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Alcoa workers not out of line

Posted 9/12/12

To the editor: In response to this week’s sound off article “Union Out of Line,” the writer appears to be naïve, uninformed, or has an agenda to blame the union for the labor unrest at Alcoa. …

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Alcoa workers not out of line

Posted

To the editor:

In response to this week’s sound off article “Union Out of Line,” the writer appears to be naïve, uninformed, or has an agenda to blame the union for the labor unrest at Alcoa.

The Fortune 500 companies Alcoa #127 and Fluor #124 have every right to solicit and open in private the bids submitted!

It is my understanding that Fluor was selected by Alcoa to design, bid, and oversee the repair to the cast house, Area II.

The bid documents were hastily drawn and sent out to local contractors in mid May for proposals.

By all construction standards, the documents were inadequate, lacked detail, and in some sections did not apply to this project!

When legitimate questions were sent to Fluor the answers were vague and, in many cases, unanswered. In private construction bidding jargon, it appears the local contractors were bidding “apples to apples” while the Texas CCC group were bidding “apples to oranges,” the playing field was not level!

You be the judge, this retired writer has been a supportive member of the NNY construction group and will not remain silent to such idiotic assumptions made in this article that the “unions are out of line.”

All parties involved have an equal responsibility to get this matter resolved and to get this area producing aluminum.

Alcoa (and Massena, NY) can’t wait.

A. J. Lagoski, Degrasse