Teamsters Strike Calmat Co. After Builder Calls Off Talks : Labor: Union drivers protest proposed $2.20-per-hour pay cut, as well as reduced work hours and benefits.

More than 50 members of the local Teamsters Union walked out on their jobs Monday at Calmat Co. plants in Oxnard and Moorpark after the construction materials company abruptly called off contract negotiations.

“I just feel sick inside because I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Greg Fowler, a 30-year Calmat employee. “This company has been my life, and look how they are treating me.”

Calmat, which specializes in rock and concrete building material, employs 80 truck drivers, 50 of whom are union members, said Dennis Shaw, secretary treasurer and chief executive for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 186.

Calmat and the union had been negotiating since April, but talks were halted Friday after the Teamsters refused to take a $2.20-per-hour pay cut.

In recent contracts with other companies, union members have agreed to cuts of 95 cents per hour, but Calmat insisted on cuts more than twice as deep, Shaw said.

Union drivers are paid from $17.75 to $17.95 per hour, Shaw said.

“We have given Calmat major concessions,” said Shaw. “What Calmat wants is simply a greedy factor on their part.”

Calmat officials reached in Los Angeles on Monday declined to comment, saying only that they would send a written reply later.

Other areas of contention include proposed reduced work hours, elimination of a seniority system that allows senior drivers first choice on jobs, and a decrease in health insurance benefits, Shaw said.

A month ago, both parties hired a mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, Shaw said. But the mediator was unable to help them reach an agreement.

“We are going to strike until Calmat begins negotiations again,” Fowler said.