Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 3, 1993 TAG: 9303030181
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FAIRLAWN LENGTH: Medium
ARSENAL ORDERS UNPAID LEAVES FOR SALARIED WORKERS
Workers at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant continue to feel aftershocks from the nitroglycerin explosion that shook the New River Valley two weeks ago.Hercules Inc. announced Monday that all of the arsenal's 657 salaried workers must take five days of unpaid leave each month.
Nicole Kinser, public affairs officer for the arsenal, said the move was necessary because production at the plant has decreased considerably since the explosion and Hercules needs to cut overhead costs.
It will affect all salaried personnel except some uniformed security guards. Even Skip Hurley, the plant's general manager, will lose some pay because of the furloughs, Kinser said.
The propellant plant already has temporarily laid off about 300 production workers because of the explosion.
Hercules, the government contractor for the Army, doesn't know how many months the salaried workers will have to take the unpaid days off, Kinser said. Department managers will schedule furloughs for the workers.
Employees also have the option of using paid vacation days, Kinser said.
Though more than 1,300 workers have been laid off in the last two years, the arsenal still has about 2,000 workers.
Nitroglycerin operations are one of the primary components of the propellant made at the arsenal and all operations have been suspended while a team of Army investigators try to determine the cause of the blast.
A storehouse was heavily damaged and there was some structural damage to surrounding buildings from the Feb. 16 explosion.
Injuries were avoided because the explosion happened in a building that was fully automated for safety reasons a year earlier. A nitroglycerin blast in 1985 killed two workers.