Local 505 on Strike over Insurance issue

Set up on the property of a friend of several union members, and directly across the street from the Ludowici Roof Tile Plant in New Lexington, 108 members of the U.S.W. Local 505 have been on strike since Tuesday at 12:01 a.m.

After three weeks of negotiations, the two parties hit an impasse over spousal insurance.

Ludowici wants it gone for new hires, but the union wants to protect the future employees and potential union members.

“If we don’t back the young guys now, they’re not going to back us,” said Ralph Donaldson who is the union president. “This is all about taking care of the young people so they’ll take care of us as we grow older. We’re still one big family here.”

He continued to discuss how family looks out for one another. They feel like a family, and want to protect each other.

“We’re here for the long haul. We made it real clear when we made our vote count,” Donaldson said.

The final vote Monday for or against the proposed contract went 81-18 against. “We’re here to stick it out. We’ve got one main issue and until they’re willing to deal with it, we’ll stay here as long as needed,” Donaldson said.

Even though 18 people voted for the contract, every member participated in the strike. Union member Bob Kunkler felt Ludowici wanted the union to give to them, but believed the company doesn’t care about the union members.

“I’m sorry they feel that way,” said Ludowici’s director of human resources, Kim Lassiter. “We offered a pay increase, we offered a bunch of things over the last three weeks. Their feelings, I don’t think are particularly justified given the contract negotiations we’ve been through.”

Seated at a side table in his office, Lassiter continued to dissect the contract saying “[b]asically, it doesn’t affect anyone employed here. What we’re concerned about going forward is how viable our insurance program is.”

Still, union members paced outside the plant in protest in a fight for future members.

In response to the union negotiating for those potential union members, Lassiter simply said the union “doesn’t represent those people yet.”

Across the street from the plant, and in front of the majority of the people on strike, Donaldson said, “We feel pretty strong about protecting the young people. You know, us old guys been here a long time, we know we’ve got to take care of the young people.”

The day began peaceful, and remained that way until a delivery truck arrived at the plant. Several people began pacing in front of a delivery gate, and a sheriff’s deputy who was already at the scene tried to move the union members out of the way. But when they wouldn’t get out of the way, the deputy put one person in handcuffs and walked him to the side of the gate.

Just minutes after the truck went through the gate, the deputy spoke with the young man in handcuffs, removed them and released the man. The deputy told us, people are welcome to walk in front of open gates, but they cannot block anyone from entering. That’s why he said the young man was put in handcuffs.

For now, the strike continues. Donaldson said the union is waiting to be contacted by Ludowici to continue contract negotiations, and Lassiter said the same of the union.

Both sides said they don’t want to be striking, they want the contract dispute to come to an end and they want to get back to work. As of right now, the waiting game continues for each side.