UNIVERSAL-RUNDLE Strikers see no replacements but expect them to come soon
Striking workers expect the company to hire replacement workers this week.
THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- No replacement workers crossed picket lines at Universal-Rundle here this morning, but striking workers think it will happen soon.
The company threatened to replace all striking workers if they did not return to work Monday. Union workers, numbering about 100, walked off the job at midnight Oct. 15 in a dispute over wages and benefits. They received letters last week ordering them to return to work or risk losing their jobs to permanent replacement workers today.
The workers decided Monday morning not to return to work and filed unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board in Pittsburgh, said Joe Bish, staff representative for the workers' union, the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & amp; Allied Union.
No crossing
Kathy Kirkwood, treasurer for the Local 365 of GMPPA, said this morning that no replacement workers crossed the picket lines today.
"We are thinking they might come in tomorrow or Friday," she said.
The striking workers were also heading to court this morning to fight the company's petition for a temporary restraining order to limit the number of pickets.
Company spokesman Steve Golimowski refused to comment on the court action.
Golimowski referred all questions to New Castle Mayor Timothy Fulkerson, who he called an "unofficial mediator between the company and union."
Deal rejected
Fulkerson said Monday afternoon that he believed he brokered a deal between the company and workers in which the workers would return to work Thursday under the old contract and negotiations for a new contract would restart.
But Kirkwood said workers rejected that offer this morning, saying they don't believe the company will restart negotiations.
"We want them to go back to the bargaining table now. We want a contract before we go back," she said.