LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / July 15, 2000

GRAMERCY – Steelworkers for Kaiser Aluminum’s five plants nationwide are ready to go back to work. And even before they do that they’ve gottheir health insurance coverage back intact.

Steelworkers voted by a 74 percent margin to approve an agreement aimed at ending the 21-month-old strike by its second anniversary, Sept. 30.And as part of the agreement Kaiser immediately reinstated health insurance for all locked-out workers and their families while final contract issues are resolved.

Ratification votes were taken July 12 on the arbitration agreement, and the votes were counted the next day, according to union spokesman Sam Thomas in Gramercy. Total returns were 1,681 in favor of the agreementand 601 against.

At Local 5702 of United Steelworkers of America in Gramercy, the approval vote reached its highest level of approval, 251 in favor and only 11 against.

Approval of this means that negotiations will resume to iron out the remaining issues, but anything which remains will go to a five-member arbitration panel, headed by Seymour Strongin. Hearings on the remainingissues have been set for Aug. 21-25, with a ruling set by mid-September.Workers are expected to return to work no later than Sept. 30, the secondanniversary of the strike.

Twelve categories of issues remain to be settled, including wages and sick pay. The union wants a graduated $1.80 per hour wage increase of thenext five years; the company agrees at this point only to $1.32 per hour.The union is also asking for a $30 per week pay increase for sick pay; the company has not agreed to any increase.

“This has been an epic struggle for our union and the labor and environmental movements in the Americas,” commented David Foster, chairman of the union’s negotiation team. “We now know that whetherthrough continued negotiations by mid-August or through interest arbitration by the end of September, our members will proudly march back to their jobs with a fair and equitable agreement.”Meanwhile, the National Labor Relations Board recently charged Kaiser with illegally locking out its employees “to pressure and coerce” them into accepting the company’s unlawful bargaining proposal.

The NLRB complaint also charged Kaiser on June 30 with unlawfully discriminating against employees to discourage membership in a union and with failing and refusing to bargain in good faith with the union, as required by federal law.

The NLRB will seek full back pay and benefits, dating back to Jan. 14,1999, the date of the lockout. A hearing will be held Nov. 13 in Oakland,Calif., for the company to answer the charges.Foster continued, “In addition, we have preserved our claim for potential back pay for the illegal action taken by Kaiser in locking out our members on Jan. 14, 1999.”

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