Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 15, 1990 TAG: 9007130052
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Although Hercules Inc. has never used contract workers for such jobs in running the Army-owned plant, the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union raised the issue last week as part of a nationwide campaign.
The union is fighting companies that use temporary contractors to do work that it contends could be done by regular company employees.
To prevent potentially dangerous situations, both sides need to agree on "exactly how contractors would be used at the plant, now and in the future," said Pete Strader, president of the union's Local 3-495 in Fairlawn.
Local union officials want to make sure that, in the future, contract workers are not used in place of company employees on dangerous jobs at the plant.
It could be a problem if Hercules, which has been trying to downsize its work force to make up for cuts in defense spending, ever decides to cut costs by using cheaper subcontractors in place of more experienced but higher-paid employees, Strader said.
If it gets to that point, "we'd ask them to negotiate." But Strader hopes to reach an agreement soon and avoid having to negotiate later.
The concern of the union, which represents 100,000 workers nationwide, is that industries using inexperienced contract workers "place our members and our communities at risk," union Vice President Robert Wages said. He spoke in a telephone interview from his office in Denver.
The union blames that practice for an explosion last October at a Phillips petroleum and chemical complex near Houston that killed 23 workers and injured 270.
Federal investigators also are now trying to determine whether a contract worker caused the July 6 explosion that killed 17 workers at an Arco Chemical Co. plant near Houston.
"We want to firm up a type of commitment so we don't have that type of problem here," Strader said.
Currently, there is no formal agreement between the union and the Radford plant on how many contractors can be used and what type of jobs they can do, he said.
Temporary subcontractors often are used at the plant. But they don't work on dangerous jobs or in dangerous areas, said Leslie Pugh, general manager for technical and support services with Hercules Inc., which manages and operates the plant.
Pugh said reaching an agreement with the union should not be a problem.
Subcontractors are used for construction and technical maintenance work - jobs either too large or too complicated for company employees, who must keep up with day-to-day duties, he said.
The plant makes explosive propellants used in rockets.
"And because of the nature of the product we're handling, our standards are pretty high," Pugh said. "I think we are very conscious and very sensitive to what we're dealing with."
There is an element of risk to working at the plant, he said, but the risky jobs are given to company employees.
"We're kind of reversed. If there's a concern with danger, we take care of it ourselves," he said.
The union has invested $35,000 to take its message to those companies and to state legislators and regulators.
Part of that message is a 35-minute video narrated by Ralph Nader called "Out of Control." It shows, among other things, how the Phillips explosion was caused by a faulty valve installed by inexperienced contract workers.
"This video is part of a broad strategy to combat the practice of subcontracting our jobs to untrained, unqualified and temporary workers," Wages said. "For our own strength and for the protection of our members, we must move to bring the practice under control."
Strader admits that, in some cases, subcontractors are needed if they have more experience in certain areas than company employees.
That's the case with maintenance work that was done over the past two weeks during a shutdown at the plant.
The plant was closed July 2 to allow workers to do preventive maintenance repairs in certain sections, including the 48-year-old main powerhouse. Operation is scheduled to begin again tomorrow.
Some subcontractors were brought in to do technical maintenance work in the powerhouse, Pugh said.
"The majority of the maintenance work [in some sections] was being done by our people," Strader said.
"It's really not a problem now, but we do foresee the possibility of future problems," he said. "It's kind of like preventive maintenance. We're trying to do preventive work to keep that from happening."
by CNB