WAYNE, W.Va. — Union workers who are on strike at a plant in Wayne County, W.Va., are scheduled to meet with company officials next week.

Steelworkers Local 721 spokesman Tom Sullivan said the union is set to meet with officials from Braskem beginning Tuesday. The union, which includes 72 workers, has been on strike at the Kenova facility since August.

Sullivan said the strike is about making sure the plant is a good place to work.

They want to see improvements to their insurance plans and pensions as well as shorter working hours.

“It has nothing to do with money or wages,” Sullivan said. He added that the company’s pension does not meet industry standards.

“Our pension that we have now is at least 50 percent less than industry standards and they’re wanting to do away with it,” he said.

Chris Bland, vice president of manufacturing for Braskem, didn’t give specific details about employee benefits but said they are above average for the area and for the manufacturing industry.

“We feel we’ve offered a good package to them,” Bland said. “We’ve frankly had a lack of response on how they would like to proceed. You need two parties to negotiate.”

Bland said the plant’s remaining approximately 30 workers have been running the plant since Aug. 15. The company is being operated well and safely, Bland said.

“We appreciate those employees who continue to run the plant,” Bland said.

Sullivan disagreed with Bland, saying the company have in fact been using temporary replacement workers, and that union workers have seen the replacement workers coming and going from the plant.

“There’s an awfully lot of strange faces that come in and we don’t see them for 12 hours,” Sullivan. He added that the company had sent union officials a letter saying that it intended to hire temporary workers until the strike was settled and that the union workers would get their jobs back when the strike was settled.

Bland said the company is ready to negotiate until an agreement can be reached.

“We’ll be there and we’ll be ready and willing to discuss items in the contract,” he said.