SUPERIOR PRINTING Former employees picket for payment

Company officials blame foreign competition for the closure.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Sign-waving protesters and honks from supportive motorists did not penetrate onto the floor of the Superior Printing building, where a multimillion dollar German printing press was being repossessed.
Workers in dark uniforms used a forklift and chains to remove the press, the heart of what company officials say was the largest print shop in the Mahoning Valley. It will be resold now, likely to a shop in China or South America, said one of Superior's owners, Don Peterson. The bay that had been reserved for finished print jobs was filled with pallets of cardboard and items to be auctioned.
"The business is closed," Peterson said. "When the sales stopped, the business closed."
The 36 union workers at the Niles Road S.E. plant were told July 29 that the plant, which produced high-quality art lithographs, coffee table and wallpaper books, would close Aug. 1. Their health coverage ended the same day, said Chris Farrand, president of Graphic Communications Union 546M.
"My frustration is that it is a shame that the plant had to close," said Donald Stepenson, a union pressman. "The work we were doing was unequaled by anybody."
Requests
Thursday, he stood with a half-dozen union brothers across from the factory where he worked for 40 years, holding a sign asking motorists to honk for fairness. Many did.
The former employees are asking the company to pay them for vacation time accumulated before the factory closed, Farrand said. He said the total amount owed to employees was about $100,000.
"They earned it," he said. "The money could be used to pay for health coverage."
Union pressman in the plant were making $26 an hour, he said. None have been offered new jobs making near that, he said.
Company officials did not dispute that employees were owed for vacation pay. But they will have to line up behind other creditors for payment, they said.
Finances
The company's financial situation had been touch-and-go for about 18 months, Peterson said. The changing cast of owners fell months behind in payments for the leased press. But employees were paid for every hour worked, he said.
There were also about 15 non-union workers at the plant. Three will stay on to the end of the month to help with the auction of office equipment, officials said.
Superior Printing is the third printing shop to close its production line in the Mahoning Valley in the last few years, following Warren Printing and Youngstown Lithograph.
In recent years, domestic shops have struggled to compete for jobs with shops in China, South America and Europe. Many of foreign competitors benefit from state subsidies and pay lower wages, Peterson said.
siff@vindy.com