ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190047
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: NARROWS
SOURCE: CLAYTON BRADDOCK STAFF WRITER
Labor and management at the Hoechst-Celanese Corp.'s giant Giles County plant are in the midst of a public disagreement involving job duties and seniority rights.
The first public display of the disagreement came Sept. 8 when a group of employees placed an ad in the New River Current directly challenging company decisions.
Hoechst-Celanese has "violated our seniority rights," the ad claimed, by creating a "new job task." The ad urges the company to respect its employees. It was signed by "Employees of Hoechst-Celanese" but without any individual signees, union or otherwise.
Susan Gregorek, with the Union of Needle Trades, Industrial and Textile Employees, said the ad had the support of union membership, which includes 1,300 workers at the Giles plant.
"The employees [who paid for the ad] raised money among friends in the plant," she said.
Plant manager Winston Faust said expressing such a public dissatisfaction "is not common in the context of change."
"Changes in the marketplace are important, especially rapid change in the world of fashion," Faust said.
Among the products manufactured at the Celco plant on the New River are those used in the weaving of fabrics. Rapid changes in the fashion industry "have made it necessary for us to make changes," Faust said.
The basic issue from management's point of view is one of coning, beaming and twisting, each parts of the manufacturing and distribution process. Twisting is an interim step in making yarn. Beaming and coning are both packaging of material to meet specific customer needs.
Management wants to retrain employees to work in both the coning and beaming departments to meet "competitive standards in the field," Faust said.
There are only about 30 employees involved in both areas in the first step toward change, the plant manager said. But as new standards are reached, future change would be necessary to meet the standards of competition with industry rivals, he added.
Though changes were first proposed early this year, employee training did not begin until July, Faust said.
Perceptions of the changes are sharply different in the eyes of the union, Gregorek said. She said she could not discuss specifics because of the prospects of future arbitration, which could occur in October if the issues are not resolved.
"Management has not negotiated in good faith," Gregorek said. "We feel like we were betrayed," she said, ignoring long-standing contractual agreements on seniority.
Faust emphasized the need for change in the future, but said that many employees do not recognize the nature of the changing world. Many of them are "looking through a rear-view mirror" without acknowledging the challenges of what lies ahead.
In spite of the serious concerns expressed publicly by employees, Faust said the door to change has been left open to employees. "A grievance plan is being pursued," he said.
However, Gregorek said management had refused to reverse the directions of its plans.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 linesby CNB