PACE International Union • 3340 Perimeter Hill Drive • Nashville, TN 37211
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Shawn Gilchrist, PACE
outreach liaison, (cell) 615/ 364-6169
Jim Briggs, PACE Region One international representative, (cell) 716/998-7556
Lynne Baker, PACE associate director of communications, (cell) 615/828-6169
Administrative Law Judge Finds DuPont Violated Federal Law, Says PACE International Union
Nashville, Tenn. – June 8, 2004 – DuPont (NYSE:DD) violated federal law, said administrative law judge Benjamin Schlesinger, when it failed to provide health and safety information and access to its Niagara Falls plant to the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers (PACE) International Union. The judge also found that “the union was correct in insisting” that the seniority rights be maintained and that DuPont violated federal laws “by changing its contract midstream.”
“We are pleased with the administrative law judge’s findings,” said PACE Region One Vice President Gary Cook. “Perhaps now DuPont will take its workers’ concerns about health and safety seriously.”
The administrative law judge credited the union’s testimony, noting, “There is sufficient evidence that the union complained of dangerous conditions.” The judge found that DuPont knew of these complaints, “but either tried to avoid their existence or their seriousness or tried to avoid their being investigated by a trained expert as the union has requested.”
“The company ignored us,” said Joyce Bunce, president of PACE local 1-5002 at the Niagara Falls facility. “With this decision, we hope conditions will improve at the plant.”
The administrative law judge determined that DuPont had violated federal labor laws by engaging in the following activities:
 | Refusing to provide the union with information regarding the location of hazardous chemicals at its Niagara Falls, N.Y., facility that had caused spills, accidents, air emissions and ground and surface water discharges. |
| Refusing to tell PACE how DuPont intended to transport hazardous materials and delaying the transmission of other health and safety information. |
| Refusing PACE’s request to inspect the Niagara Falls plant after the union did not receive requested health and safety information from the company. |
| Changing employees’ bidding rights without negotiating with the union first. |
| Refusing PACE’s demand for a copy of DuPont’s agreement to subcontract the molded sodium process with Lantai in China. |
| Disciplining the former union president at the Niagara Falls plant, Russ Koithan, for discussing the loss of jobs at the facility with the Niagara Gazette and telling how DuPont decided to sell American technology to the Chinese in order to enhance the company’s capacity to produce sodium. |
As a remedy, the administrative law judge ordered DuPont to furnish PACE with the health and safety information it requested and to allow the union’s health and safety expert to tour the Niagara Falls facility and investigate the health and safety issues raised by the union during collective bargaining.
After finding that the company disregarded rules in its own practice and procedure manual regarding the application of seniority in employee bidding rights, the administrative law judge ordered DuPont to abide by the job bidding provisions in the union contract. DuPont also was ordered to pay back lost wages and benefits, plus interest, to bargaining unit employees harmed by the company’s refusal to honor the contract.
The administrative law judge determined that PACE had a legal right to examine DuPont’s contract with Lantai in China and ordered the company to provide the union with a copy of the contract.
Calling DuPont’s claim of confidentiality “lame,” the administrative law judge ordered the company to remove any reference to Koithan’s discipline from his personnel file.
“This is another significant win for PACE in its ongoing effort to force DuPont to bargain in good faith, comply with federal labor laws and ensure a safe workplace,” said Jim Briggs, the PACE Region One international representative who services the Niagara Falls plant.
Headquartered in Nashville, PACE International Union represents over 275,000 workers in the chemical, paper, oil, energy and industrial sectors. It is the fourth largest industrial union in the U.S. www.paceunion.org
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