LABOR

Rubbermaid Appeals Arbitrator’s Ruling in Plant Closing: The company appealed a ruling directing it to provide an estimated $1.8 million in back pay and benefits to 65 union members who lost their jobs when it closed a Carson warehouse and distribution center. Arbitrator Reginald Alleyne said the company had relocated work to a facility in Marysville, Tenn., in 1995 without permitting the employees to move or offering to compensate them appropriately, the union said. The award was based on language in the United Steelworkers contract that would keep the contract in effect regardless of “any geographical change in the location or the present place of business of either party,” the union said. The Wooster, Ohio-based company said it provided the required notice before closing the facility.