MichaelMoore.com

Tool workers strike over health coverage

By Lorene Yue / Crain’s Chicago Business

Production at SK Hand Tool Corp. in McCook ground to halt Tuesday when its union workers took to the picket lines to protest the company’s recent decision to yank health insurance benefits.

Roughly 70 workers belonging to the Teamsters Local 743 went on strike over what they regard as an unfair labor practice. Richard Berg, president of the local union, said that SK Hand Tool failed to notify employees that it would stop offering health insurance coverage in May. Workers realized the benefit had been withdrawn when they received their paychecks and saw there was no deduction for health care, Mr. Berg said.

An SK Hand Tool spokesman said in a statement that the company was forced to eliminate health care coverage for reasons beyond its control.

“We realize that employees want to have health care and we wish that we could provide them with coverage,” the spokesman said.

He said the company was “experiencing a downturn” in its business and is “looking to streamline our cost basis throughout the organization.”

The company supplies tools for Sears’ Craftsman line of products.

The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against SK Hand Tools for unfair labor practices. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Sept. 3, said a spokesman for the NLRB in Chicago.

The lack of health coverage does not appear to be related to current labor contract negotiations, but it has made talks between both sides more difficult. The union has been working without a contract. The previous three-year agreement expired in February.

Now both sides are working with a federal mediator to reach new terms.

“Their last offer was minimum wage and no health care insurance,” Mr. Berg said. “That, of course, is untenable.”

SK Hand Tool was founded in 1921 and is currently operated by two of its shareholders, according to SK Hand Tool’s Web site. Last year a new executive team was put in place after two managers were promoted to the top spots.