Nearly 200 workers at the Exxon Mobil Corp. research facility near Interstate 78 in Hunterdon County, N.J., including many coming each day from the Lehigh Valley, plan to strike Thursday morning, frustrated, the union president says, by the lack of resolution on a new contract.þWorkers who belong to the Independent Laboratory Employees Union voted 57-14 last summer to authorize a strike but kept trying to negotiate and held off on a walkout, union President Mike Myers said Tuesday.þþAmong the outstanding issues, according to Myers, is that Exxon insists on permanently contracting out union positions, including maintenance and mechanics.þMyers previously said workers have been without a contract since June. Negotiations, which began May 7, have left the sides far apart on wages, a parental paid time off policy and permanently contracting out union jobs.þMyers also said the company has offered a five-year contract with wage increases between 1% and 2.5%, plus a one-time, $5,000 ratification bonus. He said the union has countered with wage hikes between 2.5% and 3.5%, with no ratification bonus. He said the union workers, who include research technicians and mechanics, earn an average wage of about $38 an hour.þþHe said Tuesday that the company has not offered any retroactive pay raises. The union has filed unfair labor practice charges against the company with the National Labor Relations Board; Myers said the NLRB has not ruled on the case.þHe said no new negotiation sessions were planned.þSarah A. Nordin, a company spokeswoman, said the workers have continued to work under the existing contract, and that the company has had a “long and successful relationship with the ILEU, and we look forward to working with the union on a resolution.ÿþThe Exxon Mobil plant sits along Route 22. It’s about 20 miles from Easton and 40 miles from Allentown. The Fortune 500 company in its website identifies the sprawling facility as one of its “primary research hubs” supporting all its major business lines.þThe has expanded the Clinton Township facility and moved about 340 employees there from another research facility in Paulsboro, Gloucester County, N.J. Myers said the expansion has added to the union membership. As of now, it has 190 workers, he said, about 40 of whom come from the Lehigh Valley.
Source: www.mcall.com
