Clean-room technicians at Micro-Clean in Hanover Township go on strike

About 30 union workers of a Lehigh Valley clean-room testing firm went on strike Thursday in a dispute over wages, benefits and working conditions that came about after they were unable to nail down a contract with the company over the last several months.

And Micro-Clean's clean-room technicians — 32 workers represented by Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 — were back on the picket line from about 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, holding signs and getting honks from passing cars in front of the company's facility at 177 N. Commerce Way in Hanover Township, Northampton County.

Bill Dorward, marketing representative of Local 19, said negotiations had been ongoing with Micro-Clean for about six months before the union members walked off the job Thursday.

"We've been trying to work some different things out with them, needed to get the numbers, and the numbers didn't come anywhere near," he said.

Micro-Clean provides clean-room testing and certification, equipment calibration and repair and environmental monitoring and validation to the pharmaceutical, health care and biotechnology industries. The clean-room technicians often handle various chemicals and work on bio-safety cabinets, Dorward said.

The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Steris, a publicly owned provider of infection prevention and surgical products and services that acquired Micro-Clean in late 2015.

Steris spokesman Stephen Norton on Friday confirmed the strike was related to ongoing contract talks between the company and Local 19, but he declined to publicly discuss details of the negotiations.

"We are committed to reaching an agreement that is fair and equitable to our people and the company," Norton said. "We have prepared and are now implementing contingency plans to maintain business operations and serve customers."

As for union members, Dorward said he hopes the company calls the union back to the table to negotiate soon, so the two sides can work out a contract.

"The whole group just wants to get back to work," said Joseph Neff, a clean-room technician who was on the picket line Friday afternoon. "We just want to get back to the table and hash out a contract and get things moving forward again."

The 30 technicians are a portion of the employees at Micro-Clean. When Steris acquired the company in 2015, Micro-Clean had about 80 employees. Norton on Friday declined to disclose a current head count.

Source: The Morning Call