AK STEEL: LOCKOUT DAY 188
IAM/AEIF ask Building and Construction Trades Council of Butler County to honor its picket
Council says it has no choice to cross and is 'a pawn in a game of chess.'
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN | As the nation's marks the 124th anniversary of Labor Day today, the union that represents the locked out hourly workers of AK Steel's Middletown Works has asked union member contractors not to cross their picket line at the gates to mark the national holiday.
Last week, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers/Armco Employees Independent Federation Local Lodge 1943 asked the local Building and Construction Trades Council of Butler County to honor the 188-day picket at AK Steel.
The Trades Council is facing a dilemma because of a national agreement that requires it must honor its maintenance contracts with industry.
The IAM/AEIF, which is AK Steel's largest labor union, was locked out by the company March 1. Prior to July, the AEIF was the nation's largest independent trade union. Since then, however, AEIF's membership voted to affiliate with the Machinists, thus ending
63 years of independence.
Crossing the picket line
While both unions — IAM/AEIF and the Trades Council — fall under the umbrella of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, one official with the local Trades Council says those national agreements, and some hefty fines, trump that golden rule of not crossing the picket line.
The Machinists said some Trades Councils' members have been performing the same jobs of its locked out workers formally held at Middletown Works.
They said also that picket lines should be honored because AK Steel is not a signatory to the National Maintenance Agreement.
The Machinists are "trying diligently to help the working families at AK Steel," said Carl Heim, a grand large representative.
"We will continue that pursuit because it is our obligation to do so and because it is the right thing to do," Heim said. "And, we would hope that others would know what the right thing to do as well."
Could face fines up to $40,000 daily
Ed Reynolds, the secretary-treasurer of the Butler County Trades Council, which represents 14 different crafts, said the national maintenance agreement with industry includes $10,000 in liquidated damages plus additional fines of $10,000 per shift, per day, if those maintenance contracts are not honored by the union workers.
"I'm just not sure if (the Machinists) have a full understanding of the national maintenance agreement," Reynolds said.
"This has us in the middle," Reynolds said. "We don't have a dog in this fight. We're just a pawn in a game of chess."
Reynolds said his 6,000-member organization is doing maintenance work at the Middletown Works and are not manufacturing steel.
"With these specialty agreements and hefty fines, we have no choice," Reynolds said. "It's really hard to convey this to our members and the Machinists because deep down in our hearts, we don't want to cross the picket line."
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2871 or erichter@coxohio.com.
