Teamsters, Celite at impasse

Striking Quincy workers 'pretty dug in,' rep says

QUINCY — Representatives of a Quincy diatomaceous earth mining plant and its striking workers say negotiations have reached an impasse.

On July 2, Teamsters Local 760 took 46 employees of Quincy-based Celite Corporation out on strike, citing several contract language issues as well as employees being required to pay a larger share of their health and welfare premiums.

"They're pretty dug in," said Larry Nickell, spokesperson for Teamsters Local 760. "The employer is insisting on their outrageous proposals."

"The union and the company have reached impasse," Celite Corporation Corporate Counsel Jim Kuykendall said.

Federal mediation during the week of July 23 proved to be ineffective, Nickell said, and fell apart.

"The employer said on the rest of the proposals they have on the table that they are unwilling to modify in any way, and so we remain at a stalemate and the strike is going on," he said.

Late Tuesday of that week, Nickell advanced two proposals seeking a compromise to subcontracting and layoff and recall seniority issues.

"First thing Wednesday morning is when they told the mediator they are not moving and they did not respond to our proposals," Nickell said. "They never gave us an opportunity to continue to bargain based on their statements through the mediator. We pretty much said, 'Well, guess there's not much sense in being here then,' so we just returned to the picket line."

"Negotiations were held using a federal mediator," Kuykendall echoed. "No agreement was reached and the union remains on strike. At this point, the outlook is unclear. The company continues to operate and the union remains on strike."

Nickell said Celite wants the unilateral, unrestricted right to subcontract bargaining at work.

"Of course that is unacceptable, that would lead to loss of good jobs in the Columbia Basin," he said. "The other issue has to do with seniority and layoff and recall. They want the right to layoff without regard to seniority if the layoff is anticipated to be less than 45 days. The issue we have with that is that could go on for a couple of months, which could cause more senior members to lose eligibility for health and welfare benefits."

Spirits are very high on the picket line, Nickell said.

"They absolutely support, without exception, what's going on, the reasons behind the strike," he said.

The company has plants in other parts of the country, and Nickell said he heard from the president of a California chemical workers' union, who had accepted some of the terms in their agreement earlier.

"They've lost close to 100 jobs already due to subcontracting and they have over 80 grievances pending arbitration since the spring," Nickell said. "It's absolutely unbelievable the things going on down there, and we're trying to ensure that doesn't occur up here."

Plans are to continue to picket, Nickell said.

Responding to rumors of other companies showing their support for the Quincy workers by holding a similar walkout, Nickell said the Teamsters would not support such an action.

"It's not entirely legal," he said.