Union leaders want strikers to reject offer

STRUTHERS -- Striking Astro Shapes workers are to vote Wednesday on a contract offer that union leaders recommend be rejected.
Tony Sevi, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 940, said union leaders agreed to bring the offer before the union's 320 members at the request of the company.
"They deserve more than this," he said of the offer.
The aluminum extruder has withdrawn a $750 signing bonus but has kept its offer of annual raises of 40 cents an hour in the proposed four-year contract, he said. The union leaders want stronger language to protect work from being sent to subcontractors and eliminating union jobs, he said.
The company wouldn't comment on details but said it has added language to protect strikers from retaliation on the job if they return to work. The strike began Nov. 5.