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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 29, 1993                   TAG: 9309290023
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

DUPONT WORKERS WON'T STRIKE OVER WORK RULES

A union representing workers at DuPont's nylon plant in Martinsville said Tuesday they have decided not to strike over new work rules. But it denounced the rules as unworkable and an attempt to move older workers out of their jobs.

DuPont said two weeks ago it would cut nearly 700 of the 1,300 jobs at the plant, including about 560 union slots paying about $15 an hour, as part of a company-wide effort to trim 4,500 jobs by mid-1994.

Last week DuPont announced new work rules, called its "high performance work system," intended to shift some duties to workers and cross-train many of them, the union said. Those workers who are not proficient in each area within two years would be terminated, the union said.

"This system will not work, in my opinion, and will be the downfall of the Martinsville site," said Clinton Jennings, president of the Martinsville Nylon Employee Council. He called the extra workload "a scare tactic to try and force older workers to retire."

A company spokesman was not available Tuesday. - Staff report

by CNB