By Melissa Dunson

mdunson@joplinglobe.com

Questions about a possible strike at EaglePicher Technologies still loomed Wednesday after the first of what was scheduled to be three days of negotiations, according to a top union official.

Kenneth Sharon Jr., president of Local 812, United Steelworkers of America, told the Globe that union officials presented EaglePicher officials with a counteroffer to the proposed three-year contract that the union’s 252 members voted to reject on May 2, and that it was not accepted. The employees work at the battery plant at C Street and Porter Avenue.

Creed Jones, vice president of EP Technologies’ human resources department, said the two sides are still far apart on some significant issues.

“There was no progress made (Wednesday), and there are no future meetings scheduled (with union officials),” Jones said.

Rather than give EaglePicher a 24-hour strike notice, Sharon said the union is taking a “hold and see” stance. He said another meeting with company officials has not been scheduled, but that the union’s executive board will meet today, and another meeting with the entire membership of the local will be scheduled for later.

A government mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service office in Wichita, Kan., attended Wednesday’s meeting as an impartial witness to the proceedings, according to Jones and Sharon.

The union’s membership voted May 2 to strike, but gave the company two weeks to offer an amended contract. That deadline was May 16, but that same day, union officials posted a notice at the plant, signed by Sharon, postponing the strike until further notice because of the prospect of Wednesday’s negotiations.

The strike vote came after several weeks of what Jones called “difficult negotiations.”

The biggest problems that union members and officials had with the proposed EP Technologies contract were changes in job classifications, increased health-care premiums and changes to the pension plan.

Jones said the two sides are at a point where no progress is being made and there is no sign of a change, but he declined to comment on whether the company would declare an official impasse. He said EaglePicher would continue “business as usual,” with union workers still being employed under the former contract that now is obsolete.

Melissa Dunson is the business writer for The Joplin Globe.