Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 9, 1993 TAG: 9302090068
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
ALCATEL AVERTS STRIKE
Union workers at Alcatel Telecommunications Cable on Monday ratified a three-year contract that gives them a 10 percent pay increase and promises severance pay if the Roanoke County plant closes during the agreement's life.The 66-46 vote by Local 164, International Union of Electronic Workers, followed an all-night bargaining session that ended at 5:45 a.m. Monday. The contract covers 136 hourly workers.
"It's better to have that and stay in than to go out" on strike, said Frank Rothweiler, leader of the IUE bargaining team. Union members said they had been prepared to strike if necessary.
Some IUE members were unhappy when they left the Salem meeting, but a woman who said she was a single mother cried with happiness because a strike had been averted.
Some workers said they had expected a larger pay increase because the optical-fiber plant is doing well. Under the previous three-year contract, they got an 11.3 percent raise.
The proposed increase, in annual increments of 3 1/2 percent, 3 1/2 percent and 3 percent, will raise the average plant pay from about $10.50 to about $11.50 an hour, Rothweiler said.
The Roanoke County plant has promise of significant growth, the company said in a statement.
Market research projects that production of optical fiber will triple between 1992 and 1997; and the forecast is bright for the telecommunications industry, a major user of optical fiber, said Michael Friend, senior vice president for industrial relations at Alcatel.
Because of industry growth, he said, Alcatel does not see job security as a major issue. "Even so, the company agreed to a severance clause for hourly workers in the unlikely event the company ceases operations or closes the plant."
Rothweiler said the company told the bargaining committee it expects "explosive growth" at the plant. Telephone companies "are ripping out copper cable and replacing them with optical fiber," the union spokesman said.
Friend said Alcatel is "extremely pleased that we could reach an agreement that is fair for the company and its employees."
Rothweiler said the new contract provides improved life insurance, sickness and accident benefits, pensions and hospitalization.
"We didn't get security, but maybe we got the company's attention. We need it more in practice than on paper," he said.
When he heard of the complaints about the amount of increased pay, he said, "Everybody wants more."
Both sides agreed to start employee teams working to improve productivity. New shift scheduling was proposed by the company, but schedules were left unchanged.
The final agreement was reached after more than 20 consecutive hours of bargaining. This is not an uncommon practice in the final days of contract talks, said Phil Bradley, a federal mediator who met with the negotiators.
Alcatel's salaried engineers ran the plant Monday because some of its processes cannot be stopped. Union workers said they will return to their jobs today.