Economy Story Archives - Page 3 of 156 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Preston County Prison Workers Get Pay Bump To Boost Retention

Employees at Federal Correctional Complex Hazelton who are in good standing will receive a 25 percent pay increase — part of an effort to boost staff retention and promote facility safety.

Personnel at a Preston County prison will soon receive a 25 percent pay increase, following union protests over understaffing last year.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the United States Office of Personnel Management approved the pay increase Thursday as part of an effort to increase staff retention at the Federal Correctional Complex Hazelton.

Staffing issues at the federal prison gained attention in 2018 following the deaths of three inmates in a seven-month span, including the murder of an inmate serving a life sentence.

Leadership changes following the incident improved staffing levels at the facility, according to corrections officer Justin Tarovisky, who also serves as union president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 420 chapter.

Tarovisky’s union represents more than 600 workers at the facility, from West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, he said.

But the departure of some members of the facility’s leadership, coupled with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated prior staffing issues to a new degree, Tarovisky said.

“Since that, we’ve drastically declined,” he said. In September, union representatives reported that more than 80 corrections officer positions were vacant.

Tarovisky said that understaffing in correctional facilities poses safety risks for current personnel.

“I mean, we’re a 24-hour operation. It’s not a job where you just leave at the end of the day, you go home, and you don’t have nobody there,” he said. “We have to have correctional officers at the facility to run a safe mission.”

To raise awareness about challenges to the facility, union workers lined a Monongalia County roadside last September, picketing with bright-colored signs demanding new hiring initiatives.

“We need hiring incentives to bring in new recruits,” Tarovisky said. “You have a lot of other law enforcement agencies within this country — whether it’s state police, whether it’s corrections in Pennsylvania — that … were offering higher incentives. So why would you want to come to Hazelton?”

Tarovisky said state officials were receptive to the union’s requests.

In November, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) urging the organization’s approval of a 25 percent retention incentive for staff at the facility.

“FCC Hazelton faces a dangerous staffing shortage that, while challenging, could be improved by providing current employees with a much-deserved pay increase,” he wrote in the letter.

After the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published a report in February that the BOP failed to prevent the deaths of 14 inmates at the West Virginia facility in just eight years — the second-highest number in the nation — Manchin renewed his calls for federal intervention.

Other allegations disclosed in a 2023 DOJ report included the falsification of documents from supervisory staff at the facility; the usage of racial slurs and punitive housing restrictions from workers; and even the assault of inmates by facility staff.

Manchin said that understaffing exacerbated dangerous conditions like these in the facility. Likewise, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said that the 2023 DOJ findings suggested the facility was unable to provide a safe environment for inmates and workers.

Tarovisky credits calls from West Virginia’s senators, plus additional support from U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, with pushing the pay increase forward.

“Unbelievable job, what they’ve done for the staff at Hazelton. This is what we’ve been asking for, and this is what they’ve been pressing on,” he said. “They put all politics aside to represent the people at FCC Hazelton.”

The pay raise will apply to all of the facility’s corrections officers who are currently in good standing. But it will also bump starting salaries at the facility up by 25 percent, which Tarovisky said will help make the facility more enticing in a competitive job market.

“That’s what’s so great about this,” he said. “Now, we can compete even higher with other agencies.”

Manchin applauded the new funding in a Thursday press release, adding that he hopes it will reduce safety risks in the prison.

“The facility has long suffered from severe staffing shortages, especially of correctional officers, that have resulted in a hostile environment for both employees and inmates,” he said. “This pay incentive is much-deserved for current employees and will help recruit new qualified officers and staff, which will promote safer conditions for employees and inmates.”

**Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that allegations of falsified documents and staff abuse came from a February 2024 Department of Justice report. They came from a September 2023 report. The story has been updated with the correction.

Wood Flooring Company Acquires Two Closed Allegheny Wood Product Sawmills

Allegheny Wood Products announced it was closing its doors in February, laying off more than 900 employees. AHF Products, a wood flooring company, has agreed to acquire two sawmills from the defunct company.

Chief Operating Officer Jake Loftis said the acquisition will save an estimated 80 jobs that would have been lost last week.

“We are excited to add this capability to AHF and operate the mills at a capacity that will positively impact people and these two communities,” Loftis said.

Allegheny Wood Products was a supplier of lumber to the flooring company.

“It’s another key step to ensure AHF’s success now and in the future,” Lofits said.

The sawmills will now continue to supply lumber for AHF, a step the wood flooring company said was necessary for securing lumber supplies for current and future operations. The sawmills that will reopen are located in Greenbrier and Randolph counties.

AHF said West Virginia lumber could be used for other company locations in the future, although currently, it is not economical to do so.

Eastern hardwood has steeply declined in the last two decades, sitting at 40 percent of what it was in 2007.

More Postal Workers Affected By Facility Downgrade Than Union Anticipated

As many as 90 postal workers could have their jobs affected by the downgrading of a West Virginia mail facility. This figure is higher than union representatives anticipated.

As many as 90 postal workers could have their jobs affected by the downgrading of a West Virginia mail facility — a figure notably higher than union representatives previously anticipated.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) announced Tuesday that it would carry out plans to transfer outgoing mail processing from the Charleston Processing and Distribution Center to facilities in Pennsylvania.

The decision followed months of deliberation, as well as intense pushback from union workers and state officials concerned with the fate of West Virginia’s only full USPS processing center.

Tim Holstein, vice president of the Charleston-based American Postal Workers Union Local 133, has been an outspoken opponent of the downgrade.

He said union workers worried that more employees would be impacted than the USPS initially estimated. “Multiple members could possibly be relocated or moved out of state, possibly uprooting families and lives,” he told West Virginia Public Broadcasting in February.

When the final report came out on Tuesday, Holstein said workers’ fears were actualized.

In January, the USPS released an initial report that estimated changes to the facility would bring a net decrease of 24 postal workers.

At a first glance, that number is similar to the net decrease of 23 postal workers from the final plans released in April. But the final report also included a breakdown omitted from the initial report.

This laid bare the full extent of changes in store for workers, Holstein said.

Forty-one career employees — 28 career mail processing clerks and 13 career maintenance workers — could be transferred out of the Charleston facility.

In calculating a net decrease, the USPS offset this number with employees gained at the Pittsburgh-area facilities. But Holstein said transferring facilities is not a simple process, and that it might not be a viable option for some employees.

“It’s very difficult to uproot your family and your life, especially if you’ve lived in a particular area, and move to another place that has a higher cost of living,” he said.

The report also said that 25 postal support employees and 24 mail handler assistants could lose their positions. These are non-career roles, which lack the protections of career positions and can be terminated by the USPS.

Positions At Stake

Position	Number Of Workers Affected	Eligible To Be Laid Off?
Mail Processing Clerks	28	No
Postal Support Employees	25	Yes
Mail Handler Assistants	24	Yes
Maintenance Workers	13	No

According to the United States Postal Service, a total of 90 workers at the Charleston Processing and Distribution Center could have their positions affected in the months ahead.
Graphic Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Together, that means a total of 90 career and non-career workers could be impacted through transfers and layoffs, respectively.

Holstein said that by providing just one number — the net decrease — the USPS misrepresented changes to the facility. The net figure was nearly four times lower than the cumulative number of positions impacted.

In an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting, USPS Spokesperson Susan Wright did not address these claims.

However, she wrote that numbers included in the initial report were based on USPS estimates at the time.

Wright also wrote that “all bargaining employee reassignments will be made in accordance with the respective collective bargaining agreements.”

Still, Holstein said that the release of the final report reignited concerns over USPS transparency among workers.

While the net employee decrease was included prominently on the report’s third page, the full breakdown was included pages into the report, with terms and figures Holstein described as convoluted.

Hours after the report came out, Holstein said he had to pull out a pencil and perform arithmetic to fully grasp the number of positions affected by the downgrade.

“Once you get deeper into the math, you’re finding out that they’re using a net combined number that makes it more palatable for the public … in hopes that we’re not going to start digging into the numbers,” he said.

Union representatives were not alone in expressing disapproval of the final plans. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., released a statement Tuesday expressing concern over how many workers could be impacted.

“I am disappointed that USPS has decided to move forward with plans to shrink the role of the Charleston facility,” she said. “It is also very disappointing to see the number of jobs impacted by these changes has grown from USPS’s initial findings.”

While the USPS describes their plans as final, Holstein said he and fellow workers will continue to challenge them within the boundaries of their positions.

“The fight is not over,” he said. “Until we start to see a relocation or the non-career employees let go, we’re still on the fight. We’re still going to give it 100 percent.”

Tim Holstein said he had to do handwritten arithmetic to understand the full extent of staff changes at the Charleston Processing and Distribution Center.
*Photo Credit: Tim Holstein/American Postal Workers Union Local 133*

Electricity Remains Off For Thousands Following Tuesday’s Storm

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 76,000 Appalachian Power customers were still waiting for their power to be restored.

Tens of thousands of Appalachian Power customers remain without electricity after Tuesday’s storm.

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 76,000 Appalachian Power customers were still waiting for their power to be restored.

An update from the company on Wednesday morning indicated most customers in four counties – Boone, Logan, Mingo and Raleigh – could expect to have their power back by 11 p.m. Wednesday.

It also said most customers in Cabell, Clay, Fayette, Greenbrier, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Mason, Nicholas, Putnam, Roane and Wayne counties could expect restoration by 11 p.m. Thursday.

More than 2,200 workers are part of that effort, the utility said, including 1,300 line workers from several surrounding states.

They’re dealing with downed trees, broken or damaged poles and transformers, and wires on the ground.

Customers can check their outage status, view an outage map, report an outage or sign up for outage alerts at AppalachianPower.com.

Appalachian Power is an underwriter of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Workers At 2 Allegheny Wood Products Mills Could Get A Reprieve

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia last week approved the sale of sawmills in Randolph and Greenbrier counties to a Pennsylvania flooring company.

Workers at two Allegheny Wood Products sawmills could get a reprieve after a federal judge approved the sale of those operations.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia last week approved the sale of sawmills in Randolph and Greenbrier counties to a Pennsylvania flooring company.

AHF will purchase the two sites from a court-appointed receiver for $7.5 million.

Allegheny Wood Products shuttered its operations in late February. In early March, United Bank, of Fairfax, Virginia, filed a lawsuit against the company, seeking $40.5 million in damages for unpaid principal and interest.

The sale could benefit only a fraction of the 900 Allegheny Wood Products workers who lost their jobs in February.

A worker in Mercer County filed a lawsuit in federal court last month, seeking class action status, alleging the company failed to provide 60 days notice before laying off workers.

Such warnings are required by the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN.

USPS Will Move W.Va. Mail Processing To Pittsburgh, Despite Pushback

The USPS announced Tuesday it will consolidate a South Charleston facility and move some mail processing operations to the Pittsburgh area. The changes follow months of pushback from union representatives.

After months of deliberation, the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced Tuesday that it will consolidate a South Charleston facility and move some mail processing operations to the Pittsburgh area.

The decision follows intense debate over the future of the Charleston Processing and Distribution Center, which is the only full USPS mail processing center in West Virginia.

Plans for the consolidation were announced in fall 2023. Union representatives worried the shift would bring layoffs for temporary employees, or location reassignments for career employees.

They also said mail delivery times could increase for West Virginia residents if processing services were moved out of state.

State lawmakers — plus Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. — echoed concerns over the consolidation publicly.

But USPS officials have denied claims that delivery times could be impacted by the facility change.

In a press release Tuesday, they also confirmed that no career employees would be laid off through the new plans.

That doesn’t mean workers will be unaffected. Temporary workers could still be laid off through the restructuring, and full-time employees could be reassigned to locations outside Kanawha County.

However, any staff changes will follow collective bargaining agreements from the local postal workers union, according to the USPS press release.

The changes come as part of a ten-year plan from USPS to restructure operations nationally.

Members of the Charleston-based American Postal Workers Union 133 have hosted informational pickets since late 2023 over the proposed downsizing of a local mail processing facility.
*Photo Courtesy of Tim Holstein/American Postal Workers Union Local 133*

Some union representatives have expressed concerns that the changes will reduce jobs and mail services for rural communities most acutely.

But the West Virginia consolidation also comes with an investment.

According to USPS, nearly $23 million will be invested in the South Charleston facility to modernize services, improve technology and renovate break rooms.

Still, representatives with the Charleston-area American Postal Workers Union Local 133 (APWU) said they do not see the investment as a cause for celebration.

“While it is to no surprise the regurgitated language specified in this release seems to be positive, postal employees across the United States know otherwise,” Tim Holstein, vice president of APWU 133, wrote in a statement provided to West Virginia Public broadcasting.

Holstein wrote that the union’s concerns with increased delivery times and mail costs have not been quashed.

While the USPS might have reached a decision, Holstein said union workers still plan to challenge the changes to come.

“[APWU President Craig] Brown and I will continue fighting this consolidation to the fullest extent our contractual provisions allow,” he wrote.

“We request that members of the public continue to contact their senators, congressmen and congresswomen in opposition to this now planned change.”