OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Employees of a plastics plant have been told they’ll need to make up the time they’re off work while the plant is used as the site of a speech by President Bush on his economic and employment proposals.

The president, who has been campaigning across the country to drum up support for his tax cut and economic plan, scheduled a speech Monday at the Airlite Plastics Co.

Bush is expected to speak to the company’s 575 employees about how his economic stimulus plan would benefit them.

Airlite president and CEO Brad Crosby said workers will be given one of four options during the visit: work their regular shift in an adjacent plant not visited by the president, take the day off and make up the work on Saturday, use one of their vacation days, or take an unpaid day off.

“Right from the beginning, we didn’t want to see anyone take a cut in pay. We’re just trying to be completely fair,” Crosby said

Crosby said he had not spoken to any employees who dislike the options. “I think the overwhelming majority of our employees are just very excited about seeing the president,” he said.

However, the company added the fourth option – allowing workers to take a paid vacation day – after the Omaha World-Herald reported Saturday that at least one employee complained about having to take an unpaid day off or make up the work on a normal day off to see the president.

The company planned to shut down the plant’s first shift and parts of the second shift Monday to accommodate the president’s appearance, Crosby said.

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said he was a little surprised by the company’s decision regarding compensation for workers during Bush’s visit.

“That could very easily undermine the president’s message, but I don’t want to be an ungracious host,” Nelson said from his home Sunday. “If this is Airlite’s way of handling it, that’s between them and their employees.”

Although one of the options for workers was an unpaid day off, Claire Buchan, a White House spokeswoman traveling with the president in Santa Fe, N.M., said Sunday: “All of the employees at the plant are being paid in full.”

A group opposed to Bush’s tax cut plan will demonstrate during the president’s visit to the plant. However, members of the Fair Taxes for All Coalition were told they will have to stay at a back entrance, well out of sight of news cameras and reporters, said a leader of the group, Patrick Pannett.

“There really isn’t a viable or visible opportunity for us to get our point across,” Pannett said. “It’s just a blatant political move.”

Airlite makes coolers for shipping vaccines and steaks, blocks for building tornado-resistant buildings and plastic lids and containers for foods and soft drinks.

AP-ES-05-11-03 1755EDT

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