Hundreds of Remington Arms employees went from furloughed to laid off on Monday, and by Wednesday they were protesting to get paid. Their union, United Mine Workers of America, says they haven’t been paid severance and their benefits end this week.
“I get a phone call and they tell me you’re all done. No severance. Twenty-two years, no severance. Our healthcare is done at the end of the month. I’m diabetic I need my healthcare,” said longtime Remington employee Frank Brown.” They’re walking away from us.”
Remington went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy over the summer. The union says this latest move violates their contract. Local politicians saying they’re doing their part to help, including calling for a federal investigation.
“These workers deserve their pay, they deserve their severance, and we need to get this new company in here soon so they can start making firearms again,” said U.S. Rep. Anthony Brindisi. The plant is located in the first term Democrat’s district.
“This company is one of the most important companies in America, founded over 200 years ago, so I’m fighting for these union contracts and the great work they’ve done,” said Claudia Tenney, the Republican running against Brindisi, who used to represent the district from 2017 to 2019.
Investment firm Roundhill Group is in the process of purchasing Remington’s firearms business. They’ve said they’re committed to restoring the company’s name and operating the plant. But there are still hurdles to overcome.
“This company doesn’t have a federal firearms license. So if you understand the business, you can’t even put a serial number on a firearm unless you actually have the license to be able to sell the firearm. So I have a whole lot of faith that all of our local officials are going to help us out get this process done as soon as we can and put us back to work,” said Brown.
Remington has been a central part of the Ilion community for more than two centuries and employees don’t want to see that legacy disappear.
“This would be a huge devastating effect if this place were to close. Put us back to work, we’ll do our best for you, and we’ll make the company thrive,” said Brown.
Union members say they’ll be back on the picket line again on Thursday.
ILION, N.Y. (AP) — Workers at the sprawling Remington factory in this upstate New York village took pride in a local gunmaking tradition stretching back to the days of flintlock rifles. Now they’re looking ahead with uncertainty.
Jacquie Sweeney and her husband were among almost 600 workers fired by the company this week, a few months after Remington Outdoor Co. sought bankruptcy protection for the second time in two years.
Successful bidders for the idled plant in bankruptcy proceedings have said they plan to restart at least some production, though details remain scarce.
There are high hopes for a successful reload of the plant that dominates the local economy. But these hopes are tempered by questions about how many workers will come back, and when.
“My husband, he’s looking for work, just like everybody else. And I plan on going back to college unless I find a job before I start that up,” said Sweeney, recording secretary for the local unit of the United Mine Workers of America. “That’s all we can really do. We can’t sit around and wait for forever.”
It’s common for people here to say that Ilion is Remington and Remington is Ilion. Company founder Eliphalet Remington started making flintlock rifles on his father’s forge near here in 1816, and the Ilion factory site dates to 1828. Though the company moved its headquarters to Madison, North Carolina, the old factory dominates — literally and figuratively — a village that has long depended on workers making rifles and shotguns to power the economy.
Union signs reading “United We Stand with Remington Workers” are in the windows of local businesses that sell everything from pizza slices to steel-toed boots. At Beer Belly Bob’s beverage center across the street from the plant, Bob McDowell recalled the sales bump on Thursdays and Fridays after shifts ended at 3 p.m.
“I used to call it the beer train,” McDowell said with a smile. “It was busy, and it is gone.”
Remington’s recent history has been a roller coaster ride with a lot of drops. Layoffs have been common. The plant, which employed around 1,200 people eight years ago, was down recently to about 600 union workers plus an estimated 100 or so salaried workers. The company began moving two production lines to a new plant in Huntsville, Alabama, in 2014.
Remington dealt not only with the volatile gun market, but also legal action, after the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre. The gunman who killed 20 children and six educators at the Connecticut school used a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, which once was made here.
Most workers were furloughed at the end of September as the company went through bankruptcy proceedings. Locals wondered whether it would ever restart.
The company was divvied up by multiple buyers. The bankruptcy court approved Sturm, Ruger & Co.’s $30 million bid for Marlin Firearms, which were made here, and Anoka, Minnesota-based Vista Outdoor’s $81.4 million bid for Remington’s ammunition and accessories businesses.
Roundhill Group’s $13 million bid included the Ilion firearms plant and a handgun barrel factory in Lenoir City, Tennessee.
Roundhill partner Richmond Italia, a paintball industry veteran, said he was approached by Remington CEO Ken D’Arcy about the opportunity, according to documents filed in the bankruptcy case.
“I believe I was approached by Mr. D’Arcy due to my manufacturing business in the paintball gun market and apparently Mr. D’Arcy believed that there may be some synergy,” Italia said in court papers.
Roundhill pledged in court documents to bring back at least 200 workers. They could eventually add hundreds more, but details are not clear.
Roundhill partners did not respond to calls and emails asking about their plans. But Italia told WUTR-TV last week they plan to bring back as many workers as possible within “a couple of months.”
Local officials believe a number of pieces need to be in place before production starts, from a collective bargaining agreement with the union to a new federal firearms license.
One likely product would be Remington’s Model 870 shotguns, said Jamie Rudwall, a district representative for the union. He said the new owners can rely on a trained workforce to produce shotguns for a hot market.
The FBI reports that it has processed more background checks to purchase or possess a firearm in the first nine months of 2020 than any previous year.
“We certainly have that capability of putting every single person back to work at 870s making literally between 1,200 and 1,800 every day. And every one of them will be sold,” said Rudwall, who once worked at the plant.
The UMW said it has held “productive discussions” with Roundhill. Meanwhile, it also has excoriated the outgoing owners for terminating 585 workers this week along with their health care and other contractual benefits. The union said the company is refusing to pay severance and accrued vacation benefits, sparking pickets in Ilion this week.
Local officials say the new owners have also expressed concerns about the efficiency of the old four-story factory, preferring a modern one-floor plant. Vincent Bono, chairman of the Herkimer County Legislature, met with them Thursday and said he believes something can be worked out to keep keep the long local tradition of gun production alive.
“We’re optimistic that Remington’s going to have a home here,” Bono said. “To what degree, we really don’t know.”
ILION, N.Y. – Former Remington Arms workers and community members gathered in Ilion Wednesday to rally against the company, after employees were notified they would not receive the severance and benefits promised in their contracts.
Many carried signs, some saying “Honor the Contract” and “United We Stand with Remington Workers.”
The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), the union that represents the Remington workers, organized Wednesday’s rally after union President Cecil E. Roberts called the refusal to pay severance “outrageous” and “a slap in the face” earlier this week.
The workers are hoping this will push the former factory owners to pay what the union says they owe through the collective bargaining agreement.
“Basically, it’s to get what’s owed. What’s owed through the contract. What they promised us, you know. In the contract, they promised us severance pay if we were to get laid off. They promised us payment for our unused vacation time. None of that stuff — they don’t want to pay,” said former employee Jeff Madison. “I guess my 19 years in there don’t mean nothing to them people.”
Another rally is planned Thursday outside Franco’s Pizza, 6 Central Plaza, at 10 a.m.
Local politicians have showed support for Remington workers, including Congressman Anthony Brindisi, Sen. Chuck Schumer and congressional candidate, Claudia Tenney.
Brindisi attended Wednesday’s rally, and sent a letter to the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of the workers.
“These hard working men and women deserve to be treated with dignity and they deserve the benefits they fought for. Remington is trying to leave this community and these workers high and dry, but we aren’t going to let them. I am calling on the National Labor Relations Board to step in and investigate this issue,” he said.
Tenney, the Republican candidate in the 22nd Congressional District race, also attended the rally.
“I want to say to the Remington workers – you’ve always had my back and I will always have yours. You have made firearms of the highest craftsmanship for generations and you are the heart of our community. This is a tragedy of epic proportions but we will keep fighting for you, your families, and your rights and we will come out stronger,” she said. “I’ve spoken to White House officials and they are on top of it. The message has gotten to President Trump. The Treasury Department and Department of Labor are engaged. You will not be forgotten and I will keep fighting for your livelihoods, rights, and our community because it’s the right thing to do.”
Schumer released the following statement on Wednesday as well:
“I stand in solidarity with the men and women of the United Mine Workers of America as they fight for their heard-earned benefits callously stripped away by Remington Arms. Generations of Remington workers in Ilion made billions of dollars in profits for this company and they deserve better. Today, I am calling on Remington to do what’s right and fulfill the commitment they made to their loyal and productive workers. I am also calling on the National Labor Relations Board to investigate whether any laws were violated by this outrageous action.”
ILION — It was through a voicemail that Jeff Madison learned that he, and hundreds of other workers with the Remington Arms plant in Ilion, were laid off.
Remington Outdoor Company announced the move Friday, terminating the employment of the Ilion plant’s 585 workers by Monday, while cutting off their health care and other contractual benefits at the end of the month.
The company also said Remington would not pay severance and accrued vacation benefits — despite the terms of a collective bargaining agreement with union employees, according to the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).
The layoffs are the latest chapter for Remington workers in Ilion, who faced uncertain futures as Remington Outdoor Company assets were auctioned off to individual bidders amid the company’s latest bout with bankruptcy. The sale of the Remington plant in Ilion to the Roundhill Group, LLC was approved late last month in federal bankruptcy court.
Representatives from Remington and Roundhill could not be reached for comment Monday.
UMWA Local Union 717 has filed grievances against Remington under the agreement, while the UMWA International Union is exploring additional legal action, union representatives said.
Amid the legal feud, Madison — president of Local 717 — and Remington’s other workers are coping with the immediate fallout.
“I’ve been there 19 years,” Madison said. “Apparently, I wasn’t worth anything. They don’t want to abide by the terms of the contract.”
Benefits a major concern
Madison was joined Monday morning by several other UMWA members at union headquarters on First Street in Ilion.
Martin Seamon commented that he just wants to see the new owners get the Ilion plant up and running so he can get back to work. Chris French agreed.
Union members are concerned with the loss of medical benefits. By law, workers can continue their health insurance coverage through COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act).
“That’s expensive,” French said.
The elimination of benefits, including disability, makes for additional problems for employees, said Jackie Sweeney, recording secretary for Local 717. She spoke with an employee who was on disability after undergoing heart surgery two weeks ago.
French said some are blaming the new owners for the decision to eliminate benefits, but that is not the case. The Remington Outdoor Company made that decision.
As part of the announcement, a Remington Arms representative advised workers to make appointments to pick up personal belongings and return any company property.
When asked about the number of vehicles in the Arms parking lot Monday, Seamon and French said there were still salaried workers at the plant along with 22 hourly employees who handled maintenance, plumbing and electrical work.
Layoffs ‘extremely frustrating,’ state officials say
Madison said most workers have been collecting unemployment since they were furloughed at the end of September.
“A lot haven’t received their paychecks yet,” Sweeney said, adding that state and federal representatives have offered assistance through their offices.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office deferred comment to the state Department of Labor.
A spokesperson for the Labor Department said the agency has been providing assistance to Remington employees since the middle of the summer, when the company filed a notice under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires companies to alert the state prior to any mass layoffs.
“Our team has been working with impacted employees since the WARN notice was first filed this summer and will continue to provide support, including job placement assistance,” said Deanna Cohen, the agency spokesperson.
The state’s Jobs Express website, which culls job listings from across the state, has 2,500 current openings listed in the Mohawk Valley, Cohen noted.
“We stand ready with the resources to connect unemployed New Yorkers with these jobs,” Cohen said.
Meanwhile, the area’s state and federal representatives decried the actions of Remington Outdoor Company and express support for workers.
The Remington layoffs, along with the union’s claim that the company won’t pay out severance and vacation time, drew a rebuke from Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, the New York Democrat.
“Remington Arms should fulfill the commitment they made to their loyal and productive workers throughout the Mohawk Valley and pay them their rightfully deserved severance and benefits with all due speed,” Schumer said in a statement.
State Sen. James Seward, R-Milford, and other state officials said they remain in communication with the Roundhill Group about bringing Remington employees back to work. Roundhill is working to receive a federal firearms license, Seward said.
“The action is extremely frustrating and I stand with the union as they work to resolve these issues and provide workers with the benefits they have earned and deserve,” Seward said.
Both Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon, D-Marcy, and Assemblyman Brian Miller, R-New Hartford, said the workers are entitled to their severance and medical benefits. Empire State Development, the state’s economic development arm, has been asked to work with the new owners, Buttenschon said.
“The members of the United Mine Workers of America Local 717 have kept this business in operation and produced some of the finest firearms in the world,” Miller said. “They deserve far better than this. … Severance and vacation benefits are guaranteed to the workers and they must be honored.”
Donna Thompson is the government and business reporter for the Times Telegram. For unlimited access to her stories, please subscribe or activate you digital account today. Email her at donna@timestelegram.com.
Halloween celebrations and trick-or-treating look a bit different this year. We have plenty of crafty ways for you to safely trick-or-treat while maintaining social distancing! We also have a huge list of union-made candy for your festivities.
Socially distant trick-or-treating alternatives:
Get a Halloween piñata
Halloween is all about the candy and what better way to deliver the treats than with a bang?! Both kids and adults will love to partake!
Go on a scavenger hunt
A spooky scavenger hunt is the perfect activity for kids, with hidden clues around your house or backyard, and a sweet treat as the prize.
Make “boo” baskets
Your child can create their very own “boo” basket with an assortment of festive Halloween goodies. You can even throw in a few toys for an extra surprise!
The union who represents the Ilion Remington Arms employees says 585 employees were notified by the company on October 23, they were being terminated effective Oct. 26.
ILION, N.Y. – The United Mine Workers of America, the union that represents the Ilion Remington Arms employees, says 585 employees were notified by the company on Oct. 23, they were being terminated effective Oct. 26.
According to a release sent by the United Mine Workers of America, the company is also cutting off contractual benefits like healthcare, severance pay and accrued vacation on Oct. 31. The union says the company is obligated to pay severance and vacation under the collective bargaining agreement.
UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts issued the following statement on Sunday, Oct. 25:
“This outrageous action by Remington Outdoor company is a slap in the face to the employees who built that company into the best firearms manufacturer in the world. UMWA Local Union 717 has already filed a series of grievances under our collective bargaining agreement, and the UMWA International Union is exploring further legal action.
“Our members at Local Union 717, their families and their communities have been on an emotional roller-coaster the last several months. First the company filed for bankruptcy and it looked like the Ilion plant would close for good. Then the union was successful in encouraging a potential buyer to keep jobs in Ilion, and that buyer was able to purchase the plant in the bankruptcy process.
“We are now working with the new company to get the plant reopened and start putting our members back to work. But the old, failed Remington had one more kick in the pants for our members.
“If they think they can get away with this without a fight from the UMWA they had better think again. Our members in Local Union 717 earned those benefits. We are going to do everything we can to ensure that they get them, and then continue working to get the plant reopened under new ownership as soon as possible.”
Consider these five distracting driving habits and how to change them:
Eating or Drinking: Hot coffee spills, greasy hands or stray crumbs could distract you from the road. Eat before you get behind the wheel or after you’ve reached your destination. If you need a snack now, find some place off the road to stop.
Making hands-free calls: You may not take your hands off the wheel, but calls can take your mind off the road. Turn off your phone’s Bluetooth capabilities before you drive off, and silence your phone to help prevent temptation. If you really need to make a call, safely pull over to talk.
Messing with dials or controls: Adjusting volume, looking for a radio station, plugging in GPS directions or turning up the heat diverts your eyes from the road. Take care of all of the above before shifting into gear. If you must make adjustments, wait until you come to a complete stop at a stoplight, pull over safely, or ask your front-seat passenger to handle them.
Paying attention to other passengers: Young children and infants can be up to eight times more distracting than adult passengers, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Make sure your little ones have something to occupy them. Or stop the car and pull over safely before investigating the cause of screaming or crying.
Applying makeup or shaving: The vanity mirror blocks your eyes from the road. Give yourself enough time before leaving home to finish getting ready.
MATEWAN — A move to a new location and the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic have made reopening the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum a struggle, but nothing worth having comes easy in this strife-steeped coal town.
On Friday, the museum reopened in its new home, the Matewan National Bank building, just across Mate Street from its former home in what once was the Chambers Hardware and Furniture Store.
The one-time hardware store was a fitting site for the museum when it was established there in 2015. Its brick walls are still pocked with bullet holes from a key mine wars battle — the 1920 Battle of Matewan, a gunfight between coal company detectives and townspeople led by Matewan Police Chief Sid Hatfield.
But the bank building provides the museum a sturdy structure with ample room in which to grow, with added exhibit space, a gift shop, a gallery for rotating art exhibits, a site for a new archives, office space for staff, a large conference room and rental space for businesses.
“We’ve more than doubled the space we had,” Mackenzie New, director of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum, said Thursday as she and other museum staffers took a break from last-minute preparations on the eve of reopening.
“When we first walked in here a year ago, there was nothing here,” Wilma Steele, a member of the museum’s board of directors, said. “But now we have a living, breathing museum.”
“We’re really looking forward to reopening,” New said. “I’ve been counting. It’s been 310 days since we packed up and moved everything across the street.”
A May 16 reopening, scheduled to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Matewan, had initially been planned for the museum, featuring a number of crowd-drawing events, including a recreation of the 1920 gunfight that left 10 men dead. But the prospect of crowds following the arrival of COVID-19 did not mix, and the opening date had to be pushed back.
“We’ll just have our Battle of Matewan program next year, along with our observance of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain,” New said.
“Next year, our anniversary program will be memorable,” Steele said.
From now through the end of October, the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum will be open on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Face masks and social distancing are mandatory, and no more than 10 people at a time will be admitted into the exhibit area.
“I really look forward to school groups coming in again,” New said. “There is no mention of the Mine Wars in West Virginia history texts. In fact, when President Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration was having writers produce travel guides for the states, Gov. Homer Holt insisted that all references to Blair Mountain, Mother Jones or anything else related to the mine wars be taken out.”
As a result, generations of young West Virginians have grown up never knowing of the history that took place near their homes. Lesson plans and other resources dealing with the Mine Wars are available to teachers via the museum’s website.
“One of the things I most frequently hear from visitors to Matewan is, ‘What were the Mine Wars?’” New said. “When they find out, most of them want to know more.”
College groups from Pennsylvania to Minnesota, plus Ball State University in Indiana, Berea College in Kentucky and Virginia Tech have toured the museum in recent years.
New exhibits on display following the museum’s reopening include one on the role women played during the Mine Wars. Here, visitors can learn not only how women kept their families fed in union tent cities after being evicted from coal company houses, but how they used common tools to tear up tracks used by coal trains.
Another new item on display is a barred cell door from the Jefferson County Jail in Charles Town, used to hold some of the 22 United Mine Workers of America members awaiting trial on charges of treason against the state of West Virginia in 1922, following the Battle of Blair Mountain.
An abundance of other Blair Mountain artifacts can be seen by museum visitors, starting with a replica of a homemade bomb similar to real bombs dropped, with little effect, on miners from three biplanes chartered by coal operators.
Also displayed are photos of some of the 14 U.S. Army Air Service bombers under the command of Brig. Gen. Billy Mitchell ordered to stage in Charleston and be ready, if needed, to target striking miners. The bombers ended up being used only for surveillance purposes.
Handguns, rifles and other weaponry found on the battlefield by historian, metal detectorist and former museum board president Kenny King make up a large part of the exhibit.
Exhibits at the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum cover coalfield battles stemming from 1912-13 attempts to unionize mines along Paint and Cabin creeks, in Kanawha and Fayette counties, through the 1920 Battle of Matewan, also known as the Matewan Massacre.
They move on to recount the ambush revenge killing of Matewan Massacre figures Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers in Welch in August 1921, which, a week later, triggered a Miners March from Charleston to Blair Mountain on the Boone-Logan county line. There, the miners engaged more than 5,000 sheriff’s deputies, coal company detectives and other union foes dug in on a ridgeline studded with fortified machine gun emplacements.
Exhibits also cover the miners’ decision to surrender their arms to the force of 4,000 U.S. Army troops dispatched to the scene of the battle, deemed to be the largest U.S. civil insurrection since the Civil War, and the treason trials of Miners March leaders in Charles Town in 1922.
The museum began to take shape in 2011 and 2012, when Steele and King placed battlefield artifacts King had found at Blair Mountain on display in a building in the nearby Logan County community of Blair, mainly for those taking part in a commemorative Miners March to see.
“Lou Martin, a history professor from Chatham University in Pennsylvania, said that exhibit was too good to take down and forget about,” Steele said.
Shaun Slifer, an exhibit technician, artist and sculptor from Pittsburgh who had been invited by a friend to get involved in the project, designed the exhibits in the original Mine Wars museum, starting in 2014, and has done the same on a larger scale in the new location.
“There was a great team of people involved in the project, but they needed someone to figure out what visitors should see when they walked into the room,” he recalled.
Slifer has made numerous trips from Pittsburgh to Matewan this year to design exhibits for the new building, and he has stayed in town for the past three weeks to make sure the museum is ready for its reopening.
After spending months thinking about what the museum should look like, he said, “it’s nice to finally see people walking around in it.”
Medicare Health Insurance for Union Members and Retirees
Many union members and retirees with original Medicare (Part A and Part B) coverage are looking for additional insurance to help limit out-of-pocket costs.
The resources offered by eHealth can help you navigate your Medicare Plan options and choose the right Medicare plan for you and your spouse, based on your budget and needs. eHealth can provide information about many different insurance companies and Medicare plans at no additional cost to you with no obligation to enroll.
If you need personalized help over the phone, you can call a licensed insurance agent at 888-680-4770 (TTY users 711) Monday through Friday, 8 am – 8 pm Eastern Time.
Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans
Medicare supplement insurance coverage can include:
Deductibles
Coinsurance
Foreign travel
Medicare Advantage Plans
Medicare Advantage may cover:
Most Medicare Part A (hospital coverage) covered services (Hospice will remain covered through Medicare)
Medicare Part B (medical insurance coverage) covered services
Medicare Part D Prescription drug coverage
Vision
Hearing
Dental
Wellness programs
Maximum out-of-pocket charges
Medicare Prescription Drug Plans
Medicare Prescription Drug coverage (Part D) may cover:
Prescription drugs
Generally does not cover over-the-counter medications
