Tentative agreement has been reached on a new labor agreement between McMinnville's Cascade Steel Rolling Mills and United Steelworkers Local 8378, which struck the mill twice in April 2012.
In a one paragraph press release, the mill and union said they were announcing that a tentative contract settlement has been reached after months of negotiation and mutual hard work. They said details of the agreement, still subject to ratification by the union membership, were not being disclosed.
Union spokesman Mr Ron Rodgers said that "I think we reached a good compromise. We look forward to a good working relationship with Cascade Steel in the future."
While he hadn't been directly involved until the last couple of weeks, he had stayed abreast of the talks as they progressed. Mr Rodgers said that "I felt like we were able to work together and come up with some creative solutions."
The tentative agreement brings to an apparent end months of sometimes tense labor negotiations. The talks were marked by a brief April 1st 2012 strike, followed by an Easter Sunday walkout that continued 12 days, both predicated on unfair labor practice allegations.
In the midst of the strike, the union held elections in which vocal president Mr Joe Munger was replaced by lower profile opponent Ed Rush.
Rush was installed May 15th 2012. By then, the union had unilaterally called off its strike, putting renewed emphasis on reaching agreement at the table.
In addition to its 313 union workers, the mill employs more than 100 non union workers who remained on the job. That allowed the mill to continue production on a limited basis.
Cascade Steel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Schnitzer Steel Industries, based in Portland. It is a major steel recycler, but its steelmaking capacity is limited to the local mill. Schnitzer plans to issue a report to stockholders June 28th 2012 on its earnings for the third fiscal quarter.
Schnitzer Steel said that "In our steel manufacturing business, sales volumes are expected to decline slightly while average sales prices and utilization are expected to be in line with the second quarter, resulting in operating performance which is slightly below break even."
During its second fiscal quarter, which ended February 29th 2012, Schnitzer reported sales of USD 887 million, USD 85 million of it from Cascade Steel. However, after expenses, it said, it suffered a net loss of USD 868,000 on its McMinnville steelmaking operation.
Source - News Register
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