PUEBLO, Colo.—Workers and management at Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel mill have reached a tentative five-year labor agreement.
Members of United Steelworkers Local 2102 and Local 3267 were scheduled to vote on the five-year agreement on Sunday. Union and mill officials say the agreement calls for slight wage increases and other benefits, as well as profit-based incentive pay.
The agreement at the plant is the first negotiated with the Russia-based steelmaker, Evraz, which acquired the mill when the company bought Oregon Steel in 2007.
The plant employs 1,000 people.
A five-year agreement that ended a contentious seven-year labor dispute was set to expire at midnight Thursday. Steelworkers in 1997 went on strike and the mill’s owner locked them out, a dispute that wasn’t settled until 2004.
“Both the company and the unions have worked hard to build a positive labor-management relationship and this long-term deal sets the stage for an even more productive working relationship,” Rob Simone, general manager of the plant said in a statement Friday.
Negotiations took place as orders have slowed during the global economic downturn. The company boosted production last year, but in recent months has been forced to temporarily layoff some workers.
The mill recycles steel to produce rail, seamless pipe, rod and coiled reinforcing bar.
Evraz acquisition of Oregon Steel in a $2.35 billion deal ranks as one of the largest investments in the U.S. by a Russian company.
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Information from: The Pueblo Chieftain,
