Picketing Ends Arbitrator To Announce Decisions Today On Non-Negotiated Issues

Nobody on the Mead picket line thinks their job is done.

But the signs are coming down and Steelworkers are dismantling their wooden-framed hut, walled in clear plastic, that’s stood outside Kaiser Aluminum’s front gate for nearly two years.

An impartial arbitrator will announce the final contract decisions sometime today. The announcement will end the labor dispute and could put most of the 2,900 Steelworkers - including more than 2,100 in Spokane - back on the job sometime this month.

But the handful of Steelworkers, munching pretzels and smoking cigarettes Sunday, were leery of any “agreement” and fear their jobs may be gone. Most want to remain on the picket line until every replacement worker has left the plant. But the negotiation rules mandate an end to picketing once an agreement is reached.

“I’d like to be here until the last day, until those guys walk out,” said one Steelworker, who declined to give his name.

Another unnamed worker agreed.

“I don’t think we got anything good out of this at all,” he said, while a passing motorist honked in support of the workers.

The union members have until 8 a.m. today to vacate their sites. The Trentwood workers dismantled their post earlier in the week.

“It’s like starting over again, like a new hire,” said Cecil Storer of the Mead local, who has worked 22 years for Kaiser.

His white tank top reads “Steelworkers Forever.” He’s been working construction jobs since the Sept. 30, 1998, strike. His union brothers have worked similar jobs.

Storer’s wife, Sam, who has sat on the line often, wanted her husband to leave Kaiser, but she knows he needs his 30 years to get retirement benefits.

She’s been through this drill before, but never for this long. Her father works at Kaiser. Her grandfather is a retired Mead steelworker.

“We’re used to being in limbo,” she said, smiling at the guys sitting around the card table. They were getting ready to barbecue hamburgers - the last meal on the picket line.

Although the workers are concerned, they thank the United Steelworkers union for its support.

“If it wasn’t for the union I would have lost it all,” said Ross Mora, an eight-year worker. The union helped with his house and car payments.

Kaiser Steelworkers went on strike Sept. 30, 1998. The strike turned into a lockout Jan. 14, 1999, when Kaiser turned down a union offer to let workers return while a contract was negotiated.

Company and union officials agreed earlier this year to let a five-member arbitration panel decide the dispute. Each side presented final offers in August. The panel, led by professional arbitrator Seymour Strongin, will choose either the company or union offer in 12 contract areas.

Kaiser has 35 days to bring the workers back on the job, replacing the thousands of temporary workers who have kept the plants running since the 1998 strike.

Kaiser representatives didn’t return phone calls Sunday.

The company has offered to give replacement workers a month’s worth of health benefits, a perk some have said isn’t much after sticking out the contract battle.

As for the striking workers, they don’t know what to expect.

Before Storer goes back to work, he’s headed to the Puyallup State Fair to see his teenage daughter ride in the drill team.

Mora is also looking forward to spending these last weeks with his family.

“I’m staying home spending time with my kids and wife,” he said. “When we go back I won’t see any vacation for a while.”