Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 12, 1994 TAG: 9408120096
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That was the word from negotiators for Yokohama following their contract talks Thursday with the union's bargaining committee. The negotiations are the first since 758 URW members and other hourly employees walked out on strike 20 days ago.
Negotiators met in private at Holiday Inn-Tanglewood at the urging of a federal mediator who has been working with the company and union since before the strike. At the end of Thursday's talks, which lasted from 10 a.m. until around 4 p.m., no other bargaining sessions were scheduled. However, a union official said he expected more talks in the near future.
It was no surprise that weekend work is the major issue keeping Yokohama and its union workers from agreeing to a new three-year contract. Since the strike began, Local 1023 President Wayne Friend has identified that as a major concern of his membership.
Friend agreed after Thursday's talks that weekend work was the major issue, but he said 12 or 13 items were discussed.
"Not much headway was made today at all," he said.
He complained that company negotiators came to the table Thursday and said they didn't understand what the strike was all about.
To bring the Salem plant to a seven-day production schedule, Yokohama has asked the union to agree to expand the pool of workers eligible for weekend work to all those hired since 1984, or about150 people. Under terms of the last contract, 150 workers hired since 1991 already have been working on weekends.
Besides making more union members work on weekends, the union has identified other concessions demanded by the company that the union had found not to its liking, including increased out-of-pocket health-care costs and changes in the way cost-of-living adjustments are granted.
by CNB