WEATHERSFIELD We're not on strike at RMI, informational pickets say

It may take weeks for the state to determine if workers will get jobless benefits.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
and CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITERS
WEATHERSFIELD -- Unionized workers at RMI Titanium manning the informational picket line outside RMI Titanium say they're not on strike, and they're hoping that will help them qualify for state unemployment benefits.
"We haven't heard anything yet, so we have no idea," Jim Profato said of the status of benefits.
The Niles resident and 30-year employee of RMI noted, however, that it's not that employees don't want to work.
"They've said it's a work stoppage," he said, referring to company officials. "But there's no question that it's a lockout. We want to work and they won't let us."
"Just open the gates and let us in," he said. "We'll keep working and keep negotiating."
Members of United Steelworkers of America Locals 2155 and 2155-7 set up informational picket lines at the Weathersfield titanium mill Monday when the company refused to let them come to work.
The company told workers to stay home after the unions rejected what RMI officials have called their final contract offer.
RMI issued a statement Monday saying its nonunion employees are taking over production duties.
Todd Weddell, president of Local 2155 representing production workers, said the union has advised members to start filing unemployment compensation claims.
Workers on strike do not qualify for jobless benefits, but employees locked out of their workplace do, Weddell said, adding he thinks the issue is "pretty clear cut" in this case.
What happened
Union members reported for their shifts after voting Saturday to reject the company's contract proposal, working the overnight shift and the day shift Sunday.
Those who arrived for the afternoon shift Sunday were asked to leave at 7 p.m., Weddell said, about the same time their co-workers received calls at home from the company instructing them not to report to work Monday because of a "work stoppage."
Carmen Stewart, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services in Columbus, said the state agency won't look into the RMI situation until it starts getting unemployment benefit applications from workers.
She stressed that the term lockout doesn't necessarily mean the employer has locked employees out of the work place.
In general, Stewart said, it's considered a lockout when an employer makes changes in the status quo of a union contract which were not negotiated. In that case, she said, employees would qualify for benefits, as long as no other disqualifying factors applied.
If the changes in the status quo were made by the employees, she said, the issue would be considered a labor dispute and the workers would be disqualified from benefits.
She refused to comment on the RMI case specifically.
If more than 25 unemployment compensation applications are received, she said, a hearing will be scheduled and resolution might take several weeks.
Request to mediator
Meanwhile, the union has asked a federal mediator who was working with the two sides during negotiations to try to set up a new meeting with the company.
"Unemployment benefits would ease the burden a little bit," said Ray Raschilla Jr., unit chairman for Local 2155-7, "but it's a lot less than what we're used to living on. We'd all rather be working."
Local 2155-7 represents clerical and technical workers at RMI; Local 2155 represents production workers, altogether about 380 hourly employees.
"We're willing to continue working under the old agreement and continue bargaining," Raschilla said. "It's the company that's walked away and locked us out."
Vehicles passing pickets honked their horns Monday and today in support of employees. As Profato stood outside the company's gate this morning, he and others acknowledged those showing support.
"It's different when you are walking on your own, than when you are kept out," he said.
Support has also come from other unions, he noted, including USWA Local 1375, which represents Steelworkers at WCI Steel, and United Auto Workers Local 1714 from General Motors.
Raschilla and Weddell said the union has been keeping about 12 informational pickets across the street from the mill property. They said pickets are allowing nonunion workers, suppliers and others to pass through the gates.
vinarsky@vindy.com
slshaulis@vindy.com