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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 22, 1993                   TAG: 9309220129
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: FAIRLAWN                                LENGTH: Short

AUTHORIZATION VOTE ON ARSENAL STRIKE IS TODAY

Workers at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant represented by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union will have a strike authorization vote today.

Union President Ken Thompson said the group's contract with Hercules Inc. - which runs the arsenal for the Army - expires Oct. 6.

"We've been in negotiations, but we have nothing to report yet," he said.

Thompson said the strike authorization vote is "standard procedure," but said negotiations will continue until the current contract expires.

The union's current contract with Hercules was approved in 1989, but the arsenal has undergone sweeping changes since then.

The Defense Department's demand for propellant has decreased dramatically and Hercules has been forced to lay off more than 2,000 workers. There are roughly 1,670 workers at the plant and 1,064 are represented by the union. Thompson said union meeting would be held at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

by CNB