Union ratifies pact

Staff report

LOWELLVILLE

Members of United Steel Workers Local 5025 were planning to return to work at Falcon Foundry Company today after ratifying a new three-year contract Sunday.

The contract was ratified 58-20.

It includes a raise for everyone in the plant, said union president Mark Leonard, though he could not say how much.

It incudes a health-care cost increase also, he said, though not as much as the company wanted at first.

Part-time employees at the company will still be considered part-time, he said. He said the union had pushed for those 22 employees, who work about 40 hours a week, to become full-time.

The union went on strike at midnight last Wednesday after voting down the company’s offer.

Negotiations began the end of August. The old contract expired Tuesday.

Leonard said he knows the union is lucky the strike ended quickly.

“I want to thank people that donated pop, water and pizza,” he said, adding that there were “a couple of other local unions that donated.”

“Everyone seems happy to go back to work,” he said.