COLUMBIANA Steelworkers union will sue NRM Corp.

About 16 employees are to return to work Monday, a union spokesman said.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
COLUMBIANA -- United Steelworkers of America AFL-CIO will take legal action against National Refractories and Minerals Corp. here for its furlough of about 150 employees last week.
Joe Holcomb of the steelworkers District 23 office in Salem said by sending workers home Sept. 28 with no prior notice, the company violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
He said about 16 employees, including three salaried workers, are to return to work Monday. The others have been told to pick up any regular or vacation pay owed them, he said.
He said employees of the Columbiana plant are represented by United Steelworkers of America Local 523 B. "The work notification is week-to-week," Holcomb said. "Before this started we were having trouble collecting insurance benefits, and we were about to file some grievances.
"Now we are going to do everything we can to ensure those workers receive the pay and benefits they're entitled to," Holcomb said. "We'll probably be going to federal court."
No notification: Holcomb said the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act states that employers are to notify employees at least 30 days before any mass layoff that is not a plant closing.
He said the 150 workers furloughed represent at least 33 percent of the workforce at the Columbiana plant, and all have worked at least six of the past 12 months.
Holcomb said the penalty to employers who violate the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act is payment of back pay and benefits to each employee during the time of the violation, up to 60 days.
A receptionist at the Columbiana plant has referred all calls regarding the layoffs to Urb Pelletier, human resources manager of the company's corporate headquarters and research facility in Livermore, Calif.
Pelletier did not return phone calls to The Vindicator on Thursday or Friday.
Explanation: Pelletier has cited slow production from the slumping economy and National Refractories' close ties to the steel industry as reasons for the layoffs.
He said company officials would notify workers on a week-to-week basis as to whether they should return to work.
The company's main products are brick and mortar for 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 have been forced to liquidate by September.