DATE: Friday, June 6, 1997                  TAG: 9706060620

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   44 lines

METRO MACHINE WORKERS REJECT COMPANY'S PAY CUT SHIPYARDS SAID CUT MIGHT HAVE LET COMPANY BRING THEM BACK TO WORK.

Metro Machine Corp.'s laid-off workers have rejected a company request to cut their pay that might have gotten them back to work.

A majority of the unionized workers voted against the proposal to cut their pay by 11.5 percent, a union official said Thursday.

The Norfolk shipyard wanted to reduce its labor costs to rebid one contract and bid on a new one, said Mike Fleenor, assistant chief steward with the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers' Local 2000, which represents the yard's blue-collar workers.

The rejection of the concession may make it more difficult for Metro Machine to win work and bring back the employees. Most of its 600-person work force was laid off in March and April.

Ken Newman, the shipyard's senior vice president, declined to comment.

Metro Machine, which specializes in Navy ships, hasn't had a warship in its Norfolk yard since February. Navy work has dried up, and the yard has been unable to win what work is available.

A blue-hulled Maersk Line cargo ship has been berthed at Metro's docks for a few weeks, but it hasn't meant any work for Metro's workers, Fleenor said.

Fleenor, who was laid off and found a job in construction, said the workers voted to reject the pay cut by a wide margin.

``It's most everybody's consensus that they're tired of the company and what it's trying to pull,'' he said.

Some workers said they believed Richard Goldbach, Metro Machine's president, created the current situation on purpose to get concessions from the union, Fleenor said.

``He was probably thinking we'd come back for nothing, we'd been out so long,'' he said.

The work force voted to unionize in November 1995. The company and union agreed to a contract last August.

Metro Machine also operates shipyards in Pennsylvania and is trying to open a yard in Florida to serve warships at the Mayport Naval Base. ILLUSTRATION: STAFF/FILE PHOTO

The Norfolk shipyard Metro Machine, which specializes in Navy ships,

laid off most of its 600-person work force in March and April.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu