After negotiating with Celite unsuccessfully for nearly two months, Chemical Workers union officials said Tuesday they will strike March 1 if no labor agreement is reached by Feb. 28 when the current contract expires.

A spokesman for Celite acknowledged that the company will exercise its right to remain open with replacement workers if union workers strike. The union represents 240 workers at the mining plant.

Both sides, however, said they will continue working through a mediator with hopes of reaching agreement on a new contract before next week's deadline.

“Right now we're still currently talking with the company,” said union President Tom Hansen. “We're hopeful we can get a tentative labor agreement by the expiration date. Our goal is to do that and I wouldn't want to say or do anything to ruin the chance to get that agreement. There's a lot riding on it in the community and there are a lot of jobs at stake.”

Celite council James Kuykendall said the two sides haven't reached impasse on the 4-year-old contract and the company will continue to negotiate in good faith until the contract expires.

He said the union has the right to strike and the company has the right to hire replacement workers - permanent workers under some circumstances. “We will exercise that right,” he said.

If a strike takes place, Hansen said, a picket line would likely be established at the main entrance to the plant off Miguelito Canyon Road. He said the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department contacted him Tuesday morning about security concerns if a strike were to happen.

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“The concerns were that if there was a strike with such a large employer and with a lot of people being put out of work, the concerns had to do with violence or property damage. The Sheriff's Department and the union are working together to minimize those types of issues, if not eliminate them. We had a positive, constructive talk. It was real positive.”

Hansen said the union will not advocate violence and would instruct its members not to participate in violent activity related to the strike.

He added, “When the company's bringing in people to replace you, that notches up the degree out there when there's people crossing the picket line to do your job. We have no beef with the salary workers, but we will have an issue, no question, with anyone who goes up there and tries to take our jobs away.”

Hansen said negotiations will end next Tuesday after a three-day meeting between union and company representatives, with the help of a mediator hired last month to help both sides see eye to eye on a variety of issues.

Issues include a union-requested pay increase and a larger employee shouldering of health-care costs, according to a union member.

Hansen said he is still hopeful both sides can come to an agreement before March 1, however the union has been discussing strike logistics and would likely ask for financial help for members from the international chemical workers union. Celite has hired a security firm to protect the plant, Hansen said.

Celite, a major employer in Lompoc, was sold for $217 million to Imerys, a French corporation, in 2005. The Alleghany Corporation owned it for the previous 14 years. Before then, the company was owned by the Johns-Manville Corporation.

Celite, which mines diatomite and perlite in the hills south of Lompoc, has been part of the city's business landscape since the late 19th century. The first shipment of diatomaceous earth was shipped from the present day mining site in 1893. Commercial production of diatomaceous earth started in Lompoc in 1900.

Diatomite is used for beverage filtration systems, swimming pool filters, cosmetics, building materials, paints and other uses.

February 21, 2007