AK Steel Workers Approve Contract
Southwest
Mar 14 2007 4:42PM
CINCINNATI (AP) - 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.

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.

Members of Machinists Local Lodge 1943 had been locked out since their contract expired at midnight Feb. 28, 2006. The company has continued to operate the mill with replacement workers and salaried employees in what is the nation's longest current major work stoppage.

The new contract gives most workers a raise, while also requiring them to help pay for their health benefits.

A tentative settlement was announced Feb. 28, just before workers gathered to mark the lockout's one-year anniversary.

The agreement followed negotiating meetings between company CEO James Wainscott and Lynn Tucker, the Machinists union's general vice president for the eastern United States. The company insisted it needed to reduce the work force, have more flexibility in scheduling and pass along to employees some of the costs of health care and other benefits.

Union membership has dwindled from about 2,700 a year ago to fewer than 1,800 because of retirements and resignations. Members twice voted to reject company proposals that would have raised wages for most workers while cutting benefits and giving the company more flexibility in assigning jobs.

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.

It preserves seniority rights for such things as bidding jobs and scheduling vacations, but would require employees to pay 15 percent of the cost of health care insurance.

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.
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On the Net: AK Steel: www.aksteel.com
Armco Employees Independent Federation: www.aeifinc.com

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AK Steel Lockout Highlights;
Wednesday Feb. 28, 2007
Lockout begins — Negotiators for AK Steel Corp. and its hourly work force union fail to come to an agreement by midnight Feb. 28. Locked-out steelworkers take to eight picket lines around Middletown Works. Earlier that same day, the first union members are seen being escorted out of Middletown Works and the mill's blast furnace is shut down for maintenance.

Representation election — After a fierce battle between the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the United Steelworkers of America, the Machinist win the election to begin representing the Armco Employees Independent Federation by 266 votes (with 10 votes going to remain the AEIF). The local union ends its 63-year run as an independent.


First negotiation session — The two sides came together for the first time post-lockout March 4, 2006. Bargaining is brief, and the two sides agree to meet again the following Monday. There have been more than 100 negotiation sessions since.

First failed vote — The company surprised union members and their leaders on Sept. 22, 2006 when they placed a "final offer" on the table. The union had about 72 hours to consider the 300-plus-page document and hold a ratification vote. The union's executive committee refused to endorse the offer, and it was rejected 998 to 768.

Second failed vote — On Oct. 10, 2006, the company surprised the union again with its "clarified final offer," which if approved would have ended the lockout. This time, rank-and-file members had a week to digest the proposal. Again, the local executive committee refused to endorse the package, and it was defeated by a more than two-to-one margin.

Oct. 19 proposal — Less than 24 hours after the failed ratification attempt, AK Steel provided the union with a contract offer that included lower wage increases and higher health care cost sharing compared to the two contracts offers prior. A modified version of the Oct. 19 proposal still stands as the offer on the table more than four months later.

-Dave Greber
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Originally Posted by ryan1488:
glad they are back to work. there are ALOT of forclosures in this area from this.