The dissatisfaction was a result of the international Vice Presidents announcing that they were taking over the United Labor Association bargaining session.
Litigation followed, a NLRB election was conducted in October 1964, and the Western organization was certified as the Uniform Labor Agreement bargaining agent.
[2] On April 23, 1964, a majority of 21,000 workers from forty-nine paper mills, owned by eighteen companies, rebelled against the two oldest established unions that had been representing them.
The International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers (IBPS&PMW) and the United Papermakers and Paperworkers (UPP), along with affiliate Pacific Coast Pulp and Paper Mill Employees Association (PCPPMEA), bargained collectively with twenty-nine manufacturers.
Rank and file members of the PCPPMEA didn't believe the Internationals were giving sufficient effort to settle their grievances.
Legal action before the Oregon Circuit Court sought to reinstate Pacific Coast delegates.
The fledgling union was faced with two tasks simultaneously: it had to convince the membership to reject this offer and get enough cards signed to demand NLRB recognition.
On July 12, the NLRB's Regional Director granted the AWPPW request for a bargaining rights election.
The election was held during the week of September 14 and forty-nine mills gave the AWPPW a victory over the Internationals 10,653 to 8,130.
The AWPPW was certified as the exclusive bargaining agent for Pacific Coast pulp and paper workers on October 1, 1964.
They elected a bargaining board, established procedures, and drafted the demands they would present at the joint wage conference.
History of democracy in unions made it clear that a certain amount of authority needed to be vested in the AWPPW to make decisions in the best interest of the membership.
Officers would be permitted to attend and give voice at committee meetings but only the elected regional representatives were allowed to vote.
Bill Perrin, who had led the original rebellion, became the first constitutionally elected president of the AWPPW.
This represented a significant difference from the 'reverter' clauses by which the international unions punished locals if they considered withdrawing.
The authors of The Pulp and Paper Rebellion: A New Pacific Coast Union offer the opinion that there is little doubt that the AWPPW will continue to operate in a democratic manner.
[9] The AWPPW has two primary political interests: preserving jobs, and protecting both current and retired workers.
[10] Key issues recently have been environmental measures, international trade agreements, and the Employee Free Choice Act.
In the 2008 presidential election, the union wholeheartedly endorsed Barack Obama for his stance on labor issues ranging from minimum wage to the Central American Trade Agreement.
[11] In the early 1970s the AWPPW fought for—and won—improved safety codes for the pulp and paper industry in Washington and Oregon, but was not so successful in trying to enact log export bans.