Strike possible at Horner
Strike possible at Horner
With one strike vote approved, workers consider new company offer
| CAPTION: Jane Nordberg/Daily Mining Gazette The Horner Flooring Co. manufacturing facility in Dollar Bay as seen this morning. Workers at the company, who have already voted to approve a strike, are considering a new company offer today. |
By KURT HAUGLIE, DMG Writer
DOLLAR BAY — Workers at Horner Flooring Co. will vote today on whether to accept or reject the company’s latest contract offer, and a strike at the hardwood floor manufacturer is a possibility.
Bob Parsons, steward for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 283, said the contentious issues on the contract are health insurance and wages.
Parsons said the union requested a raise of 25 cents per hour for the next two years, but the company offered only 10 cents the first year and 25 cents the next year.
“(The company offer) wasn’t even close to adequate,” Parsons said.
Horner Flooring Co. makes hardwood floors for the NBA, WNBA, the Olympics and colleges and high schools. For about 20 years, the company has provided the floors for the venues in the NCAA Final Four basketball tournaments.
Although the most recent contract expired on June 15, Parsons said the company and the union have been in negotiations since then.
At issue, also, is the health insurance offered by the company, Parsons said. Currently, workers pay $700 out-of-pocket expenses annually for major medical. The deductible is $200 annually for an individual and $400 annually for a family.
The first new contract presented by the company included Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance from a different provider, Parsons said. That would have required a concession of 45 cents per hour from employees to pay for it and no wage raise.
Parsons said a union membership vote on Aug. 21 rejected that contract offer by 43-1, and on the same day members voted 44-2 to strike.
Parsons said the latest offer from the company requires a switch to another Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance provider which will require union members to pay $7,000 out-of-pocket expenses annually and a $2,000 annual deductible.
The union members will vote today at 3:30 p.m. on whether to accept or reject the company’s most recent contract offer, but Parsons said he doesn’t think the membership will accept it.
“(If the offer is rejected) Thursday at 1 a.m., we will be on strike,” he said.
Doug Hamar, president and CEO of Honer Flooring, said he doesn’t think the union membership is as intent on striking as Parsons claims.
Although he wouldn’t go into detail, Hamar said there was nothing special about the circumstances of the process to develop the new contract.
“This is no different than any other negotiation,” Hamar said. “We’ve negotiated as we’ve negotiated in the past.”
Hamar said Horner Flooring is different from many local companies which don’t offer insurance to their employees.
Kurt Hauglie can be reached at khauglie@mininggazette.com
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