in 1986 that spewed a chemical cloud over unpopulated parts of Ascension Parish. In June 1986, 16,000 pounds of toxic toluene leaked from a heat exchanger over a two-day period before officials realized the significance of the leak. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined the company $66,700 for this accident, in addition to citing the company for seven violations of federal on-the-job safety rules, three of which were considered serious. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Greenpeace joined the union in demonstrations against the company. In 1986, the Sierra Club released a report on air quality in the area of the Geismar plant, pinpointing BASF as a major polluter. In 1987, a study by OCAW and the Sierra Club on air quality in Ascension and Iberville Parishes sparked a controversy over miscarriages in neighboring St. Gabriel. This video was produced by the Organizing Media Project ; a presentation of Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union ; writer/producer, Chris Bedford.
This documentary follows members of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW) Local 4-620 at the BASF chemical plant in Geismar, Louisiana, during one of the longest lockout of workers from their jobs in US history, from its inception in July 1983 to 1988. Relations had been shaky between BASF and OCAW members before the company shut the plant gates. In July, 1983, BASF had unilaterally broken its signed agreement to allow union officials to consult with workers on company time. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that BASF had illegally withheld lost-time pay, and the company was ordered to repay the workers. In February 1984, BASF posted notices in the plant urging workers to disavow the union by signing a petition for its decertification. BASF also distributed "supervisory confidential" memos explaining how to decertify a union, but the company's intentions were no secret. No one signed the petition. On the first day of negotiations on a contract to replace the one expiring in June 1984, BASF unveiled a 100-page proposal with provisions which would abolish the seniority system, slash benefits and cut wages by up to $3 per hour. The union rejected the proposal, and, two hours before the existing contract expired on June 15, 1984, BASF locked out the 370 union members. While the company pleaded competitive pressure as a rationale for its harsh labor policies, internal records indicate that the plant's $66 million in gross earnings between January and October 1985 was more than all of the company's other U.S. chemical facilities combined. To replace the locked out workers, BASF hired temporary workers who, OCAW charged, were insufficiently trained, jeopardizing their own health and safety as well as that of the surrounding community. Billboards calling BASF "Bhopal on the Bayou" were posted in Ascension Parish, as on a daily basis, tons of the chemicals phosgene, chlorine, ethylene oxide, ico-cyanates and hazardous wastes were processed in the Geismar plant. The same substances leaked from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India in December, 1984, killing more than 2,500 people. BASF's image during the lockout was tarnished by a number of spills and leaks. Union officials say the plant suffered four minor fires and 12 spills in one month in 1985 and a phosgene leak in 1986 that spewed a chemical cloud over unpopulated parts of Ascension Parish. In June 1986, 16,000 pounds of toxic toluene leaked from a heat exchanger over a two-day period before officials realized the significance of the leak. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined the company $66,700 for this accident, in addition to citing the company for seven violations of federal on-the-job safety rules, three of which were considered serious. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Greenpeace joined the union in demonstrations against the company. In 1986, the Sierra Club released a report on air quality in the area of the Geismar plant, pinpointing BASF as a major polluter. In 1987, a study by OCAW and the Sierra Club on air quality in Ascension and Iberville Parishes sparked a controversy over miscarriages in neighboring St. Gabriel. This video was produced by the Organizing Media Project ; a presentation of Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union ; writer/producer, Chris Bedford.
