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Profit-Sharing Figures Could Complicate Talks Between AK Steel, Union

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 March 2006, 18:00 CST

By Dave Greber, Middletown Journal, Ohio

Mar. 14--Whether members of the Armco Employees Independent Federation union receive 2005 profit-sharing checks from AK Steel could be decided today.

But on the heels of an announcement that discussions about profit-sharing for members of the AEIF would continue this afternoon, AK Steel Corp. released profit-sharing figures for members of its union at the company's Ashland Works plant in Kentucky. About 1,000 employees there have agreed to receive about $1,400 each for the company's performance in 2005.

AK officials said they will distribute the checks today for members of the United Steelworkers of America locals 1865 and 523, which represent employees at the Ashland Works' steelmaking and cokemaking facilities.

It's a move that could complicate today's talks, said AEIF President Brian Daley.

"I find the timing of the announcement to be peculiar because those numbers have been out for some time," Daley said Monday.

Alan McCoy, AK Steel's vice president of government and public relations, said the figures are released for Middletown and Ashland at nearly the same time each year.

With the lockout of the nearly 2,600 AEIF members in its 14th day, today's 2 p.m. meeting between the AEIF and AK Steel will include only discussion about profit-sharing numbers for 2005, union and company officials said.

The AEIF is awaiting a counterproposal from the company in the wake of meetings last week, but AK officials said there are no plans to return to the negotiating table at this time.

Profit sharing, which is written into contracts for hourly production and maintenance employees, continues to be a part of negotiations between AK Steel's Middletown Works and its union.

It's a point some union members hope is not keeping the two sides apart.

"We'd rather have contracts than profit sharing," said a picketer at the company's Coke plant entrance who did not want to give his name.

"Getting back to work is the most important thing for me," said David Leskovac, a 15-year employee at AK. "There's a lot of hurt feelings out there." AEIF members have not received profit-sharing checks from the company since 2000 -- when they were paid about $1,100 each -- after receiving them each year since 1994.

In 2004, AK Steel informed its union it would not hand out profit-sharing checks. In response, the AEIF requested an audit of the company's financial books, and the matter remains stuck in arbitration today, Daley said.

As a result of business in 2005, about 2,800 members of the AEIF -- including retirees -- qualify for about $930 each, McCoy said. He said a letter informing them of such was sent to the union March 3.

The profit-sharing numbers are not reflective of the company's net income, McCoy said, considering AK Steel reported a $2.3 million loss in 2005.

Meanwhile, members of the AEIF negotiating team requested the services of an independent federal mediator to begin attending future negotiation meetings with the company. It's a method employed by the union during negotiations in 1990, Daley said, and "certainly can speed up the process.""It's clear to us that AK has a plan and we're all left guessing as to what that plan is," Daley said.

AK officials feel otherwise. "We did not think that it was necessary," McCoy said. "The parties at the table, we believe, have all the resources available to get to an agreement. We have negotiated dozens of labor agreements without a mediator."

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Copyright (c) 2006, Middletown Journal, Ohio

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AKS,

Source: Middletown Journal

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