Negotiations between workers at the DuPont Spruance plant and the company have resulted in approval of two new contracts.
DuPont spokeswoman Deborah S. McNeil said that the Ampthill Rayon Workers ratified the contracts in late August and in September. McNeil said the contracts “will significantly improve the long-term competitiveness and performance of the Spruance site.”
The old contracts expired Sept. 1. The contracts cover the production and maintenance unit and the clerical, technical and operations unit, which had been in effect since Sept. 1, 2012 and Sept. 1, 2013, respectively.
Of the 1,800 people employed at the site, some 1,200 are represented by the union, McNeil said.
Phone calls to labor union president Jay Palmore were not returned. According to the union’s website, a vote on ratification of the P&M contract barely passed.
According to a tentative agreement posted to the union’s website, starting wages would range from $19 to $37 an hour for production and maintenance employees. Current employees’ pay would be grandfathered and frozen until their wages are less than the new hire rate.
New hires and maintenance employees would receive 2-percent raises after 2, 3 and 4 years, respectively.
Workers will receive a shift differential of $1.50 an hour for working evenings or nights.
The P&M contract will expire Sept. 1, 2022, and the C, T & O contract will expire Sept. 1, 2021.
According to a tentative C, T & O contract that was posted to the union’s website, a signing bonus of $1,500 was included, along with a six-month probationary period for new hires, elimination of meal tickets and a maximum 16 1/2-hour work day.
C, T & O workers’ pay would be grandfathered, and they would not receive a pay raise if their wage was more than $25.89 an hour.
The plant opened in 1929. It is located east of Jefferson Davis Highway at Cogbill Road, north of state Route 150.
