Gary Elliott has a wife and four children, ages 21, 19, 17 and 13. And for nearly two months, he”s been without his regular pay, living on weekly stipends from his union.
“We use it for groceries and gas, mostly,” said Elliott. “It”s so you don”t lose your house, your car or anything catastrophic. It”s never enough, but it gets you by until you can get back inside.”
Nearly two months have passed since 174 workers went on strike at the Omnova plant in Columbus. They”re in it for the long haul.
On May 21, members of the U.S. Steelworkers Local 748-L stopped working at Omnova Solutions, a manufacturer of laminates, upholstery, chemicals and protective surfaces, in protest of what they deemed to be ethical problems in the administration.
Now, 56 days later, union members are still picketing.
Omnova workers last struck in 1970. The strike lasted three months, setting a bar for this strike.
They can at least make it until then, or longer if necessary, workers said.
“So far, we seem to be making it okay. Morale seems to be still up and good,” said Elliott, the union”s recording secretary.
Elliot, who worked in maintenance at the plant, has been there for 17 years.
“There are probably five guys that are newer,” he noted.
Most have worked at the plant decades longer — 20, 30 and some 40 years or more. And workers said the new contract would have paid no attention to seniority when determining who would work night shifts.
Omnova Solutions Inc. made their final offer May 15; union members voted 168-2 to reject the offer and go on strike. Company officials haven”t been in negotiations with union leaders since.
“It”s the same story,” Elliott said. “They”re willing to negotiate if we”ll accept the original contract, which isn”t much of a negotiation.
“You”ve got to have faith that the company will come to the table,” Elliott said. “We”re ready.”
But there the company”s position hasn”t changed. And some proposals from the final offer have expired.
“Our final offer is still on the table,” confirmed Sandi Noah, director of communications for Omnova Solutions, noting the company wants to make changes to make the plant competitive.
Thus far, she said, union officials have not expressed a willingness to do so.
To the workers, not returning to the negotiation table feels like a total lack of empathy from a company to which they”ve dedicated much of their lives.
“It”s like they”re sticking you in the gut,” Elliott said.
Striking isn”t easy. The high temperature on Thursday was 96 degrees, but it felt like 105. Union members picket on a rotation: four-hour shifts every third day. There is someone sitting outside Omnova”s gate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Guards from APT Private Security arrive periodically to videotape the protests, which makes it easy for workers to feel like they are the enemy.
Much of the dissatisfaction with the company stemmed not from financial reasons but revisions in the union”s contract that, from the workers” point of view, lacked integrity. Neither the company or the union would divulge specifics of the contract.
Much of their resentment is directed at Tob Coss, Omnova”s director of operations and the plant manager at the Columbus location.
“He doesn”t have an interest in us here,” said Otis Gardner, who has been with the company for 42 years. “He”s running two other plants and comes here a couple of days a week. The first thing he started doing was cutting stuff. It”s all about the bottom line for him.”
Despite the difficult conditions, union members are pleased with their coworkers” solidarity.
“We”re satisfied with what we”re doing,” said John Garner, who has worked as an inspector for the plant for 17 years. “We”re not giving in. We”re sticking together 100 percent.”
Garner maintained that the foremost issue on employees” minds is coming to an agreement.
“You have good people on both sides,” he said. “But they forget who built this plant. This is an employee-run plant. Just treat us right.”
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