THOMSON CONTRACT EXTENSION IS OFFERED TO CRT PLANT WORKERS
Thomson offered workers at its Marion, Ind., TV tube plant a one-year extension of a contract that expires in April, including provisions covering a closure, union officials said. A vote on the proposed extension by members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1160 was scheduled for Wed. Results weren’t available by our deadline.
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In a memo to union members, IBEW 1160 Business Mgr. Steve Rowland said the proposed contract wouldn’t offer wage increases, but would maintain benefits and provide employees some security, the Chronicle-Tribune newspaper reported. Workers affected by full or partial closure of the Marion factory would receive one week’s pay for every full year of service, he said. Thomson officials weren’t available for comment. The company is weighing changes in manufacturing operations as it prepares to spin off its TV business to Chinese CE manufacturer TCL by midyear. Signs of change at the Marion plant emerged when Thomson didn’t begin negotiations on a new contract last fall.
Thomson’s Marion factory has been roiled by layoffs, including 350 last summer, because of a downturn in demand for CRT-based TVs. The plant makes 25"-and-up direct-view tubes, and employment dropped below 1,000 from a peak 2,200 in the early 1990s. It has gone through a series of personnel cuts the last several years, including elimination of 105 jobs and an early retirement program, 3 years ago. Thomson, which has gradually shifted TV production to Mexico, closed a facility in Scranton, Pa., that produced 27” tubes, laying off 1,000 workers in 2001.
In another sign of CRT business decline, glass supplier Techneglas is weighing a mid-March layoff round. It said the number of jobs affected hadn’t been set. Preliminary first- quarter sales appear to have improved from a year ago, but not enough to prevent layoffs, said Techneglas Mfg. & Engineering Vp Joseph Schaeufele.
Techneglas, which has TV glass plants in Columbus, O., and Pittston, Pa., has “roughed out” with the union a way for senior employees to take a voluntary layoff while sparing workers with less time in, Schaeufele told the Times-Leader newspaper of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The union floated the proposal in Oct.-Nov., he said.
The union and Techneglas remain at odds, however, over a company decision -- under a labor contract clause on hiring outside firms -- to replace 6 custodians with a cheaper cleaning contractor, Schaeufele said. Randy Robbins, business agent for Local 243 of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics & Allied Workers International Union, said the union would file a grievance, contending the workers wouldn’t be rehired at the plant and the positions were “bargained jobs.” Robbins also told the Times-Leader the voluntary senior layoffs were first proposed 3 years ago and the company hadn’t mentioned them until last fall. Techneglas is expected to trim 60-80 jobs by mid-March, reducing the unionized work force to 670, Robbins said. It cut 100 jobs in Dec.