
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 16, 1991                   TAG: 9103160176
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Southwest bureau
DATELINE: MARION                                LENGTH: Short

BRUNSWICK, UNION TALKS DEADLOCKED

Talks between representatives of Brunswick Corp. and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 1764 have broken off without producing any progress toward settling a 2-week-old strike.

The two sides got together Thursday with a federal mediator from Knoxville, Tenn. Talks were to resume Friday at 8:30 a.m. but the company sent no participants.

"The mediator came back and said their position hadn't changed, and we said our position hadn't changed," said Myron DeBord, the union's local president,

The union has maintained picket lines at Brunswick, Smyth County's largest employer, since it rejected the company's last contract offer March 2. It has been joined by representatives of other unions including the United Mine Workers of America, United Steel Workers, International Ladies Garment Workers, and Communications Workers of America.

The company has declined to comment on the situation.

Both the Smyth County Sheriff's Department and Marion Police Department have received reports of vandalism and other incidents, including a bullet which it the front porch guttering at the home ofJewel Mize, a non-union worker at the plant.

Jackrocks, made of nails welded together so that some of the points always stick up, have caused some flat tires on vehicles leaving the Brunswick plant.

The Brunswick plant has about 1,000 employees, including about 800 union members.

by CNB