Temporary workers, union members start to trade places at Kaiser plants

On Saturday at 5 a.m., five tired workers sat down to a feast of steak and eggs at Perkins to celebrate their last day of work at Kaiser Aluminum's Mead refinery.

At the same time, a few miles away in the Millwood neighborhood, Steelworker Steve Frank quietly slid out of bed and into his clothes, preparing for his first day on the job in two years.

The cool October morning was more than the end of the temps' day and the beginning of Frank's.

The four men and one woman at breakfast had worked for Kaiser for nearly two years, filling the shoes of Frank and about 2,900 of his fellow Steelworkers, who were kept from their jobs by a protracted labor dispute between the company and the United Steelworkers of America. The dispute was settled just last month.

They said they liked the money, but were ready to leave their grueling duties at the Mead plant. They asked that their names not be used in this story because they feared retaliation from the Steelworkers.

Driving out of Mead's fenced parking lot after 4 a.m., they were the first temps to leave any of the five Kaiser plants involved in the labor dispute. After seven full days of 12-hour shifts, they were more than ready to celebrate.

Frank, who started his shift in the rodding room at 7 a.m., was among the first of nearly 2,000 returning union members at the five plants.

Over the next two days, the rest of the Mead shifts will come in, bringing about 600 Steelworkers back to the plant.

Not every Mead worker who wanted to go back will, though.

"While about 86 percent of Mead's employees indicated they wanted to return to work, only 60 percent would be able to do so because of the current power curtailments," said Susan Ashe, spokeswoman for Kaiser, pointing to the closure of two and a half of Mead's eight potlines because of high power prices.

The cutoff hit workers who were hired on July 24, 1995, or later.

At Spokane's Trentwood plant, the company expects to cut about 480 Steelworker jobs because of efficiency improvements and changes in product lines. Some of the plant's Steelworkers are still waiting to hear if they'll go back. The company didn't expect to have any layoffs at the plants in Tacoma, Gramercy, La., and Newark, Ohio.

The returning Trentwood Steelworkers and those at the three other plants will start work over the next two weeks, with Trentwood and Gramercy Steelworkers the last to go back, on Oct. 23. Until then, they've got physicals and safety and work training sessions scheduled.

"Everybody's ready to get back to work," Frank said. "They just want to do their jobs and go home."

In the dark of Saturday morning, the light from the television at Frank's house flooded the street. The sound was low, so as not to wake his wife, Jodel, and the children.

The company veteran, who just the day before had his 13-year anniversary as a Kaiser Steelworker, packed his lunch and smoked a quick cigarette before starting his truck.

He selected the best of three shirts the company has assigned him, pulled it on, and realized two buttons over the stomach were missing. He shook his head and chuckled as he tucked it into his pants anyway. Then he grabbed his white hard hat, new boots and a change of clothes for after work. It felt like a first day.

While he's happy and relieved to go back to his job, Frank doesn't regret the past two years.

"You learn some things in a situation like this," he said. "You learn that your family can hold it together."

While the Franks have cut corners, they've also put Jodel back in school for a degree in social work and kept food on the table.

"It's not like I've been sitting here on the couch all this time," Frank said. He's worked a number of jobs, including installing rebar and roofing. In addition, he's run the Mead picket line, serving as liaison between the Steelworkers, the company and the sheriff's department. For that job, he has fielded phone calls at all hours of the night.

But Frank, like many Steelworkers over the long months, has also made time to get closer to his family.

"Before we went on strike, I had no time with Jodel and the kids," he said.

He was logging overtime hours every week. The time off allowed him to rethink his work schedule.

"I won't be working any overtime," he said. "I want to and need to come home."

His feelings about staying in Spokane and continuing his job at the company have changed. "The main thing we learned is that there is other life than Kaiser," he said. "Now we'll see what happens in the next five years (the duration of the new labor contract)."

The table of five at Perkins was also wondering how the company and the union would fit back together.

"It's not going to be easy for them," said one of the men. He said the company's new work plans might be difficult for the veteran workers to accept.

The company and the union have agreed on a 90-day grace period, where work rules are relaxed while both sides adapt to the returning work force. For the next few weeks, the jobs will be flexible enough that Steelworkers can be assigned extra duties and managers can perform traditional union worker tasks.

"We're glad to be out of there," said another of the five at the table, adding that he's already enrolled in community college classes.

The woman said she hopes for the best for the returning Steelworkers. "My prayers are with them."

The company seems less worried about the Steelworkers' ability to adapt.

Kaiser Aluminum President and CEO Ray Milchovich recently told a group of industry analysts that he expects the plants to be running smoothly in about a month. "The people that are returning to work, ... they know the plant, they know the technology, and many of these people are skilled craftsmen," he said.

Somehow, in the cold of an early morning, the rules of life seem more real. The workers at the table always knew they were temporary. Now their time with Kaiser had reached its end.

And Frank never let go of the idea that his union job would be there when the labor dispute was over.

That was confirmed as he drove his pickup through the company gates, past a crowd of 30 cheering spouses and Trentwood workers, waving U.S. flags and Steelworker signs.