Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9410060019
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FAIRLAWN NOTE: ABOVE LENGTH: Medium
Workers in the 925-member Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union Local 3-495 voted to accept the contract, which includes a 3 percent pay raise next year, an $850 lump sum payment in 1996, and 2.5 percent raises each of the next two years, said Ken Thompson, president of the local.
"We'd like a lot more," vice-president Luther Woolwine had said earlier in the day, although the union had to be content with getting raises around the national average.
Over the course of the contract, a worker in the lowest pay range will see his or her pay increase from $11.46/hour to $12.40/hour. At the top end of the scale, wages will increase from $16.79 to $18.17, Thompson saidl.
Workers will end up paying a little more for their health insurance: $9.59/month more for a family package, and $3.83/month more for the basic rate.
The union normally does not release the exact voting results, but Thompson said about 90 percent of the members turned out to vote. He said the union's negotiating committee did not make a recommendation one way or the other to accept the contract: "we let the membership make up their mind."
The agreement, which has been under negotiation since mid-August, was an improvement over the previous contract, if for no other reason than its length. Last year the union signed a one-year agreement, and "a one-year contract is something that we definitely did not want" this time, Woolwine said.
Workers had previously voted 100 percent to authorize a strike if the vote failed, and would've walked out at midnight had the vote not passed. The last time the union struck was in 1986.
One matter the union was unsuccessful at securing was a "successor clause," which would have required any company that took over operations at the arsenal to honor the contract.
This summer Hopkins, Minn.-based Alliant Techsystems Inc. announced that it wanted to buy Hercules Aerospace, a division of Wilmington, Del.-based Hercules, for $365 million and 3.5 million shares of its stock. The division controls operations at the Radford arsenal and seven other plants.
After a late July proxy fight, a group of Alliant investors succeeded in getting six new directors elected to Alliant's board, and the company was said to be re-examining all portions of its business.
Wednesday, spokesmen for both Hercules and Alliant said the deal was proceeding as planned and Oct. 30 had been set as a target date for a definitive agreement.
But while Hercules spokespersons said Alliant would honor the labor contract if it purchases the Hercules division, Alliant spokesman Rod Bitz would not go as far, saying that any labor contracts were among the "myriad" of elements of the deal still being examined.
The union fears that it could be left at square one in terms of wages, benefits and job security if Alliant - or some other company - were to take over the arsenal's operations.
"That was one sticky point," said Thompson. "The rumor is that Alliant is going to pick it up. We're hopeful that they'll stick to that."
by CNB