Two-year Kaiser labor dispute ends

Five-year contract has raises and job cuts

Tuesday, September 19, 2000

By JOHN WILEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Seattle PI

SPOKANE -- Kaiser Aluminum Corp. and the United Steelworkers of America announced a five-year contract agreement yesterday, ending a two-year labor dispute.

The agreement, which calls for modest pay increases and 500 job cuts, covers 2,900 union employees at Kaiser plants in three states, including one in Tacoma and two in the Spokane area, who have been off the job since Sept. 30, 1998.

A five-member arbitration panel was asked to rule on a half-dozen issues that remained after intense negotiations in July and August. The panel ruled in the company's favor on four sticking points and for the union on two.

Union employees will begin returning to work over the next month, after taking mandatory safety training classes.

"This has been an epic struggle for our union," said David Foster, the Steelworker's chief negotiator.

"The gains from the new contract that resulted from negotiations and the arbitrator's decisions will ensure that these operations will remain competitive for years to come," said Kaiser President and Chief Executive Officer Raymond Milchovich. "Returning employees must realize that the best way to maintain long-term job security is by having plants that are efficient and competitive."

The labor dispute began as a strike over Kaiser's contract offer that included a demand for a reduction of 400 jobs. Kaiser hired replacement workers and locked out the Steelworkers in January 1999.

Still pending is a National Labor Relations Board charge that the company's lockout was illegal. The company could be responsible for $337 million in back pay, the union said.

An administrative law judge is scheduled to hear the NLRB complaint against Kaiser Nov. 13 in Oakland, Calif.

The new agreement includes base wage increases of $3.42 an hour, including across-the-board raises of $1.44.

The contract also extends retiree health insurance to 12 years and eliminates a company cap on contributions for retiree health care. It also contains improved protections against subcontracting and includes $12 million for severance and supplemental unemployment benefits for employees affected by the agreed-upon job reductions.