THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 6, 1995 TAG: 9502060066
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
A proposed contract for 12,500 hourly workers at Newport News Shipbuilding calls for a wage freeze until 1999, but it includes bonuses and improved health and other insurance coverage.
Staff members of the United Steelworkers of America disclosed details of the tentative agreement with the shipyard on Sunday to union members in a meeting at Hampton University. The Steelworkers' Local 8888 represents about 7,000 workers at the yard, but the contract would affect all the hourly laborers.
The local negotiating committee will recommend that members ratify the proposed contract in voting today, said Judy Boyd, sub-district director of the Steelworkers, in a Sunday news conference.
The old contract, which was to expire at midnight Sunday, was extended until the vote is tallied.
The agreement, reached late Saturday morning after marathon negotiations, would avert a threatened strike.
``The company clearly intended to decrease our wages,'' Boyd said. ``We held the line on that issue.''
The shipyard's management backed away at the last minute from a demand to cut wages $2.50 an hour, Boyd said. It also had been seeking to take away some overtime benefits and 20 percent of paid vacation days.
Although a wage freeze appears to be a victory for the union, inflation will slowly erode the real income of the shipyard workers over the life of the contract.
``I think the membership will be disappointed that there isn't a wage increase,'' Boyd said.
But the membership understands the yard's competitive position and will probably be pleased with some of the improvements in benefits, she said.
``I think we're going to go along with it because no one wants to strike,'' said Ricky Gardner, a welder who's worked at the shipyard for 10 years, as he walked into the union meeting. ``The company has $6 billion worth of backlog. They need us and we need them.''
Newport News Shipbuilding has been downsizing and trying to reduce its dependence on Navy shipbuilding contracts.
Falling Pentagon budgets have led to fewer ship orders and forced the yard to look for customers in competitive, global commercial shipbuilding markets.
At the same time, it has cut its workforce to about 20,000 from about 29,000 in 1990. Last April it announced plans to reduce employment to 14,000 by the end of 1996.
The proposed contract calls for a wage freeze for the life of the contract, but it also includes three bonuses:
5 percent of a year's straight-time wages to employees on the payroll as of today for ratification.
4 percent to employees on the payroll as of July 1, 1996.
3 percent to employees on the payroll as of Dec. 1, 1997.
Employees covered by the deal now make anywhere from $7.12 to $15.39 an hour. The proposal would create a new top pay grade of $15.53 an hour.
Workers hired after the new contract would be paid less. Boyd declined to elaborate on the wage progression for new hires.
The union gave up two of 12 holidays and 10 percent of the paid vacation days.
The proposal includes an improved and slightly more expensive health care program as well as increased life and accident insurance, improved pension benefits and greater seniority rights in case of layoffs.
``The health coverage is better than I expected,'' said Ben Joyner, an electrician with 21 years at the yard.
``That's important.''
The contract also includes language calling for greater cooperation between labor and management to improve productivity and reduce costs to make the yard more competitive.
Until Saturday morning the negotiations had been ``extremely tense,'' Boyd said.
``My objective was not to threaten a strike,'' she said. ``My objective was to hold the line and improve where we could. Strikes are sometimes necessary, but are not always manageable. We were looking at a potentially serious strike if we took what the company had been offering to the members.''
Joyner compared the shipyard's tactics to a ``dangerous game of chicken.''
Referring to the wage cuts the shipyard had been seeking until Saturday, he said: ``I don't think that was realistic to even put on the table. Most of us are on pretty tight budgets, and you would have seen bankruptcies soar.''
The proposed contract would expire after 50 months, on April 4, 1999.
Voting is scheduled to take place between 5 a.m. today and 1 a.m. Tuesday at the Steelworkers' Local 8888 union hall at 4306 Huntington Ave. in Newport News. Results will be available Tuesday morning. ILLUSTRATION: CONTRACT
Terms of a tentative contract for hourly workers at Newport News
Shipbuilding:
A wage freeze until April 4, 1999.
Three bonuses - of 5 percent, 4 percent and 3 percent.
Holidays reduced from 12 to 10.
10 percent fewer paid vacation days.
An improved health care program.
Increased life and accident insurance.
Improved pension benefits.
Greater seniority rights in the event of layoffs.
by CNB