THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996 TAG: 9604170415
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Most of the 74 janitors laid off by Newport News Shipbuilding last year have returned to work.
The United Steelworkers of America's Local 8888 celebrated the workers' return to their jobs on Tuesday with a Mardi Gras-style parade. The local represents most of the yard's 12,000 blue-collar workers.
The workers were eligible to return Monday, a shipyard spokeswoman said.
Newport News Shipbuilding had laid off the janitors to save overhead by hiring an outside company to clean offices and bathrooms in the shipyard. An arbitrator ruled in March that the shipyard had violated its contract with the Steelworkers by laying off the janitors.
``It's a real victory,'' said Judith Boyd, the union's sub-district director. ``It's a win, not just for these 74 people, but for the entire bargaining unit.
``If we had not won, we knew there were another 300 to 400 jobs on the chopping block.''
Boyd said the company had notified the union that it also planned layoffs in several other departments, including some material handlers and some tool storage shops.
The arbitrator ordered the company to make all the laid-off janitors ``whole,'' Boyd said. That means they will get all their back pay, all vacation time and all benefits as if they'd been working sincethey were sent out the gate in September.
Any money the workers may have earned at other jobs or from unemployment assistance is deducted from making the workers whole, the shipyard spokeswoman said.
Of the 74 janitors, 10 took the company's early retirement offer. They are also entitled to return to work, Boyd said. by CNB