| The United Steelworkers at Ravenswood's Pechiney Rolled Products
plant will vote
Friday on a new contract offered by the plant
owner.
The Union's
international staff are urging members of
Ravenswood Local 5668 to approve the
contract.
The local has turned down two previous
proposals.
Pechiney has wanted to renegotiate
and extend its current contract instead of
negotiating for a new contract when the
current one expires next year.
The company is also threatening bankruptcy
without a new agreement, as it has asked for reducing health benefits.
Pechiney is a subsidiary of Paris-based
Pechiney S-A, one of the world's largest
aluminum producers.
The company this month is laying off 202
workers, about 17 percent of the
aluminum rolling mill's work force, as part
of a $9 million-dollar restructuring.
Many workers live in Calhoun and surrounding counties.
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