STRUTHERS Union at Astro Shapes sets up picket lines

STRUTHERS -- Unionized workers at Astro Shapes set up picket lines early today at the plant on Main Street after negotiating teams for the union and the company failed to reach an agreement before their contract expired at midnight.
Hourly workers are represented by Local 9401 of the United Steelworkers of America.
The company said in a news release that officials made a final contract offer at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday. The offer included pay increases of 40 cents per hour in each year of the four-year agreement, along with a $750 signing bonus.
Workers would have retained their current level of health benefits, the company said, with no employee contribution for premiums throughout the term of the pact.
Company officials called the package "an extremely generous one, given current economic conditions and pressures from foreign competition and rising health care and energy costs." The company employs 425.
Union leaders could not be reached to comment.