UNION: TALKS STALLED AT ROANOKE CEMENT

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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 27, 1992                   TAG: 9202270041
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY BUSINESS EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
UNION: TALKS STALLED AT ROANOKE CEMENT
The International Association of Boilermakers said Wednesday its negotiations with Roanoke Cement Co. have come to a stalemate. Company officials denied the talks have stalled.
Jeffrey Stump, president of 158-member Lodge D-314, issued a statement saying the union has changed its position on some contract issues. But he termed "a major point of disagreement" the company's use of labor from outside the work force for some functions at the Botetourt County plant.
Roanoke Cement Vice President Ed Pittman said in response that negotiations are continuing and another meeting is set for March 10. That would be the first bargaining session between the company and the union in about a month.
Pittman said his company "continues to bargain in good faith and has made significant movement in negotiations in both wages and the issue of subcontracting out work."
Union employees twice have rejected a company offer to renew the contract that expired Jan. 31 and have agreed to work without a contract. A company proposal that employees should pay higher insurance payments is a major stumbling block for the union.
A statement from Stump said the union has made "considerable movement" to let the company combine pay brackets, change overtime-pay provisions and cross-train maintenance employees. These changes will enable Roanoke Cement to operate its plant "with greater flexibility and efficiency," he said.
This would allow company employees to perform daily operations while outside contractors handle some functions, he said.
Stump said the company's report of a $2-an-hour pay increase in 18 months "is not totally correct." He said Roanoke Cement's requirement for increased health insurance payments, higher deductibles and the end of a monthly productivity bonus would mean that one-third of the hourly employees will not receive the full $2 raise.
The three main issues separating the union and the company, he said, are contracting work out of the bargaining unit, increased employee contributions and deductibles in health insurance and the elimination of health benefits for retired employees.
Pittman said the company's wage proposal amounts to about $1 million for employees over 18 months, an offer that "exceeds any settlement reached in the last two years by this union with any cement company in America."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB