Steelworkers and N.H. Ball Bearing at odds over allowing temporary non-union workers in Laconia plant

After overwhelmingly rejecting the company's initial offer last month and preparing to vote on its final offer on Friday, the some 300 members of the United Steelworkers (USW), Local 8566 employed locally by New Hampshire Ball Bearing (NHBB) went to work this morning without a contract.

George Griffin, president of the local, said that workers spurned the first three-year agreement on October 15 by a vote of 190 to 37, but returned to the bargaining table and after two days of negotiations "we have what the company called a final offer."

Unlike previous contract talks, which foundered over wages and benefits, this year the major bone of contention, according to union officials, is a provision that would entitle the company to hire "part-time temporary, non-union employees" to work up as much as 40 hours per week for up to 45 days in what management considers "crucial areas."

"We're a union shop, a closed shop," said Griffin, explaining that an agreement permitting the company to hire non-union employees at its discretion would threaten the position of the union. Vice-president John Waterman said that "they haven't specified what is a 'crucial area' and if we agree they could put part-time employees to work anywhere. Once it's in the contract," he continued, "you can't get it out , but only try to stop it from getting worse."

Laconia, the site of NHBB's Astro Division, which produces bearings primarily for the aeronautical and aerospace industries, is the only union shop among the company's three manufacturing plants, which include the Precision Division in Chatsworth, California and the Hi-Tech Division in Peterborough, New Hampshire. NHBB is a subsidiary of Minebea Co., Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Griffin acknowledged that NHBB agreed "to make every reasonable attempt" to make use of overtime and recall laid-off employees as well as ensure that part-time employees remained temporary employees, but indicated that the assurance failed to address the concerns of the union leadership.

Although wages and benefits are not foremost in the dispute, Griffin said that in place of an annual percentage increase in compensation, the company has offered employees a "ratification bonus" in the form of a lump sum payment in return for accepting the contract.

The four-year contract negotiated in 2002, after workers rejected NHBB's offer and the firm locked the plant for a few days, included three-percent pay increases in each of the last three years of the agreement together with an amended health insurance plan. Initially NHBB sought to double the employees' share of monthly health insurance premiums in the first year and raise it to $91 in the third year, but ultimately agreed to a lower co-payment. The company and the union found themselves at odds over wages and benefits again in 2005, but after workers rejected an initial offer an agreement was reached, the terms of which were not disclosed.

In response to the recession, which has dampened demand for new aircraft and replacement parts as well as automobile components produced by NHBB, the company has announced two rounds of lay-offs this year, In April, 15 hourly and salaried employees were laid off and another dozen were let go in August.

According to "The e-Bearing News," an industry publication, NHBB's Astro Division has fared better than other aerospace manufacturers with less diverse customer bases. The plant still employs 414 people, fewer than at its peak of more than 500 several years ago, and works two shifts. Griffin said that there were signs conditions were improving somewhat, including the restoration of overtime and recall of a handful of employees.