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By Brad Bauer, bbauer@mariettatimes.com
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Times file photo
An aerial view of the Eramet plant in 2005.
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Proposed
changes to retirement programs and health benefits remain a sticking
point at Eramet Marietta where picket lines will continue today after
union workers voted down a second contract offer Wednesday.
Nearly 300 union workers at the alloy plant have been off the job for the past 103 days.
“The
body has spoken twice and said that they are not satisfied with what is
being offered,” said Denny Longwell, staff representative of the
District 1 United Steelworkers Union. “We hope that’s starting to get
through to the company.”
Longwell would not say what the vote total was. He did say 242 of the union members cast their ballot.
“These workers are due something that’s fair and equitable,” Longwell said.
About
a quarter of the union force is within a few years of retirement.
Approximately 25 have retired since the start of the labor dispute. The
workers contend the proposed changes to medical costs will consume
nearly all of retirees’ monthly pensions.
Back in August,
workers voted down the new contract that would have frozen pension
plans and left employees the option of enrolling in a modified benefit
plan of $30 per month for each year of service (plus what the worker
has accumulated through the end of 2006), or the option of enrolling
into a 401(k) plan with a dollar for dollar match, up to 5 percent.
Eramet
officials say the concessions in medical costs and retirement are
necessary to ensure the long-term viability of the plant. The specialty
metal plant has operated in Marietta since 1951, first as Union
Carbide, but since the 1970s under different ownership.
Eramet
union workers earn an average of $19.53 per hour. As part of the new
contract, the company proposed a pay increase of $1.71 per hour over
the next three years.
“We are interested in preserving the
viability of the plant and keeping good paying jobs in this community,”
said Ethan Frank-Collins, human resources manager at Eramet.
“Obviously, the union is not interested in that.”
Frank-Collins
said the contract offer voted down Wednesday offered a 51/2 percent
match for its 401 (k) plan, and modified caps for retiree medical costs.
“There are no winners in a strike. It is detrimental to all parties involved,” Frank-Collins said.
The
labor dispute at Eramet is the first since 1985, when members of the
Oil, Chemical and Atomic workers walked off their jobs for three weeks.
At that time, the company was owned by Elkem. Eramet, a French-owned
company, took control of the plant in 1999.
There are no new talks scheduled.
Eramet
has called the dispute a labor strike, while the union has called it a
lockout by the company. Last month, a court ruled the dispute is a
lockout, helping to clear the way for the workers to collect
unemployment benefits.
Eramet at a glance
 Eramet
Marietta, owned by a French-based firm, is the lone domestic source of
ferromanganese, an alloy that improves steel. The French-owned company
sells about 35,000 tons of the material a year and employs about 400
people.
The plant, along
Ohio 7 between Marietta and Belpre, opened in 1951 as part of a huge
Union Carbide complex that was divided and sold in the 1970s.
Eramet union workers earn an average of $19.53 per hour.
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