AP News, March 1st, 2007
AK Steel Holding Corp. said Wednesday it has reached a tentative settlement with union workers at its Middletown Works plant that would end a year-old lockout fought over the steelmaker's demands for lower labor costs.
Leaders of the Machinists union, who had earlier scheduled an evening meeting to mark the lockout's one-year anniversary, weren't immediately available for comment.
The proposed contract must be ratified by members of Local Lodge 1943 of the International Association of Machinists, who twice last year voted to reject company offers.
The company has continued to operate the mill, about 30 miles north of Cincinnati, with replacement workers and salaried employees.
The steelmaker has insisted it needs a contract allowing it to reduce the work force, have more flexibility in scheduling and pass along to employees some of the costs of health care and retirement benefits.
Union members have argued that they already had made sacrifices while increasing production with a smaller work force.
The union told the company "that it would present the contract to its members for ratification," AK Steel said in a statement. The new agreement would be effective March 15 and runs through Sept. 15, 2011, the company said.
No other details of Wednesday's tentative settlement were immediately available.
The lockout is the nation's longest major work stoppage since the 20-month-long strike at the Ormet Corp. plant in Hannibal in southeast Ohio that ended in July.
Union membership at the Middletown Works plant has dwindled from about 2,700 a year ago to what the company said Wednesday was 1,750 because of retirements and resignations.
AK Steel makes flat-rolled carbon steel and stainless and electrical steel used in cars, appliances and other products. Its headquarters and largest mill are in Middletown, with smaller plants in Mansfield, Zanesville and Coshocton, Ohio; Ashland, Ky.; Rockport, Ind.; and Butler, Pa.
Its shares rose $2.72, or 13 percent, to $23.13 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange after reaching a new 52-week high of $23.82 earlier in the session.
