Ormet OKs Contract

(By Brad Bauer of The Marietta Times, bbauer@mariettatimes.com)

CLARINGTON — Striking Ormet workers voted Sunday in favor of a tentative agreement that could end a 20-month dispute and get 865 workers back to their jobs.

The agreement gives workers wage increases, improved pension, $1,500 signing bonuses and guaranteed 40-hour work weeks, and gives retirees back their health benefits.

More than 1,200 union members have not worked at either of Ormet’s two Monroe County plants since going on strike in Nov. 22, 2004.

Mark Goddard, recording secretary for United Steelworkers Local 5724, said union members approved the new contract by a vote of 551-79.

Still, it remains unclear how soon or how many of the company’s workers will be called back to work.

Ormet still needs to negotiate a new deal for electricity service similar to what other industrial users have in the region before the company can restart the reduction facility, which turned ore into aluminum for processing, the union said.

“One major hurdle has been taken care of. The next hurdle is to get this smelter reduction plant back up and running,” said Jim Markus, vice president of United Steelworkers Local 5724, which represents about 850 workers.

“This is just a positive first step in a process that’s still going to take some time,” Goddard said. “Really, we have no idea of how long it could take and what all is going to be involved.

Goddard said Ormet officials are working with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to secure an electric rate to run the aluminum reduction facility about 50 miles north of Marietta on Ohio 7.

“If they get that agreement worked out, we could be back in there reasonably quickly,” Goddard said.

The company’s other Hannibal facility, an aluminum rolling mill, remains closed. All of its equipment was sold to Aleris International in December.

Most workers going to vote at the union hall Sunday seemed eager to get back to work. A few workers expressed concern about labor issues left unsettled in the agreement approved Sunday, including forced overtime and seniority rights.

“It sounds like a good deal to me and I’m all for it,” said Josh Semon, 28, of Woodsfield, a three-year employee of the company. “This strike has been hard on everyone and I’m ready to get back to work. We had some forced overtime before all of this. Really, I’d rather be working forced overtime than to not be working at all.”

John Sidon, 61, of St. Clairsville, a 38-year Ormet employee, said he was comfortable with the agreement.

“I’m not a bit concerned with any of this,” Sidon said. “This is a good contract and I’m comfortable with it the way it is.”

The few who spoke out against the agreement asked their names not be published.

Sidon and several other workers commented they were glad the agreement will continue to take care of retirees.

One of the sticking points in contract negotiations had been ensuring that about 2,000 Ormet retirees would not lose their health benefits as they was scheduled to happen at the end of this year.

Once finalized, the contract between the union and Ormet will be in effect until Dec. 31, 2009.

Ormet was the largest employer in Monroe County, which has about 15,000 residents and had a 9.2 percent unemployment rate in May, the highest in the state.

The company has about 2,200 employees at operations in Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Louisiana.

On the Net: Ormet Corp.

United Steelworkers