Sheet metal workers union rejects 20% cut in pay and benefits

[undeterred]

Wolf Appliance employees reject 20 percent cut in pay and benefits
Thursday, August 12, 2010

Employees of Wolf Appliance said "no" to a proposal to take a 20 percent cut in pay and benefits, leaving the future of their jobs in doubt and raising questions about jobs at a sister company, Sub-Zero. About 200 members of Sheet Metal Workers Local 565 gathered at the Madison Labor Temple to hear the company's plan and vote. They rejected the concessions by a "very close" margin, said Dave Goodspeed, union business agent. Sub-Zero/Wolf, a family-owned Madison company, had told the union that without givebacks, manufacturing of Wolf's high-end cooktops and ranges could be moved to Richmond, Ky. "We're disappointed," said Chuck Verri, Sub-Zero/Wolf vice president of human resources. "We're prepared to continue discussions (with the union) and we are also going to continue to finalize plans to move the work to Richmond."

Leaving the union hall before the vote count was announced, many Wolf employees were grim. "People are angry," said Randy Hollis, 55, of Ridgeway, a forklift operator for Wolf for 10 years. He said the company offered "no ifs, ands or buts. It was going to be this or close." "We are stunned," said Adam Rodebaugh, 30, a sheet metal fabricator at Wolf for seven years. He said the 20 percent cut in pay and benefits would translate into an average $7 an hour loss, and the company demanded a five-year pay freeze. If the jobs stay and the cuts go through, "it's going to be a struggle month-to-month to pay the mortgage and make car payments," said Rodebaugh, of Orangeville, Ill.

Russell Acker, 37, Janesville, said when he started working at Wolf as a metal fabricator nearly eight years ago, the company provided all sorts of extras for employees, such as cookouts and family picnics. But those benefits trickled away in recent years. "If the owner of the company was in a financial crisis, I would give him my paycheck. But that's not the case. It's corporate greed," Acker said.

Goodspeed said the company has said it will demand similar concessions from the nearly 700 unionized Sub-Zero workers. Verri declined to comment on that, or on the future of Sub-Zero's local jobs, but he left the door open for another vote. Goodspeed said he would do that "if (union) members directed us." Asked if he thinks the jobs will leave, Goodspeed said, "The track record of manufacturing firms all over the United States says yes."

http://host.madison.com/wsj/business/article_b95fe4b8-a662-11df-9259-001cc4c002e0.html

So, not all manufacturing is leaving the country; some of it is moving to a state where people will work for less.

[maryf]

1. 3 cheers for the tin-knockers!!

Solidarity, hope their jobs stay...

[Brickbat]

2. So infuriating. That area has seen so many losses already.

Stand strong, brothers and sisters; it's not going to be easy.