Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 11, 1990 TAG: 9003143270
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Neal Thompson New River Valley Bureau
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
DIGL-RP, known colloquially as "digel," is propellant used in tank rockets. The Army buys about 800,000 pounds of this propellant each year, most of which is made at the Radford plant - the country's only Army-owned plant to produce DIGL. The other source is a private plant in New Jersey.
In January, the Army decided to begin buying up to 500,000 pounds of DIGL from a plant in West Germany.
Army officials say it will save money. There's also "no guarantee" that the remaining 300,000 pounds will be purchased from the Radford plant, according to Army spokesman Bob Whistine of the Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command in Rock Island, Ill.
The Army's decision has legislators and union leaders concerned about a possible resulting loss of jobs at Radford. And they are fighting it.
"We feel that if the offshore production of this propellant is allowed, it'll definitely affect employment. That's why we're taking the strongest measures we can to oppose it," said Lowell "Pete" Strader, president of Local No. 3-495 of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, which represents about 3,000 hourly workers at the plant.
Strader and another union representative spent four days in Washington late last month seeking congressional support to protect Radford plant jobs.
They got it.
Strader met with five senators or their representatives and Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon. Boucher and four of the senators signed a letter that has been sent to Gen. W.G.T. Tuttle Jr., commander of the Army Materiel Command in Alexandria, the Radford plant's higher headquarters.
"We oppose most strenuously this shift from domestic to foreign sources," the letter says. "We urge your assistance in maintaining DIGL production in the U.S. at its present location, the Radford Army Ammunition Plant. "Our principal objection is based on the fact that this shift will ultimately cost American jobs."
The March 1 letter is signed by Boucher; both Virginia senators, Charles Robb and John Warner; Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana and Sen. Wendell Ford of Kentucky.
Faith Faircloth, spokeswoman for Army Materiel Command, said Tuttle has received the letter and "a response is currently being prepared and will soon be sent to the senators . . . I do not know what the response is going to be."
"We are objecting this time," Boucher said this week, "under the belief that jobs would be lost at the Radford arsenal in the event that that decision would be carried."
Two years ago, the Army made a similar, but more drastic, proposal - to purchase all of its DIGL from West Germany because it would be cheaper.
"I strenuously objected to that," Boucher said. So did other legislators and union leaders, and the idea was turned down.
This time, the Army proposes what it calls "dual sourcing," buying DIGL from two sources - Radford and West Germany.
Army spokesman Whistine said this plan, scheduled to start in June, is designed to save money in anticipation of defense spending cuts.
But still, the union doesn't want to see any of its production taken over by a foreign country.
"It's one thing to lose jobs because of defense cuts, but it's another thing to lose jobs to a foreign country," Strader said, sitting at his desk at the union hall in Fairlawn. He was wearing a "Union Yes" pin on his lapel.
Officials at the plant are keeping quiet.
The plant commander, Lt. Col. Rick D'Andrea, and E.K. Hurley, general manager for Hercules Inc., which manages the plant, would not comment.
D'Andrea had announced in January that defense spending cuts are forcing the plant to eliminate 300 of its 4,300 hourly jobs by September. This was supposed to be done through attrition, which normally amounts to one worker quitting or retiring each day. No layoffs were expected.
But 70 workers were laid off two weeks ago, and the union wasn't notified until 10 hours before layoffs began. Again, plant officials said no further jobs would be lost.
Strader says plant officials' credibility has been damaged. So now, when the union is told the loss of DIGL production will not affect jobs, he is skeptical.
Seeking assurance that jobs at Radford will be safe, Boucher sent a letter to the commander of the Army Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command, which oversees Army ammunition plants.
In response, Maj. Gen. Marvin D. Brailsford said in a Feb. 15 letter that if DIGL production is cut at Radford he would try to step up production of other propellants there. That way, if the decision to purchase foreign-made DIGL is not reversed, jobs would not be lost at Radford.
Brailsford said that since DIGL is purchased for the Army by two of its contractors, Honeywell Inc. and Olin Corp., the decision to again try to purchase DIGL overseas was at the contractors' request because it is cheaper.
"I cannot totally ignore the opportunity to achieve economic savings," Brailsford wrote.
But a resolution by the Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO says the Army is placing the nation's defense and employment at risk by spending money in foreign countries to buy materials that can be made domestically.
The resolution was adopted after Strader met in Washington with 600 delegates of the union two weeks ago.
by CNB