WHEATLAND, PA. Striking workers appeal to customers

The company has warned that a poor market could result in massive layoffs.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
WHEATLAND, Pa. -- Striking Steelworkers at Wheatland Tube Co. are contacting company customers, urging them to do what they can to persuade the company to end the 15-week-old strike.
That doesn't sit well with Bill Kerins, vice president of operations and chief negotiator for the company.
Such actions are damaging to the company and "irresponsible with respect to everyone's best interests," he said in a prepared statement.
The strike began April 28, and the company and Local 1660 of the United Steelworkers of America had another bargaining session Wednesday. Kerins said the company offered some movement but the union didn't.
Union negotiators had a different recollection of the meeting.
"We moved some more again and they didn't," said Dom Vadala, chief negotiator for the union.
The two sides won't meet again until Aug. 20 because Kerins and the federal mediator handling the case are going on vacation.
Vadala said the union offered to keep negotiating with other company representatives, but Kerins declined.
Kerins said a tentative meeting was set for today, pending progress in Wednesday's talks, but has been canceled.
Customer respect
Vadala said the USW International is sending letters to Wheatland Tube customers advising them of the strike.
There's no desire to have them stop ordering pipe from Wheatland, but they might want to intervene by urging the company to get the strike settled, he said.
"Such letters can cause irreparable harm to our mutual efforts to rebuild this company when the strike is over," Kerins said. "If customers are lost or alienated, these letters could very well seriously damage long-term employment opportunities for our employees."
He also said the company will continue to produce and ship product using salaried personnel, a move started last week that angered striking workers.
Kerins said the market is weak and Wheatland is able to meet all customer demands despite the strike.
The market is so bad, he said, that he advised the union more than a month ago that "massive layoffs would be imminent" unless business prospects improve.
Stumbling blocks
Local 1660 represents 470 hourly workers at the plant.
A company demand that workers begin picking up a percentage of their health-care insurance premiums and proposed changes in pension programs are major stumbling blocks to a settlement.
A union push for improved health care benefits for retirees is another.
Kerins said the union had been demanding a $1 per hour wage increase over three years and the company had agreed. However, the union recently increased that demand to $1.50, he said.
He said the company has repeatedly suggested that the union allow its members to vote on current proposals but the union has refused.