Union employees at The Stanley Works went on strike Sunday night after rejecting the latest contract offer from the New Britain-based toolmaker.þþThe strike by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers began at the company's New Britain facility at 11 p.m., around the start of the third shift. New Britain police late Sunday said the picketing was brief and dispersed quickly.þþThe Machinists, representing nearly 500 workers, Sunday morning had rejected a contract offer from the company and voted to authorize the strike.þþNegotiations between locals 1249 and 1433 and Stanley representatives disintegrated over the weekend. A three-year contract for workers at the company's New Britain and Farmington facilities had expired at midnight Friday. þþÿThe company and the union had been involved in fairly intense bargaining up until that time,ÿ said Mark Mathieu, Stanley's vice president of human resources. ÿAt the end of the deadline, the company offered a proposal for a new three-year agreement.ÿþþUnion officials said the company did not address its concerns about job security, subcontractors, severance and pension issues in its contract offer.þþThe average wage for production workers at the New Britain and Farmington plants is $15.75 an hour, Mathieu said. Stanley's contract proposal would have increased that to $16.50 over the three-year term.þþÿOur offer to the workers in these facilities was very fair in light of recent economic conditions,ÿ John M. Trani, chairman and CEO of The Stanley Works, said in a statement Sunday night. ÿOur wages are among the highest paid in the local area. ... The plants will remain open and we will focus on sustaining production levels to support our customers.ÿþþLast month, Stanley officials announced the company would be slashing 1,000 jobs and closing nine facilities in an effort to cut costs, but declined to say whether those moves would affect Connecticut workers. The cuts, representing 7 percent of total employment, would be part of a drive toward a 15 percent operating profit margin. þþProfits have plunged as a result of the cost of those cuts, but the company has said it expects profits to rise by the end of the year.þþMathieu said that to maintain production levels, the company would use non-union workers and shift production to other locations. þþThe Stanley manufacturing plant in Clinton is not involved in the strike.þþ
Source: AP
