NEW CASTLE Rundle: More replacements coming

Some jobs may be moved away from the strikebound plant, the company said.
THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Universal-Rundle officials say they will continue to hire permanent replacement workers to take the jobs of striking workers.
Police escorted about 17 people into the Cherry Street plant without incident Monday as about 90 striking workers lined the road leading to the plant entrance.
Company spokesman Steve Golimowski said the new workers will be paid $9.16 an hour and will remain permanent employees even if the strike ends.
"We are good to our word. We tried to explain to the striking employees that we were going to bring these people in and we made a deal with the mayor [to start talks]. We felt the union did not hold up their part," he said.
The deal
New Castle Mayor Timothy Fulkerson, who was serving as an intermediary between workers and the company, had brokered a deal where workers would return to work and then negotiations would start again two weeks later.
The deal fell through when union members said they wanted to return to work but wanted contract negotiations to begin immediately.
Workers have been on strike since midnight Oct. 15 over a wages and benefits dispute. The company said it offered 15-cents per hour raises in the first and third year of the contract and $200 bonuses in the second and fourth years. No increases were offered in the last two years of the six-year pact.
Workers said with increases in benefits and the elimination of a bonus program their raises would amount to three cents per hour over the life of the contract.
Kathy Kirkwood, treasurer for Local 365 of the Glass Molders, Pottery, Plastics & amp; Allied Workers International, said workers believe the company is trying to break the union. "We are standing as one," she said Monday morning.
Jobs to Canada?
Golimowski said the company will continue to hire more replacement workers until the plant is up to full production. He did not say how long that would take. He added that 18 to 20 jobs may be moved to a Canadian plant owned by Crane Plumbing Co., the parent company of Universal-Rundle.
"We feel we won't be able to adequately get the staff [in New Castle] up to meet our client's needs," he said.
Golimowski said the company received more than 100 applications from people wanting to replace the 108 striking workers.
Kirkwood noted that several cars driven by replacement workers did not enter the plant when they saw the picketing workers.
Union and company officials are expected to meet Nov. 13 for their first negotiation session since early October.