PITTSBURGH (PAI) - Allegheny Technologies' long lockout of its Steelworkers nationwide ended March 14 with a big union win. Workers returned to their jobs under the new 4-year pact, which they ratified by a 5-to-1 ratio days before.
The firm, which has 12 plants in six states, settled 10 days after the National Labor Relations Board stated on Feb. 22 that Allegheny, also called ATI, did not bargain in good faith for a new contract, and thus its lockout was illegal. NLRB's 31-page brief had many charges.
ATI locked out its 2,200 workers last August 15, just before they were to vote, and presumably reject, its "last, best and final" offer full of concessionary demands.
Had ATI not settled and then been found guilty in an NLRB judicial hearing, ATI would have been on the hook for millions of dollars in back pay to the USW members.
The lockout lasted through the fall and winter. The workers, sometimes literally frozen out of their jobs, walked picket lines to garner community support. At least one line, in Bagdad, Pa., just before Christmas, continued in the midst of a snowstorm.
READ MORE @ http://peoplesworld.org/long-ati-lockout-ends-with-steelworkers-win/