RMI TITANIUM Company discusses pact offer

The union for locked-out workers has asked that lost vacation be reinstated.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
WEATHERSFIELD -- Wage increases and workers' demand for reinstatement of their lost vacation benefits are the only issues still on the table in talks between RMI Titanium and the union representing 70 of its 360 locked-out workers, a company official said.
David Paull, vice president of administration for RTI International Metals, RMI's parent, broke the company's 2-month-old silence Thursday to discuss the progress of negotiations.
Workers at the Weathersfield titanium mill have been locked out since Oct. 26, a day after they rejected what the company then called its final contract offer. The workers are represented by United Steelworkers of America Locals 2155 and 2155-7.
It's been several weeks since the two sides have met, and no new bargaining sessions are scheduled.
Company officials have made it a policy not to comment on the talks except through press releases, though they did discuss some issues at RTI's annual meeting April 30.
Latest offer
Paull said the company's most recent offer called for a wage freeze for the first three years of a five-year pact, with 30-cent and 35-cent per hour raises in the fourth and fifth years. RMI workers averaged $16 per hour before the lockout.
The union wants 40 cents additional in the fourth and fifth years, he said; the company originally offered 30 cents additional for both years.
Secondly, Paull said, the union has asked the company to reinstate vacation pay for 2005 that workers forfeited this week under terms of their expired contract. The company has not agreed.
The expired union pact states that employees must work at least six consecutive months to earn vacation for the following year. The locked-out workers' six-month deadline was midnight Wednesday.
Todd Weddell, union president, has said the vacation forfeiture will save RMI about $750,000, based on an average of three-and-a-half weeks per worker. Vacation time is based on seniority, and many workers qualified for as many as five weeks.
Weddell could not be reached to comment Thursday.
Other provisions
Paull said the two sides have tentatively agreed on job combinations that will reduce the number of maintenance crafts from seven to four.
Also agreed upon, he said, is an early-retirement window for 24 employees. The company isn't offering retirement incentive pay, but the 24 would qualify for an additional $400 a month until they reach age 62 under the company's pension plan.
The union and company also have a tentative agreement on a two-tiered wage plan, he said. Under the plan, future new hires would earn $2.50 an hour less than the present starting wage, would contribute to their health insurance premiums and would get a 401(k) retirement plan instead of a pension.
Other RMI employees would contribute nothing to their health-care premiums, he said, though they would have higher co-payments under the new plan.
Paull acknowledged that the worker lockout has saved the company money, although he wouldn't say how much. RMI has paid no wages and stopped paying for employee health benefits last November.
The company has said it wants to reduce operating costs by $3.5 million a year. Paull said the company's most recent contract proposal doesn't quite meet that goal, but it would provide "substantial savings."
vinarsky@vindy.com