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Ecusta management and union are far apart
By Mark Barrett, STAFF WRITER
Posted: 10-16-01 01:30
PISGAH FOREST – More than 600 union workers at the RFS Ecusta paper mill went on strike Monday as the result of a contract dispute and it appears that the work stoppage could last awhile.
Union and management officials were not negotiating Monday and Ecusta plant manager David Poor said the two sides are so far apart "that you’d have to call it an impasse."
Ecusta has asked workers to accept a 20 percent pay cut plus significant reductions in benefits. Several union workers walking the picket line at entrances to the plant Monday said they might have been able to handle not getting a pay increase for a couple of years but not a large pay reduction.
"Everybody felt we could give some, but not that much," said Stanley Honeycutt of Pisgah Forest, a member of Local 2-1971 of PACE, the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union.
The Ecusta plant, which opened in 1939, is Transylvania County’s largest employer. It has a total employment of about 900 people, including 700 hourly workers and roughly 630 union members. Hourly workers make on average about $18 an hour, union and plant officials said.
A long strike would have a significant impact on the local economy, said County Manager Artie Wilson.
"We’re all very hopeful that a resolution can be (reached)," he said.
Workers’ previous contract expired Oct. 1, but workers stayed on the job through Sunday. Workers voted Oct. 1 to turn down Ecusta’s contract offer and on Oct. 2 to authorize union officials to call a strike. It officially began at 12:01 a.m. Monday.
Harold Huffman, an international representative with PACE, said the union made a counteroffer Friday afternoon that included some pay or benefit cuts, but the offer was rejected.
"We’re willing to talk to (Ecusta officials) any time they’ll talk," Huffman said.
Poor said Ecusta officials are concerned about the impact of the strike on their business.
"As you start running customers out of paper it’s scaring them and they’ve started to line up other sources," Poor said. Some may not return to Ecusta once the strike is over, he said.
"Why would they come back? We’ve caused them a lot of hurt and aggravation," Poor said.
Any contract would be the first between local workers and the plant’s new owners. A British company, PURICO (IOM) Ltd., bought Ecusta earlier this year.
Ecusta officials have said the pay concessions are needed to finance the replacement of old equipment at the mill and other improvements at one time estimated to cost $60 million. Huffman said the cost of the contract concessions would equal $12 million a year over the five-year life of the contract.
Some workers Monday said PURICO’s chief shareholder, Nathu Puri, is trying to put too much of the cost of updating the mill off on them.
"He’s asking us to pay all of that. He’s not willing to use any of his profits," said Terry Michael of Arden.
Poor said even more investment may be needed and that union members have to make concessions.
"It’s an old, old facility and … the financial performance over the last nine years just hasn’t merited additional investment," he said.
The strike comes at a time when the area and national economies, particularly in manufacturing, are slumping.
"A lot of people think we’re crazy for doing it," Michael said.
But many workers expressed sentiments similar to Diane Martin of Brevard, who said she is unwilling to agree to a big pay cut.
"If they had left me where I was I would have been happy. I don’t want them to (cut) what I already have," she said.
Contact Barrett at 232-5833 or MBarrett@CITIZEN-TIMES.com.