RMI TITANIUM Union seeks restoration of health benefits
The state determined this week that the workers are locked out, not striking.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
WEATHERSFIELD -- Attorneys representing locked-out union workers at RMI Titanium are looking for a legal way to restore employees' health insurance coverage, which was terminated Tuesday.
Todd Weddell, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 2155, said the union's contract stipulated that health benefits would end 30 days after the last day of work preceding a strike or layoff.
The company cut off health benefits to its 380 hourly employees and sent out notices about their rights to buy coverage, under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. The act, known as COBRA, requires employers to provide that opportunity to workers who lose their health benefits.
But the union has maintained all along that RMI workers are not on strike, Weddell said, and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services agrees. A state hearing officer made that determination Wednesday and ruled that the 380 employees are eligible for unemployment compensation.
RMI managers asked hourly employees to leave their work stations the night of Oct. 26, the day after members of Locals 2155 and 2155-7 rejected a company contract proposal. The company has kept the plant gates locked since then, not allowing workers to report to work. The union has been manning information pickets outside the plant.
Union's stance
Weddell said the union believes the health benefits should not be terminated because the employees are not striking.
He also pointed out the health-care plan in the union's most recent contract with RMI was to continue through Dec. 31, even if the union had approved a new agreement. On that basis, he said, the union's attorneys may ask a judge to approve an extension of the benefits, at least through Dec. 31.
COBRA coverage is expensive, about $875 a month for family coverage, Weddell said.
The USWA has provided the local with a share of the international's strike and defense fund that will be used to help hardship cases, members undergoing chemotherapy or other expensive and necessary medical treatments, but the limited funds can help only a few, he said.
"It's just a shot in the dark, but we've got to try," Weddell said of the effort to restore coverage.
vinarsky@vindy.com