In 1969 we presented a united force to deal with the Company. We shut the mill down cold and showed a united membership on the picket lines. Dick Lindstrom, “Local #5 History”
I thank God for unions, because unions kind of protect our jobs∑. With the union I feel protected. Crystal Odum, mill worker, February 2000
When the AWPPW was formed we developed new leadership and they were more eager to challenge the company and get more benefits and it kind of just became a way of our union. Bob Cochrane, AWPPW Local #5, June 2001
Winning recognition, AWPPW spent the next few years negotiating for “bi-level,” or combined local and international bargaining, to more effectively address local union needs. AWPPW’s more democratic style convinced former skeptics in Camas to support the new union. Former union activist Dick Lindstrom recalled that the strike of 1969 was “probably the starting point to mending the hard feelings” between workers involved in the 1964 strike. When Local #5 failed to win the same contract items as its two sister Crown Zellerbach mills in Port Angeles and Port Townsend, it sent pickets to the mills, and workers there in support of the Camas union shut down the operations. AWPPW solidarity helped Camas workers negotiate a better contract.
In 1971 Crown Zellerbach union locals sought to bargain a contract to apply to all. When the company locked out its California, Oregon, and Washington employees after they threatened to strike to conclude negotiations, the unions went on strike for forty days.
