Strikers wait for state to decide unemployment-benefit status

By D.A. Wilkinson

American Standard strikers said they are getting great support from the community.

SALEM — On a beautiful, sunny November afternoon, striking workers at American Standard, a bath and kitchen manufacturer, were manning the picket lines.

But nothing much was happening.

Passing drivers honked their horns Friday in support of what the strikers said was the end of the fourth week of the stalemate.

A few of the 340 union workers quit right after the strike began Oct. 17 when they found other jobs.

Some of the strikers didn’t want to be identified or photographed.

But Paul Kersmarki of Alliance didn’t mind. He’s been a packer at the bathroom-fixture plant for 12 years.

The community is showing its support with lots of food.

“We’re getting a lot of pizza, doughnuts, subs and coffee,” Kersmarki said.

Some of the food is coming from local churches and food pantries.

People have also contributed money or wood for the oil drums that keep the strikers warm.

While the strikers were talking, a car pulled up. The driver handed them a fresh pizza and drove away.

But mostly the strikers wait.

Joe Holcomb, a United Steelworkers staff representative at the nearby hall of Local 1538, which represents the workers, said the next development will be Thursday, when the state will determine whether the strikers can get unemployment benefits.

That additional money, said Kersmarki, “would make a significant difference” in the finances of the strikers.

The pickets are getting help from the strike benefits from the union, in addition to the donations.

Christmas, with its presents and food, is too far away to think about now, the strikers said.

There have been no incidents of violence. A striker on Thursday reported to Salem police that a guard told him to stop videotaping the replacement workers or he would be fired.

The pickets also know where replacement workers are parking their cars away from the plant before riding to it in a van. The workers said that while videotaping earlier this week at the replacement parking area, a guard also told them they had to stop. The strikers said they had a landowner’s permission to be on nearby property.

When the replacement workers’ van came to the plant earlier this week, strikers “did a lot of yelling” but that was all, they said.

Steve Hutter of Salem is a 30-year veteran of the company. He joked that if anything happened, he would get blamed for it.

American Standard’s spokeswoman has said the company has made its best and final offer calling for wage and benefit cuts, but with incentives.

The workers, however, say that the company presented its contract and didn’t budge.

A complaint is pending before the National Labor Relations Board, which will take time to resolve, Holcomb said.

“How do you say you’re at an impasse when you’re still bargaining?” he asked.

wilkinson@vindy.com