Members of Local 175 of the Teamsters Union went on strike Friday after working under an expired contract for more than two weekds

BEVERLY, W.Va. — Union employees at one of Randolph County’s largest employers are on strike. Local 175 of the Teamsters Union announced walked off the job at AHF Products in Beverly Friday morning.

The union blames the work stoppage on a safety issue which has not been addressed in months. Union officials say the employees have long complained about an industrial sweeper which is designed to help eliminate dust in part of the plant which has been in disrepair for months.

“The Tennant Sweeper Scrubber has not worked for a month and AHF has not taken proper steps to fix it in a timely manner. The sweeper wets and vacuums dust in a part of the plant called the Dry Shed, which holds the dry lumber before it is turned into flooring. The big fork lifts that carry the lumber to the shed track in dirt and limestone from the yard area, which is then mixed with any bird excrement that may be on the floor. All this dries out on the floor and is ground into a dust from the big fork lifts. The purpose of the sweeper is to wet down the dust and clean the area. Without the sweeper the employees who work in this area must inhale the dust to complete their job. To date the company still has yet to provide any additional protective gear since the sweeper broke,” read a press release from Local 175.

Company officials called the machinery in question a “redundant system” and said there was protective ventilation handling the air in the Dry Shed.

“It is a common tactic for a union to mischaracterize a contract dispute as a safety dispute in the hopes of gaining media attention. The sweeper that is referenced is only one part of a dust control system with redundant exhaust fans that are fully operational,” said company officials in a statement to the media.

The employees and the company have been at odds over a new contract. The workers more than two weeks ago soundly rejected the company’s last offer. Since that time, bargaining talks have not resumed. Union officials say they’ve had no response from the company about possible renewal dates for negotiations. Company officials tell MetroNews there has been constant communication as the company evaluates the particulars of a union proposal for healthcare. This week they say they did offer to restart talks but haven’t’ heard back.

“On Wednesday, March 11th, a series of available dates were provided to the union to come back to the negotiating table,” plant officials noted in an official statements.

Union leaders in their press release announcing the strike said because members are working under an expired contract with no extension agreement they are able to strike over grievances, which is why the walkout Friday morning was enacted over the broken equipment.

“They’ve been telegraphing this for weeks. There’s a handful of them who wanted this. It’s unfortunate, it doesn’t help anything and it doesn’t move anything. It hasn’t stopped us from running production at the plant today,” said Plant Manager Blaine Emery.

Plant operations were handled Friday by about 100 salaried personnel who are normally mechanics and machine operators. Emery admitted the level of production was down, but added raw lumber shipments continued to arrive Friday and flooring was being made on a prioritized schedule. The next shift will be Sunday and Emery hoped the employees would come back to work.

Additionally Teamsters Union leaders said the company has been non-responsive to inquires about protocols regarding the Covid19 Corona Virus. Teamsters say they have requested the company relax attendance policies for employees who are sick with symptoms of the virus, but so far have received no response to an email regarding the policy change request.

The company statement also addressed their Covid 19 concerns.

“Further, we have been covering best practices for protecting against corona virus outbreak in pre-shift meetings and working to implement updated practices across the company at all locations. Employees are being notified that through the next two weeks, the company will provide for all hourly employees to take excused time off when the employee is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, are quarantined due to exposure, or need to care for a dependent or their parents who have COVID-19 symptoms.”