Kaiser, Union Extend Agreement Deadline Replacement Workers Learn They Will Get One Month’S Health Benefits, No Severance Pay

Kaiser Aluminum and the United Steelworkers union have agreed to continue negotiations.

Again.

The two sides are racing against time and pushing each other to reach a contract agreement that would put the majority of 2,900 Steelworkers - including more than 2,100 in Spokane - back on the job.

Thursday’s extension was the second since the original Aug. 2 deadline.

The timing and negotiations affect not only the Steelworkers and the company but also thousands of temporary workers who have kept the plants running since the labor dispute started Sept. 30, 1998.

And now those workers are bracing for life without Kaiser.

When the time comes for them to leave, the company has offered them a month’s worth of health benefits.

The workers say that’s not much after sticking out the contract battle and running the gantlet of the Steelworkers’ picket lines each day.

“It’s a handshake, and they’re going to show us the door,” said one worker at Kaiser’s Trentwood plant who asked not to be identified.

“We worked the goofy hours, withstood the changing work conditions and dealt with threats from Steelworkers,” he said. But now they get no severance pay, only a month’s benefits and no letters of recommendation from the company, he said.

“What did they expect?” said Wes Beck, president of the Trentwood union local.

While Kaiser confirmed that it is offering benefits for a month, the company declined to give further details on the temporary workers’ departure. No date for them to leave has been set.

A number of temporary workers have already found other jobs. A company representing AK Steel in Ohio is recruiting Kaiser’s temporaries to fill in during the steel company’s lockout of about 600 workers.

“They’re sending out hiring packets,” said the temporary worker at Trentwood. He said the pay and hours at AK Steel looked good, especially with an uncertain future in Spokane. “Hopefully I’ll be boarding a plane in the next five days.”

The rest of the temporaries may have as long as late September. Both sides say the Steelworkers should be back in the plants by the end of that month.

When the two sides agreed to this bargaining program, they said they still had 12 categories of dispute including economics, some retiree insurance matters, and plans for returning the Steelworkers to their jobs.

Both sides declined Thursday to divulge what issues remain in dispute.

A lot hinges on whether the company and the union can reach agreement on these issues. If not, the remaining issues will be decided by a five-member arbitration panel.

The panel will hear the issues Aug. 21-25. Then, Seymore Strongin, the impartial lead arbitrator, will have 21 days to make the final contract decisions.

Still, the company and the union have said they are eager to take as many issues off the table as possible.

That’s why the “talks are continuing tomorrow,” said Jon Youngdahl, spokesman for the Steelworkers.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, the union’s chief negotiators called all the local presidents to update them on the progress of the day. That meeting took about 40 minutes.