COLUMBIANA National Refractories to decide fate of workers

COLUMBIANA -- Company officials will determine later this week if about 150 employees of National Refractories and Minerals Corp. will return to work.
About 150 employees were sent home Friday and told not to return to work this week.
"It's a downturn, with the slow economy, and of course, we are tied to the steel industry," said Urb Pelletier, human resources manager at National Refractories and Minerals Corp. in Livermore, Calif.
"Production is slow," he said. "We'll look at our orders, and hopefully we can start up again next week."
Joe Holcomb of United Steelworkers of America AFL-CIO District 23 office in Salem said employees of the Columbiana plant are represented by United Steelworkers of America Local 523 B.
He had no immediate comment about the layoffs but said the local planned a meeting late Monday.
The company's main products are brick and mortar for the steel companies such as LTV Corp. of Cleveland.
More than 4,000 United Steelworkers union employees approved a new contract with LTV in August. LTV has been under bankruptcy court protection from creditors since Dec. 29 and said in June that without a new labor contract, it would be forced to liquidate by September.