BIAS SUIT EXPECTED AGAINST DUPONT

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 24, 1993                   TAG: 9303240063
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
BIAS SUIT EXPECTED AGAINST DUPONT
A union charge that older women working at DuPont's nylon plant in Martinsville will be required to lift 85-pound rolls of yarn is expected to result in a discrimination suit against the company.
An employee union has scheduled a news conference today to discuss a lawsuit and "efforts to save" 36 jobs. Ken Henley, a Philadelphia lawyer for the union, will talk about legal action at the news conference.
The jobs will be lost in a combination of two groups of employees who hold separate titles, according to the Martinsville Nylon Employees Council. The work of the two groups is being assigned to one larger group required to do both jobs, the union said.
The problem, according to a union statement released Tuesday, is that the combination will require all workers to lift rolls of yarn weighing more than 85 pounds, which is "higher than OSHA standards." OSHA is the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Twenty-eight of the 36 employees affected by the change are older women, the union said. Only men have been lifting the rolls.
Johnny Watkins, personnel manager, said the plant has been downsizing for several months. It has a work force of 1,400, down from 4,500 several years ago. The numbers have been dwindling since 600 employees took early retirement in 1985 and another 308 left in the past year, Watkins said.
Most products in the plant weigh from 8 to 12 pounds, he said in reaction to the union's claim. Female employees can move to other available jobs, he said, and they can bid on other jobs, based on seniority.
Dean Goad, union president, said what the company is doing "has nothing to do with downsizing or numbers of people." The union "is looking at anything we can do to stop what the company is doing to employees," he said.
The company is forcing women into "real demanding" spinning-machine operator jobs that have caused difficulties for men who are 50 or older, Goad said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB