WEATHERSFIELD Contract talks due at RMI Titanium

The mill's tight financial situation is expected to affect negotiations.
THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
WEATHERSFIELD -- Union workers at RMI Titanium who were embroiled in a bitter 61/2-month strike five years ago are about to begin contract talks again.
Tim Rupert, president and chief executive of RMI's parent company, RTI International Metals, said the union contract expires Oct. 15 for United Steelworkers of America Local 2155 and 2155-7. Negotiations will begin sometime in August.
Rupert said he believes talks will go more smoothly this time around because union leaders know RMI is going through a tough period stemming from a sluggish commercial aerospace market.
"In 1998 the industry was coming off record highs, and that generated some excessive expectations about what the business could support," he said. "Since then, management and labor at the Niles facility have been working well together, and I think they probably have a more realistic view of what we need to do to keep ourselves competitive."
Ray Raschilla Jr., who represents about 36 clerical and technical workers as unit chairman of Local 2155-7, said the union's goal is to keep the members happy and to keep the company viable. He agreed that the titanium mill's tight financial situation might make contract talks less acrimonious.
"It's kind of like a marriage relationship. The No. 1 reason for marriage breakups is money, and when there's a lot of money, there's a lot to fight about," he quipped. "When there's not a lot of money, there's not as much to fight about."
Todd Waddell, president of Local 2155, which represents production and maintenance workers, could not be reached to comment Tuesday.
Last time around
Wages were the main sticking point when RMI workers walked off the job in October 1998, finally ratifying a 41/2-year contract in mid-April 1999. Former congressman James Traficant Jr. facilitated two days of marathon bargaining leading up to the settlement.
For now, Raschilla said, the union is focused on getting the titanium mill up and running after a one-month shutdown. Most of the plant's 380 hourly employees have been laid off since July 1.
Rupert has explained that the company saves money by working in spurts, running its production at close to full capacity for a while, then closing down the plant for a month or more. Officials will likely shut down in December again as they did last year, he said.
Demand for titanium has hit record lows in recent months, Rupert said, and RMI's production was running at about 30 percent of capacity in the second quarter.
There are some bright spots in RTI's business, he said.
The company's distribution division is generating steady earnings, and major oil companies are using titanium to dig more deep-water oil and gas wells.
"There's potential for a lot of growth in that area," he said, predicting that RTI's energy division will see business increase by 25 percent in 2004.
RTI is also supplying "a trickle" of titanium for several defense contracts, including several airplane models and Howitzer cannons. Rupert said the company expects to see its defense contract production increase substantially by the second half of 2004.
vinarsky@vindy.com