Striking employees Sylvia Lilly, front left, and Della Rudesill, middle, picket outside the Conn-Selmer plant in Eastlake last August. Joining in support is June Wilson, who was not a striking worker, front right, and Rudesill’s granddaughter. The facility makes brass instruments. The union settled with the company last week, but most workers haven’t been brought back because the company decided to keep replacement workers.EASTLAKE, Ohio — Most of the workers who went on strike against instrument maker Conn-Selmer are still out of work – a week after ratifying a contract – because the company replaced them permanently.

Only about 20 workers have been called back since the contract was signed Oct. 21, said Chris Freeman, international servicing representative for the United Auto Workers. Local 2359 had about 240 members before workers went out on strike in July.

The company hired about 100 replacement workers during the strike. About an equal number of union members crossed the picket line to return to work.

Freeman said company officials told the union that staffing at the plant would be limited to 228 union jobs. The union assumed that striking workers would be included in this figure, but the company then informed the replacement workers that they had been hired permanently.

“According to the law, the company has a right to do that because we didn’t have any unfair labor practice charges against the company that would stick,” Freeman said.

Still, he said the union is exploring legal options to make the company hire back the workers who went on strike.

Julie Theriault, a spokeswoman for Steinway Musical Instruments Inc. of Waltham, Mass., which owns Conn-Selmer, said the company did not hesitate to keep replacement workers because so many of the union members crossed the picket line.

“We’ve had a combination of employees who have crossed and new workers producing in the plant for a couple of months,” she said.

“Since we had a fair number of people cross, it was a huge help not only to produce, but to help train,” Theriault said. “The fall season is what we call the ‘Back to School’ season. With that huge demand we had to keep producing.”

Workers made concessions under the new five-year contract, especially workers with the most seniority. The most senior members agreed to a pay cut of $1 to $19 an hour over four years, depending on how much they make. The highest paid workers make more than $35 an hour.

More junior workers — who generally earn about $15 an hour — would receive raises totaling $1.25 per hour after five years. All workers would receive bonuses totally about $1,200 per worker over five years.

Bob Madda, the union shop steward, said since the contract called for layoffs to be done by seniority, workers who went out on strike should have been offered jobs first. He has not been called back to work.

Theriault said she did not know whether additional workers would be called back – or when.

“In any of our plants, [the number of employees] fluctuates depending on time of year and demand levels,” she said.

Conn-Selmer is a major manufacturer of brass instruments, producing not only for schools but for major orchestras.

Freeman and Madda said that hiring so many inexperienced workers could cost the company its reputation.

“From a business standpoint, it doesn’t make much sense to push out people out who are fully trained for 10 to 15 years and subsequently try to replace them with people in most cases have less than 60 days of experience,” Freeman said.

Theriault said the company would not comment on the union’s allegations about the decreased quality of production.

Madda said some of the replacement workers called the strikers, seeking advice and instruction on how to perform their new jobs.

There is no easy way to learn the art of making brass instruments, he said.

“What we’re hoping is that they realize that you need to be trained to do that job,” Madda said of the company. “Most people learned the craft on the job and stayed until they retired.”



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