ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 13, 1996 TAG: 9612130099
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON
A 45-year alliance between a union and workers at Blue Ridge Stone Corp. near Roanoke soon could be ending.
The National Labor Relations Board said Thursday it has a request to dissolve the union at Blue Ridge Stone, a private company that operates a limestone mine in Blue Ridge. A vote by the employees is scheduled Jan.9.
Worker Scott Wilson started the process to drop the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International as the production employees' bargaining representative, according to a filing with the NLRB's office in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The union's Radford-based Local 3-515 has officially represented the company's mine workers and drivers, currently 25 people, on issues of pay, benefits and working conditions since "about 1951,'' the NLRB filing said.
Wilson showed that at least 30 percent of the work force wants the union out; that showing is required before a decertification vote can be scheduled.
The union could not be reached.
Blue Ridge Stone executives would support elimination of the union, said James Meath, a lawyer for the company.
"The company's very happy that the employees at least appear to be giving [the company] an opportunity to work directly with them without a union," Meath said.
The vote is set to occur about three weeks before the current contract on compensation will expire Jan. 31. The representation issue will be decided by a majority of the workers who cast ballots.
LENGTH: Short : 36 linesby CNB