(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
More than 200 workers at Berkshire Hathaway’s Specialty Metals have gone on strike. At issue are the long hours workers are working at the plant, which runs 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
The Special Metals plant in New Hartford, New York, produces premium quality nickel base superalloys for both static and rotating aerospace and land-based gas turbine applications.
The strike began on Saturday, and there are 211 employees, along with 25 technicians, that are walking a picket line.
Ron Zegarelli, chief steward at Special Metals, explained that the company is requiring workers to work 60-hour, six day weeks.
“Our guys are fed up,” Zeigler told the Observer-Dispatch, “I told (management) it wasn’t going to work.” He noted that some employees had marital problems, including divorce, due to the demands of a job that keeps them away from home for so much of the week.
The plant is continuing to operate during the strike.
“Special Metals negotiated in good faith and made a fair and equitable offer,” David Dugan, director of communications for Special Metals. “As a result of the vote, we are executing our contingency plans, including having our salaried employees operate our equipment. Through these and other actions, such as leveraging other production facilities, we are well positioned to meet our customers’ needs as negotiations continue.”
Specialty Metals is owned by Berkshire Hathaway’s Precision Castparts Corp., which is a global conglomerate operating in more than a dozen countries that manufactures complex metal components and products, high-quality investment castings, forgings and fastener systems for power generation, aerospace, space exploration, military and other mission-critical applications.
© 2019 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.