WEATHERSFIELD RMI's final offer includes a wage freeze

Members will vote Saturday on the package.
THE VINDICATOR
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
WEATHERSFIELD -- RMI Titanium is asking its 400 union workers to accept a pay freeze for three years and a lot of changes in the way work is done at the plant to help the company weather a continuing slump in demand for its products.
Members of United Steelworkers of America Locals 2155 and 2155-7 are working under a second contract extension until Saturday, when they'll vote on a proposal which company officials have called their final offer.
Union leaders had scheduled a series of informational meetings today to explain the package. The union agreed to a one-week contract extension when its 41/2 year pact expired Oct. 14, and leaders approved a second extension Monday evening.
Ray Raschilla Jr., chairman of Local 2155-7, said union leaders decided to take the package to their membership when company officials refused to bargain further. "I'm not endorsing it, but I'm going to present it and let the people make up their own minds," he said.
Tim Rupert, RMI president and chief executive of RMI's parent company RTI International Metals, said the company wants concessions from the union because the Weathersfield titanium mill is losing money. He said RMI is doing less than a third of the business it was doing five years ago, and competition is getting more intense.
"We have to keep this company viable, and we think that what's in the package is the minimum we need," Rupert said. He estimated the changes would save RMI between $2 million and $3 million a year.
About the offer
Wages would stay the same, averaging about $16 per hour, and the company is offering a $1,000 signing bonus. Rupert said the company pays about $35 per hour when pension and other benefits are factored in.
Profit sharing and pensions would be unchanged, Rupert said, sick pay would increase and workers as well as retirees would get increased life insurance coverage.
Workers would not pay toward their health insurance premiums, but some out-of-pocket costs, such as prescription and doctor visit copayments, would go up.
Rupert said most of the savings in the company's package, about two-thirds, would come from job changes and work rule changes in the plant.
"Not that it doesn't change the work environment. It does," he said. "That's the point. I have to change things to keep the plant running more efficiently."
Fewer workers will be needed if and when the new efficiencies in the plant take effect, Rupert acknowledged, but he said competition and dropping sales could have an even greater impact on work force numbers.
Quarterly loss
RTI, RMI's parent, this week reported a loss of $2.5 million, or 12 cents per share, on sales of $50.2 million for its third quarter ending Sept. 30.
The biggest loser was its titanium group, which includes RMI and other plants in Missouri and Pennsylvania. That division lost $3.6 million on sales of $38.8 million, Rupert said, largely because of a continuing decline in commercial aircraft production.
RTI's fabrication and distribution group also lost money, $600,000 for the quarter, on sales of $36.2 million. The energy division, which produces equipment for the oil and gas well industry, was the only profit maker, Rupert said, but its gain was not enough to offset the other losses.
RTI does not yet report sales and profits for its relatively new energy division, which makes up about 15 percent of the company's total sales.
vinarsky@vindy.com