AP News, March 14th, 2007
Union workers at AK Steel Holding Corp.'s Middletown Works overwhelmingly approved a contract offer Wednesday to end a nearly 13-month-old lockout.
Machinists union officials said the ratification vote was 1,275 in favor, 226 against. At the union hall in Middletown, dozens of workers clapped, cheered after Brian Daley, president of the Machinists Local Lodge 1943, announced: "After more than a year, the lockout at AK Steel's Middletown Works is over."
The agreement, which will send some 1,750 union employees back to work at the plant 30 miles north of Cincinnati, is effective Thursday and runs through September 2011.
"I hope the company gets us back in as soon as possible," said Todd Frazier, a union worker who helped tally the votes. "That way we can start making steel again and start getting our lives back in order."
The company said letters would go out Thursday for the first group of returning workers, and that all workers would be scheduled to work in 90 days or less.
"We are pleased that we have reached an equitable agreement which will return IAM (Machinists) members to work with a contract that significantly improves Middletown Works competitiveness," James L. Wainscott, chairman, president and chief executive officer of AK Steel, said in a statement.
Union workers had been locked out since Feb. 28, 2006. The company has continued to operate the mill with replacement workers and salaried employees in what was the nation's longest current major work stoppage.
The new contract gives most workers a raise, while also requiring them to help pay for health benefits.
The company insisted it needed to reduce the work force and have more flexibility in scheduling.
The new contract increases pay for most workers. Wages for most employees would range from $15.66 to $21.50 an hour, with a 50 cent raise after 18 months, the union said.
The company will contribute up to $1.80 per hour to a multi-employer pension plan, and pay $7.7 million to resolve all claims and grievances, including $2.6 million in profit sharing for 2005 and $202,301 for 2006.
Negotiations on a new contract began Nov. 30, 2005, with AK insisting it had to cut labor costs to stay competitive. The company demanded the elimination of minimum work force guarantees, the combination of hundreds of job classifications and employee contributions to health coverage and other benefits.
Union officials balked, saying workers had already made sacrifices while increasing production with a smaller work force.
AK Steel makes flat-rolled carbon steel and stainless and electrical steel used in cars and appliances. The company's biggest mill and headquarters are in Middletown, with smaller plants in Zanesville, Mansfield and Coshocton, Ohio; Ashland, Ky.; Rockport, Ind., and Butler, Pa.
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Associated Press reporter Lisa Cornwell in Middletown contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
AK Steel: http://www.aksteel.com
Armco Employees Independent Federation: http://www.aeifinc.com
