STRUTHERS Astro Shapes contract rejected

The aluminum extruder is keeping up production with nonunion workers.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
STRUTHERS -- The strike at Astro Shapes continues after workers voted down a contract offer.
Bob Cene Jr., company vice president, said the Struthers aluminum extruder will maintain production despite the vote Wednesday by United Steelworkers of America Local 9401.
He said management employees and their family and friends are working 12-hour shifts to keep the company's customers satisfied. He wouldn't comment on production volumes or number of people working, but the company has about 100 salaried workers.
"Our customers are working closely with us. We are talking to them daily," Cene said.
To try to end the 15-day strike, company officials asked union leaders to put their latest offer before the 320 union members. The leaders recommended it be turned down.
Membership followed that recommendation, with 79 percent voting against the offer, said Tony Sevi, Local 9401 president.
He said the union is contacting a company lawyer and a federal mediator to set up more negotiations.
Cene called its last offer a "great package."
"We've been fair with our people," he said.
Job protection
Sevi said the union still wants stronger contract language to protect its jobs from being sent to subcontractors.
The company has said that its proposal protects union positions.Sevi said that the offer protects job classifications but not individual positions.
About 10 positions were lost in the last contract when the company moved truck-driving work to a subcontractor, he said. Union leaders are worried that that could happen in other departments, he said.
Union leaders also said the company could be more generous to its workers because it is profitable.
The offer includes annual raises of 40 cents an hour. Sevi said a $750 signing bonus was removed from the latest offer.
The union said production workers start at $6.83 an hour, with a top scale of $13.10 an hour. The average pay is $11.02 an hour, the union said.
Sevi said he is encouraging his members to take a stand on behalf of all workers in the Mahoning Valley. The area is suffering because companies that are performing well and making money are not providing the pay and benefits that they should be, he said.
The company has said that it's in a competitive industry and its pay is comparable to that of other local companies.
shilling@vindy.com