LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / August 5, 2000

GRAMERCY – Negotiations on settling the 22-month-old strike by steelworkers at Kaiser Aluminum are continuing in an upbeat attitude, with final talks planned Aug. 10 in Houston.”We got real close last night,” Stanley Folse of Local 570 said Thursday, referring to the talks in Las Vegas aimed at settling remaining issues between Kaiser and the United Steelworkers of America.

In a last effort to reach agreement before submitting the outstanding issues to Interest Arbitrator Seymour Strongin for resolution, the USWA and Kaiser agreed to meet one more time.

Anything which remains would go to a five-member arbitration panel, headed by Strongin. Hearings on those remaining issues are set for Aug. 21-25 inChicago, with a ruling by mid-September.

“The progress we have made at the bargaining table warrants a final effort before giving our offers to an arbitrator,” commented David Foster, chairman of the union’s negotiation team.

The company and the union reached an accord on June 29, which mandated negotiations and, if unsuccessful, arbitration.

Steelworkers for Kaiser Aluminum’s five plants nationwide voted July 12 to ratify that agreement, approving it by a 74 percent margin.

As part of the July 12 agreement, Kaiser immediately reinstated health insurance for all locked-out workers and their families while these final contract issues are resolved.

Originally, i last-minute negotiations were scheduled to end Wednesday.

However, both sides agreed to continue talks next week without affecting submission of the issues to arbitration, if it comes to that.

“We are simply making every effort to see if an agreement can be negotiated without resorting to binding arbitration,” Foster said. “Thedecision to negotiate again next week will not affect the date of the arbitration hearing.”Exactly which issues remain to be settled were not disclosed by either side.

Kaiser spokesman Scott Lamb said, “We have elected not to comment at all on the details of where we are near and where we are far.”Lamb added: “The end result will be the same. It’ll be very nice to have thisbehind us.”

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