STRUTHERS Astro Shapes workers to vote Saturday on tentative contract

A union leader predicted employees would be satisfied with the contract.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LIBERTY -- Striking Astro Shapes workers will vote on a tentative five-year agreement Saturday.
Company vice president Bob Cene Jr. said the 313 strikers, who have been off the job since Nov. 5, will return to work Monday if the contract is ratified.
The tentative agreement between the Struthers aluminum extrusion company and the union was reached shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday after seven hours of negotiations with the assistance of federal mediator Michael Franzak at the Holiday Inn MetroPlex.
Tony Sevi, president of the striking United Steelworkers of America Local 9401, said he hopes to have an informational meeting for the membership Friday at the union hall before Saturday's ratification vote, also at the union hall.
Optimistic about pact
Sevi would not disclose specifics of the agreement Wednesday evening, but he did say the union's six-member negotiating committee was unanimous in recommending that the union membership ratify the agreement.
"The membership will be satisfied with the results," Sevi predicted. "It is a benefit to both sides."
"I'm looking forward to having everybody come back to work on Monday," Cene said. "We did sit down face to face, and we communicated, and that's how we worked this ultimate agreement out.
"We're just looking forward to having everybody back to work and improving our workplace and making a better environment for everybody," Cene said.
The main issue in the strike was outsourcing of work, Sevi said earlier this month. Union officials said they needed stronger contract language to protect jobs from being reduced by sending work to contractors. During the last contract, truck driving was outsourced, leading to the reassignment of 10 drivers to other jobs.
Being able to meet directly, instead of having a federal mediator shuttle between the two sides, was decisive in Wednesday's agreement, Sevi said. Wednesday was the first day in six weeks that the full negotiating committees of both sides sat together at the bargaining table, he added.
"We're looking forward to going back to work Monday," Sevi said. As for healing the wounds from an emotional strike, Sevi said, "We have a forgiving membership. They're good people, and yes, with good people, you'll find forgiveness. These wounds won't be that hard to heal."