
"While the company's clear desire is to reach an agreement that resolves the current contract dispute, having the employees return to work under the expired contract will not further that goal," said Elizabeth Powers, vice president and chief administrative officer.
Powers said in a press release that the labor dispute needs to be settled "at the bargaining table, not on the factory floor."
Local 313, after a strike that ran from Aug. 4 through Nov. 19, abandoned its picket lines and offered to return to work unconditionally under terms of the three-year contract that expired Aug. 4. Powers said Dresser-Rand and union representatives will meet Monday to continue talks on a new agreement.
"The company maintains its commitment to achieving a new, contemporary labor agreement at its Painted Post facility to meet its long-term objectives," Powers said. "We hope for a speedy resolution of this matter."
"It's not a strike now, it's a lockout," Coates said.
"When we meet again Monday, maybe the company will be more amenable to an agreement rather than trying to force something down our throat."
Coates said, in prepared remarks late Friday afternoon, that the company has not bargained in good faith.
"Once again, the company has seriously misjudged our members' resolve to secure a fair contract," Coates said in a release.
The dispute centers on contract language covering work rules and on the cost of medical insurance coverage.
Coates said in his statement that the proposed health-plan changes could "shift enormous out-of-pocket expenses onto the members."
He also said, "The company wants to eliminate job protections the union fought to obtain for years."
Daniel Meisner, human relations manager at the Painted Post plant, said the union's offer does nothing to resolve the issues that led to the strike.
"We have invested significant resources in an effort to change the status quo and to position the company for long-term global growth," Meisner said in a press release.
"The union leadership has been and continues to be very resistant to making the changes we believe are necessary in this business and with this work force."
Dresser-Rand also worried that allowing the 400 strikers to return to work would lead to "illegal harassment by the union" of temporary and permanent replacement workers hired during the strike, he said.
Meisner said the company experienced "significant sabotage" to critical machine tools in the week before the strike, along with misconduct on the picket lines during the walkout.
"While we recognize that the majority of our employees have not engaged in such misconduct, Local 313 has demonstrated that it is either unwilling or unable to prevent such behavior," Meisner said.
Dresser-Rand said Friday that it has hired 130 temporary replacement workers and 94 permanent replacement workers.
The company said it also has subcontracted approximately 35 percent of its labor hours at Painted Post.
A unit of Houston-based Dresser-Rand, the Painted Post plant makes compressors for military and industrial use.
Dresser-Rand said it does not expect the labor situation at Painted Post to result in any change in the earnings guidance for 2007 and 2008 the company issued Oct. 31.
(stargazettenews.com)