Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 12, 1990 TAG: 9007120072
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The unions have been in a long-standing, nationwide feud with BE&K Construction Co., which they characterize as "a notorious anti-union contractor." The company is helping build a new boiler at the Westvaco papermill in Covington.
BE&K is a private company that does much of its $1.6 billion a year in business in the paper industry, providing engineering, construction and maintenance services. The company designed and built Westvaco's No.1 paper machine, which was completed in 1986.
BE&K now is working at the mill as a subcontractor for a Swedish contractor, Gotaverken, which is building a $130 million boiler to be used in Westvaco's pulp-making operations.
The company also hopes to win a contract from Westvaco to build a $400 million paper machine at the Covington mill. BE&K already holds the design engineering contract for the new machine. Completion is scheduled for 1992.
The unions contend that BE&K uses a "roving band" of out-of-state construction workers at the expense of local workers. The Carpenters Union is interested in securing those jobs for its members, but the Paperworkers have other concerns.
Glenn Anglin, president of Local 675 of the Paperworkers Union in Covington, said his union worries that BE&K's presence in Covington could lead to a maintenance contract with Westvaco, putting union members out of work. Anglin said he also fears that BE&K could become a threat during the union's contract talks with Westvaco in 1992.
He was confident, Anglin said, that BE&K would win the contract for the new paper machine and would be in Covington when the union's contract with Westvaco expires in December 1992. He charged that BE&K has provided "strike-breaking services" - training replacement workers at two mills in Maine - when the paperworkers were on strike.
Bill Boatright, Westvaco's assistant mill manager, said he has never known Westvaco to use a construction company in a strike and the company had no plans to do so. Boatright said that Westvaco has absolutely no intention of signing a maintenance contract with BE&K.
BE&K will get the construction contract for the new machine only if it wins in competitive bidding, Boatright said.
Westvaco asks its contractors to hire local people and the contractors want to hire locally because it's less costly, Boatright said. The company's projects, however, often exhaust the skilled work force available in Covington, Roanoke and throughout the state, he said. An estimated 1,200 workers will be needed during construction of the machine.
Scott Robertson, a BE&K spokesman in Birmingham, said the company hosted the meeting Wednesday because it wanted to clear up misinformation that is circulating. "We felt we needed to go in and clear the air with community leaders," he said.
BE&K has been in business for 18 years and has never replaced a paperworker, Robertson said. BE&K hires union and non-union workers wherever it goes, he said.
The company does hope to land the construction contract for the new machine, Robertson said.
Roughly 25 union members demonstrated at Wednesday's meeting, Anglin said. The unions also have run an advertisement against BE&K in a Covington newspaper and a commentary on a Covington radio station, he said.
by CNB