Questions about union at Bernie

To the editor:

Please understand I'm a proud union member. But there is something that puzzles me about the union at IXL Manufacturing in Bernie, Mo. No one seems to know when it started, how long it has been there and why we are the lowest-paid factory in the area. Top pay is $8.24. We have "union" workers and what are called "company" workers in the same plant. "Union" are the production laborers. "Company" are office, clerks, machine mechanics, supervisors, set-up and foremen. Their benefits are much better that ours, and their pay is even higher. Why are we as union members paid so low? We belong to the Carpenters District Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity Local 1770, an affiliate of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America AFL-CIO under Steven Marcus from Cape Girardeau. I want to know how much we are supposed to be paid.

MARIA LERMA, Parma, Mo.