Cabot Supermetals, Boyertown Plant, Goes On Strike

BOYERTOWN, PA - Cabot Supermetals, an affiliate of the Cabot Corporation based in Boston, MA, has a bit of a situation on their hands.  Employees who belong to the International Chemical Workers Union Council/United Food and Commercial Workers Local 619C within Cabot, have gone on strike according to their Vice President, Robert Bates.  Their five-year contract ran out on May 7^th, 2005, so they have been working without a contract for almost seven weeks.  Cabot management and Union representatives have been trying to negotiate since March 31^st.  Union Vice President Bates said that a meeting on June 18th to rectify the second part of the contract yielded no results and was voted down.  Cabot came back Monday to Local 619C and stated that they would be implementing the first proposal, which 619C felt was a very bad proposal.  Their strike began at 4 p.m. on June 20^th.

Cabot Supermetals is a global specialty chemical and materials company.  They produce “carbon black” which is a material used in production of tires, industrial products for the automotive industry, plastics, inks and specialty products.  Their other major products are fumed silica, inkjet colorants, capacitor materials and cesium formate drilling fluids.

According to Robert Bates of  Local 619C, the issues under discussion don’t only involve the 3% raise they are asking for.  In fact, one of the bigger issues is medical benefits.  The company is trying to force the issue of having the employees co-pay their insurance.  As long as Cabot’s been in the area, the employees have not had to “chip in” for their insurance.  Bates stated, “We work in a volatile environment with hazardous conditions.”  They also work with dangerous chemicals, such as hydrochloric acid, and don’t feel they should have to pay for their benefits.

The other issue is how the contract would be worded.  Speaking with Bates, he says that “Cabot wants the ability to outsource our jobs and to tell us where, when and how long we would go to another facility as well as what jobs we would be doing.”  Cabot has one plant in Pennsylvania and two plants in Louisiana.  They also have many affiliates in the United States as well as in foreign countries such as Japan, Belgium, Hong Kong and several others.

Cabot has brought a lawyer in from outside to handle their negotiations.  They also brought in security guards from Storm Security and are paying not only for their services but also for their accommodations at hotels while employed by Cabot.  There are at least 30 guards with 150 more on standby.  The guards have been a presence at the plant since the contract had run out on May 7^th.  Local 619C voiced their confusion as to why Cabot would need them since there have been no threats by anyone.  Local 619C had also said the record shows that the unions have never done anything during any talks about contracts and it’s “as if Cabot was saying we are a type of group that would do something to cause trouble.”

The Local 619C members are taking shifts set up by their shift captains to stay on the picket lines.  They are a presence at Cabot 24/7 until an agreement can be reached.  The Unions’ management, however, are trying to keep up with the duties the workers left behind to enter the picket lines.  Bates tells WZAR that the management is not properly trained to do those jobs but they are trying, despite the lack of experience.  He says they need people inside the plant “who are skilled and know what they’re doing.”

There is another union still working within the plant.  Local 959, which are the sister union of 619C, are still on contract with Cabot.

Local 619C has been getting a lot of support from community members who pass them by on the picket lines.  While WZAR was interviewing Vice President Robert Bates, a few cars drove by honking their horns in support and rolling down their windows to say “sock it to them”.  All in all, they just want to get the best benefits they can to protect themselves in a hazardous work environment.  619C says they’re ready for the next talks whenever Cabot is ready.

Watch the Video Report - Click Here

Posted by Bethanne Reinert on 06/23/05.  Edited by Zachary Reinert.

WZAR Interview with Brad Okoniewski, Cabot Spokesperson

WZAR had the opportunity on June 27^th to conduct a phone interview with Brad Okoniewski who is the Safety, Health, Environmental and Facility Services Manager for Cabot Supermetals’ Boyertown Plant and spokesperson on behalf of Cabot on the issue of the on-going strike by Local 619C.

Cabot is not willing at this time to discuss the issues involved with the negotiations because they feel that it would be inappropriate from their side to discuss details of the contract.  However, Okoniewski does admit that medical is definitely an issue.

They maintain from the beginning that the Boyertown site needs to have the ability to be flexible and improve its productivity to compete in the global marketplace.   In order to do that Cabot proposed to have a contract that is competitive not only in this economic area but also as compared to other contracts that are within Cabot, within other unions.  Every place has something different and Cabot just wants to make sure that they’re staying in line with what’s common throughout Cabot today.

There are two unions within Cabot Supermetals’ Boyertown plant.  First there is Local 619, which is the one that is on strike.  They also have union 959 who is the laboratory and shipping/receiving union.  They are under a separate contract that they continue to honor to date.  They are not involved with the negotiations and continue to work, as their contract does not expire until some time next year.  Then there are the management personnel (supervisors, managers and engineers) who are currently running the plant safely to make sure that when the strike is over, Cabot still has business for the employees of Local 619 to come back to.

Even with a smaller workforce, Cabot is committed to safely providing product that is high quality product and to satisfy customer contracts and business commitments throughout the negotiation process and until the strike is resolved.  Cabot has a competitive global marketplace that is not just in the United States.  They compete heavily, for instance, with China.  A lot of the market is in the Far East and Cabot wants to be able to compete in a global marketplace so that the Boyertown plant that’s been there for 55 years can stay here for another 55 years.  Okoniewski says that unless they get the productivity and flexibility they need, it will be very difficult to be able to compete.

Cabot had a layoff of 72 employees as of June 1^st of this year and Okoniewski stated that the Boyertown plant is looking at a difficult time over the next couple of years.

When asked about the long-standing presence of the guards, Okoniewski said that safety is their number one concern for the employees and the community.  “We’ve always felt that being proactive is always better than reactive.”  He said that it’s part of their normal security protocol at this time to increase security, so they brought in an outside security firm.  Storm Security is experienced in labor actions, which is another reason they were brought on site.

Cabot and the negotiating committee from Local 619 have been trying really hard to reach an agreement.  The Cabot Company wants to have something that will work for both parties.  But, again, within that agreement Cabot also has to have flexibility that can extend to many things in order to be competitive.

Both sides have been trying to reach an agreement since the end of March, beginning of April when negotiations began.  The contract with Local 619 ran out on June 7^th.  Cabot’s goal is to resolve these negotiations and have the employees from Local 619 come back to work.

To Okoniewski’s knowledge at the time of this interview, Cabot was waiting for something from the union as far as a counterproposal.  There was no knowledge of a scheduled talk.  Both sides decide on a “mutual” place to meet for negotiations.  In the past, meetings have been held at the hotel in Valley Forge, which was known as the Radisson and is now the Scanticon.  Where they are currently meeting is unknown.

Posted by Bethanne Reinert on 06/29/05.  Edited by Zachary Reinert.