Steel strikers prepare to make counteroffer

By Don Shilling

The company’s offer would have cut 50 jobs, a union leader says.

WARREN — Striking workers at Thomas Steel Strip plan to make a counteroffer today after rejecting a proposed labor contract from the company.

The counteroffer will not include the company’s attempt to change work rules and eliminate 50 jobs or about 20 percent of the hourly work force, said Mike Boyle, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 3253.

About 260 union members have been striking the steel processer since July, but the plant has continued to operate with replacement workers.

Company officials could not be reached to comment Tuesday.

Boyle said the two sides returned to the bargaining table recently and were reaching compromises on key issues until management proposed new work rules. Boyle said he told Dennis Wist, Thomas president and chief executive, Thursday that the bargaining committee would support the company’s latest offer if the work rule changes were removed, but the executive said the changes would stay.

Boyle said the proposal was defeated soundly Monday, but he would not release vote totals.

The new work rules would have grouped all employees in a particular unit into one job classification, he said. That way, workers within a particular unit could perform any job in that unit, he said.

The proposal would have eliminated overtime and seniority rights for bidding on jobs in addition to trimming jobs, he said.

Boyle said the work rules changes came up only in the most recent round of negotiations. He said company officials were trying to use a bad economy to force the union into accepting more concessions.

He said he thinks that Thomas is making money even though management said it is not.

Key issues for the union when the strike started were medical benefits for retirees and a two-tier wage structure proposed by the company.

Boyle said union negotiators agreed to lower pay for new hires in exchange for changes in medical benefits for retirees. Management agreed to reduce the maximum out-of-pocket costs for retirees from $5,000 a year to $2,000 a year for an individual plan, he said.

Retirees previously had a plan that paid 100 percent of their costs, but the company changed those benefits three years ago.

Boyle said negotiators reached a compromise on wages by agreeing to a combination of pay raises and bonuses. The offer included a $3,000-per-person signing bonus, $3,000 bonus in 2009 and 2010 and hourly raises of 50 cents in 2011 and 2012.

shilling@vindy.com