THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608270262
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 57 lines
Nine months after unionizing, workers at Metro Machine Corp. voted Sunday to approve a three-year labor contract with the Norfolk shipyard.
The contract gives the yard's 500 workers a 1 percent raise immediately and a 2 percent pay increase after one year. Workers also recieved a $200 signing bonus.
The contract also ensconces the shipyard's vacation plan, which had been the target of union attacks. Union members also become eligible for the union's pension fund.
The contract was approved by a vote of 173 to 14, with half the members voting, said Dave Ottney, an interim union steward at Metro Machine.
Ottney said the contract includes a provision that reopens the contract for talks on economic issues such as pay and vacation after 22 months.
The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers organized Metro Machine's Norfolk employees in November. The union's Local 2000 already represents Metro Machine's employees at its yards in Philadelphia and Chester, Pa.
``I think the offer the company put forward . . . reflected the business realities of being in the shipyard business today,'' Metro Machine President Richard Goldbach said.
The employees' decision to be represented by a union disappointed Goldbach. Metro Machine is 70 percent owned by an employee stock retirement program.
But once the majority of workers joined the union, Goldbach said it was the company's obligation to accept that and bargain in good faith with the union.
Union officials give credit to the shipyard, calling it a ``good employer.''
``They have an excellent medical plan there,'' said John Chapman, the Boilermaker organizer and international representative, who helped organize the workers at Metro Machine. ``It's odd to see an employer pay for a health care plan that good.''
Sticking points in the talks were over vacation and some changes in work rules.
Metro Machine pays employees for a 52-week work year. Workers have a choice if they want vacation. They can take the time off without pay. Or they can take a cut in pay to cover the costs of being paid while on vacation.
The union had sought paid vacation for all employees.
The union also filed some unfair labor practice claims against the company with the National Labor Relations Board for changing work rules without first talking with the union. Those claims are pending.
In the end, though, the union decided to settle for getting a contract in place, said Ottney, a maintenance electrician who's worked nine years at the yard.
``Before you do anything, you've got to get a foundation,'' Ottney said. ``Our No. 1 goal wasn't any economic gain. We tried to get some vacation, but our No. 1 goal was just to get fair treatment around the plant.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
HUY NGUYEN
The Virginian-Pilot
Metro Machine workers prepare to blast and paint a ship. by CNB