Today marks the two-week point for workers on strike at Omnova Solutions Inc.”s Columbus plant.
The workers” contract expired May 15; since then, the company and the United Steelworkers Local 748-L have failed to reach an agreement that satisfies both entities.
Meanwhile, the plant has completely implemented its strike contingency plan and is fully operational.
“The plant has converted to full operational status, and we are producing and delivering product,” Sandi Noah, director of communications for Omnova, said Wednesday morning.
“We are willing to try to continue to try to get a deal, to construct a dialogue,” she added, noting the company won”t change its overall stance on changes needed to support the Columbus plant under current economic conditions.
Omnova”s Columbus plant is the primary plant for commercial wall coverings. Customers for this are hospitality hotels, office and retail buildings and restaurants, all of which have decreased new construction and remodeling, Noah said. Demand for wall coverings has been down from 45-80 percent over the past five years.
Functional coated fabrics, a durable plastic upholstery, also are produced at the plant, for the marine and transportation industry. Demand for functional coated fabric has been down 80 percent over the past five years.
In response, Omnova has had to consider changes at all of its nine plants, four of which are unionized, to operate more efficiently.
Jay Lawrence, president of the local union, said the contractual rights being threatened do not impact the operation of the plant.
“We”re willing to go back to the table and discuss stuff like insurance premiums and stuff like that, but we”re not willing to give up our contractual rights,” Lawrence said, citing seniority rights of job preference and shift preference. “We”re not willing to give up our rights that doesn”t affect them operating the plant.”
The company also has proposed cutting jobs and subcontracting them out, consolidating jobs, grouping people together in such a way as to negate job bid rights and allowing supervisors to schedule shifts at their own discretion without regard to seniority, Lawrence said.
Job cuts have been in response to the market, not in regards to union contracts, said Noah. Both Noah and Lawrence declined to go into details of the proposed contract, which was rejected by a vote of 168-2.
Noah is “not optimistic that further meetings would lead to tangible, constructive progress.”
The plant is being run by salaried workers and augmented by outside temporary workers, she said.
The temporary workers have received safety training and operational training and are part of the company”s strike contingency plan put in place prior to the strike.
The last strike, some 40 years ago, lasted three months. The contract between the union and Omnova has remained relatively unchanged since then.
During the strike period, workers are being paid by the union”s strike fund.
“We have a strike fund that helps assist the people with their bills while they are on strike,” explained Lawrence. “It”s a welfare fund.”
Omnova”s Columbus plant employs 259 people, 174 of which are hourly wage workers, and is one of the area”s top 12 employers.
According to the company”s website, Omnova employs about 2,300 people in America, Europe and Asia.
Locally, Omnova estimates it has a $23 million annual impact on the economy in taxes, wages, salaries and payments to local vendors.
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