UPDATE: AstenJohnson's digital marketing manager Elaine Reed, based in Charleston, S.C, provided a company response to the strike of union employees Monday night:
"We have a long history of working with our associates and expect to resolve the dispute as quickly as possible. We have excellent wages and benefits with very little turnover and provide safe and comfortable working conditions.
"Like most industries at this time, the paper industry is experiencing downtime and permanent closures. In spite of this, we have made a very fair offer. As a contingency, we will continue to serve all our customers with our network of Global Operations. As always, if our associates would like to return to work, we will continue to listen," Reed said.
PREVIOUS STORY: GREENVILLE - AstenJohnson union machinists marched on a picket line for the fourth day on Monday to protest higher healthcare costs they say were shifted to workers in a proposed contract.
The plant, which makes specialty fabrics for the paper industry, is at 6840 W. College Ave., across County CB from the Appleton International Airport.
The company employs 89 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 10.
Members of Local 1855 rejected the AstenJohnson contract on Sept. 30 and again last Wednesday.
In the most recent vote, 63 union members were against it and six voted for it. In a separate vote, 60 voted to strike and eight voted against striking, said Jeremy Terlisner, IAM District 10's business representative.
“The biggest issue, the biggest holdup from the last proposal, is healthcare,” he said.
The strike began at 7 a.m. Friday.
More:Workers at AstenJohnson in Appleton go on strike
Terlisner said the company does pay for employee healthcare, but the dispute was over a "significant" increase in union members' costs as deductibles and premiums rose.
“The company is unwilling to share any of that,” he said.
Messages left Monday morning for two corporate AstenJohnson employees, Sarah Spalding and Jack Ring, were not immediately returned.
Terlisner identified them as HR and site leader, respectively, and said they'd been at the bargaining table.
“We’re willing to sit down at the table as soon as they are. I have reached out on Friday and have not heard back from them,” Terlisner said.
The company cut off existing healthcare coverage for striking workers, he said, and several who went to get prescriptions over the weekend had payments denied.
Contact Maureen Wallenfang at 920-993-7116 or mwallenfang@postcrescent.com. Follow her on Twitter at @wallenfang.