In this case the Union was working with the company to reach agreement on the pay cut, and would have allowed the membership to vote on it but the company pulled the offer from the table and curtailed the operations at Ravenswood. I don’t know who come up with this $51,000 average wage at Century but is far less then factual!

And one more question if the company by some chance refuses to pay you some of your benefits while you are laid off, surely you wouldn’t ask us to help you, or would you?

Eli Morris Grievance Chairman Local 5668 USW Ravenswood WV 26164

In 5 years of working at the Union hall and being on 4 negotiating committee’s I have never heard of a member that paid his/her own medical bills instead of turning them in for the company to pay, to save the company money. I have yet to hear someone say, hey that pay raise is too big. At contract time I’ve never seen a proposal from the work force saying we want a pay cut, or we want 80/20 insurance. I have saw many proposals wanting $5 and hour pay increases and many proposal saying we don’t want cuts in our health care.

To those of you who claim to be from the hourly workforce an

To “buffster1”, you say the one good thing Unions done; I was raised in the coal fields of Kanawha County by a coal miner who started working in the mines when he was 15 years old. He got food from the company store, a slap board shantie to live in, no health care other then a company doctor, no paid vacation, 16 hour days with no overtime pay, no protection against a company that did not have a clue about a safe work place.

Over the years the Union got them time and ½ after 8 hours, paid vacation, the 8 hour work day and a decent standard of living, the list goe

“Commonsense 1” and “mytwocents” say that “the majority of the Union workers wanted to accept a pay cut”. The vote was yet to be taken so how do they know that? I know that the majority of the phone calls I got said absolutely “I will not take a pay cut”. Then there were several that said I wouldn’t mind a pay cut to help get through this slump if the company agrees to pay us back when metal prices go back up. They were also wanting assurances that they would have a job if they made the concessions. The company never agreed

obviously you've never set foot in an aluminum smelting facility,because you would see how rate of compensation and difficulty of job tie in together. Coming from someone who luckily still has a job in a different plant than Century,maybe you should stop by in July or Aug and see why the pay is what it is.

This is an old facility that is expensive to operate in a world where demand for aluminum is WAY DOWN. As such, the supply demand equation simply points to cutting capacity where capacity is least efficient.

Yes, the union cost was part of the inefficiency, but so was the facility itself.

I feel great sympathy for the workers and I hope they get much help and succeed in new positions.

These employees are going to be shocked at how fast the unions reps will run as soon as the money stops flowing.

Several posters have made valid points. The majority of the hourly workforce at Century was willing to take the pay cut. The problem is the LOCAL UNION LEADERSHIP at this facility. Look at their website....read their "book" about the 1990 labor dispute......look at their "response" to the initial Century notice given in December (recall the article in the past 2 weeks about the "company fudging the numbers"?). They are irrational, out-of-touch with their own members, and measure their success by how many grievances are filed and how many business initiatives they are able to thwart. They believe their role is to oppose the business in every aspect, regardless of the benefits or consequences to their members. If the remaining members of this union don't take charge of "their" union and change the leadership, it will only be a few years or less before the Alcan plant next door is out of business as well.

While these responses for massive layoffs are a good thing, I feel for the little guys who get layed off. The ones who made minimum or low wage and worked at a small place. No big response team for them. No special treatment or programs. But, they are just as much out of a job and may suffer just as much as someone who was a highly paid union worker at a plant. But, there is no publicity to going to their rescue.