UNIVERSAL-RUNDLE Union representative says strike will continue

The union will not agree to a 30-day cooling-off period proposed by the mayor.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Area Universal-Rundle workers say they will not return to work even though their counterparts in Georgia are back on the job without a contract.
The New Castle plant, which makes and finishes prefabricated bathtubs and showers, employs about 100 people who have been on strike since midnight Oct. 15 over wages and benefits. Workers at a plant in Iowa are also on strike.
Crane Plumbing, the parent company of Universal-Rundle, reported Wednesday that striking union workers in Union Point, Ga., returned to work.
Joe Bish, representative for Glass Molders, Pottery, Plastics & amp; Allied Workers International Union, said he believes workers in Georgia felt pressure to go back to work because nonunion workers did not support the strike.
Georgia is a right-to-work state where people are not required to join unions even if one is in a plant.
"Probably half the people there were nonunion and the rest were afraid they were going to lose their jobs," he said.
He said it will have no effect on the strike in New Castle.
'Cooling-off' proposal
Bish added that workers here will not comply with a "30-day cooling-off period" proposed by New Castle Mayor Timothy Fulkerson.
Fulkerson asked workers to go back to work for 30 days and then again start negotiations with the company.
"I don't want to see us lose these jobs or this plant in New Castle," Fulkerson said.
But Bish said going back to work without a new contract would be a bad idea.
"We are willing to go back and negotiate a decent contract, but we're not going to do it after working another 30 days. That will put us near the Christmas holiday," he said. Christmas is a time when workers might be reluctant to strike again, he added.
Company officials say Universal-Rundle is losing money and it can't afford to increase the wages and benefits.
Workers rejected a six-year contract that would have given them $200 bonuses in the first and third years and 15-cent-per-hour raises in the second and third years. No raises were planned for the last two years of the contract, workers said.
Workers contend that after increases in health benefits and the elimination of a bonus pay system they would have ended up with a 3-cent-per-hour raise.
Company cites sales losses
A company news release said sales have decreased in the last four years because of the loss of several major customers and the economy in general. The company has reduced sales and administrative and overhead expenses to try to remain competitive, the release said.
Bish said the union believes the company can afford a bigger wage increase. He added the company refused to show the union its financial records during negotiations.
Company spokesman Steve Golimowski said Crane Plumbing is a privately held company and would not ordinarily show its financial records to anyone.
Bish said the union is prepared to start new contract negotiations and has even proposed bringing in a federal mediator, but the company is not cooperating.
Golimowski said a federal mediator has been talking to the company negotiators, something normally done when there is a strike.
He said it is the union that is not communicating with the company.
"We have an attorney doing our negotiations. Nobody from the union has contacted him. We made the last offer and they did not counter," he added.