By vincent todaro
Staff Writer
SPOTSWOOD — The wage workers at the Schweitzer-Mauduit International paper mill on Main Street returned to work recently after their union reached an agreement with the company to end a month-long strike.
The approximately 300 striking workers began arriving back to work July 28, two days after their union, PACE (the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union Local 2-1482), ratified a new collective bargaining agreement that will run until July 28, 2004. The employees had been picketing in shifts around the clock for nearly five weeks at various points around the mill, which primarily manufactures paper for the tobacco industry.
Ismael Martinez, president of PACE Local 2-1482, said the workers were able to have a couple of the central issues in dispute resolved to their satisfaction. The union and the company agreed not to lay off senior workers before juniors, he said, noting that was a key issue for the wage employees. The union also got the company to offer another medical option, as workers were displeased with the company’s previous choices.
"With those two issues settled, we decided to come back to work," Martinez said. "We’ll work the next two years, and hopefully we will be in a position to get a better agreement."
He said there were many issues that led to the walkout, but that when the workers heard the company wanted to take away the seniority privilege and not provide the preferred health coverage, a decision was made to go on strike.
"Seniority and health issues broke the camel’s back and put us on the street, so to speak," he said.
Martinez has previously said union members were concerned about a situation in which they said they made concessions, such as allowing a salary freeze sought by the company, even though such things went against the collective bargaining agreement. He also said the lack of annual pay increases negatively affected workers’ pensions and 401K plans, as well as overtime, while amounting to "a huge cost savings for the company."
Under the new agreement, the company has agreed to 3-percent annual increases for workers, Martinez said.
Still, about 60 to 70 employees remain laid off this week in part because there is less demand for the company’s product right now, he said.
"Hopefully the business picture will change," he said.
The company has not kept any of the replacement workers it hired during the strike, the union president said.
Another issue that concerned the union was the fact that the company wanted workers to pay directly for a portion of their health coverage. The company wanted to stop offering a plan that requires employees to use a network of doctors but did not require referrals. In place of that, it offered an HMO and point-of-service policy through a company the union said was unacceptable.
Martinez said he was touched by the community’s support for the workers during the weeks in which they were a 24-hour presence outside the mill’s gates.
While Martinez expressed mixed feelings about the agreement, company officials seemed pleased.
"We think it’s a satisfactory agreement under the circumstances," said William Faust, vice president of administration for the company, which is based in Georgia. "It’s unfortunate that there was a five-week strike."
"I think the relationship is on the mend at this point," Martinez said. "Both parties have a willingness to see each other’s point of view." Though the strike may be over, there are still issues that need to be resolved, including cases headed for arbitration, he said.
"There are a lot of unresolved issues in terms of the company being in violation of the [previous] collective bargaining agreement," he said.
Faust acknowledged that those issues existed prior to the previous agreement running out.