WESTVACO FIGHTS BENEFITS FOR UNION CHIEF

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

DATE: SATURDAY, January 4, 1992                   TAG: 9201040097
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS NEWS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
WESTVACO FIGHTS BENEFITS FOR UNION CHIEF
Two labor lawyers argued in federal court in Roanoke Friday over the propriety of a company's paying benefits to a full-time union president.
Westvaco Corp. quit paying health benefits, worth about $10,000 a year, for union president Glenn Anglin in 1990, claiming the practice violates labor law. The company's lawyer, Clinton Morse, told U.S. District Judge James Turk that the law prohibits employers' payment of money to any representative of their employees.
But when the payment stopped, Anglin's union, Local 675 of the United Paperworkers Union in Covington, charged the company with breach of contract.
The case could set a precedent for other labor unions.
Some unions pay salary and benefits to full-time officers and some companies pay their benefits, depending on the local contract.
The union's lawyer, Jay Levit, said Westvaco paid benefits for full-time union presidents at the Covington paperboard mill for 35 years under a collective bargaining agreement.
He cited a letter from the U.S. Labor Department, saying that benefits may be paid only if a union representative is a current or former employee. Anglin is considered eligible for benefits, Levit said.
He said Anglin is on the Westvaco seniority list and he receives the same benefits as other employees.
Morse said the union contract specifies that the union president is not entitled to the same benefits as company employees. Westvaco is paying Anglin's pension, but the company has asked the court for a ruling on that practice as well, Morse said.
"Why is Westvaco just now finding out that it is improper?" Turk asked. Morse said the decision came after the company took a careful look at the law.
Turk said he will rule on the case later.
Levit said the case could go to the U.S. Supreme Court; Morse said it is "an area of law that isn't settled."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB