Latest News - October 2011

October 19, 2011
Armstrong, Steelworkers impasse continues in Marietta
Source: Central Penn Business Journal
By: Jim T. Ryan

After a three-month lockout and a five-and-half-hour negotiating session this week, Lancaster County-based Armstrong World Industries Inc. and the United Steelworkers Unit 441 at its Marietta plant are no closer to a deal for a new contract.

"Unfortunately, there was no real progress coming out of this session, and we remain frustrated with the local union leadership for that lack of progress," Armstrong spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson said today.

Armstrong and the Steelworkers have been negotiating since May for a new contract, but the company has not moved on its three-year offer it says is worth $78 million in wages and benefits for the factory's 260 workers.

Union representatives were not immediately available for comment.

The company and union have not set additional bargaining dates, Johnson said. The Marietta plant makes ceiling and acoustic tiles.

Armstrong has successfully negotiated four contracts with its local unions this year, she said. Those include contracts ratified at a Macon, Ga., ceiling plant and Lancaster flooring plant on Oct. 7 and Oct. 9, respectively.

Manor Township-based Armstrong, which makes flooring, ceiling and cabinetry products, trades its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AWI. Its stock price gained 4.9 percent on Tuesday and continued to climb above $41 a share this morning, according to Google Finance.

Editor's note: This item was modified from its previous version to correct that the five-and-half-hour negotiating session occurred earlier in the week.