Union employees of Resco Products in Tarentum remain on the job despite the March 2 expiration of their contract.
The plant at West Sixth Avenue and Center Street produces dolomitic brick and specialty refractory products that line ladles used to hold molten metal in the steel industry.
Jim Woodward of the United Steelworkers International said he is chief negotiator for the 60 employees at the plant, formerly owned by Worldwide Refractories.
According to Woodward, the union workers of Local 9445-03 agreed to work on an extension of the previous contract while negotiations continue.
“We've only extended the contract until midnight April 5,” he said. “The parties agreed to extend, regroup and run some more numbers on some other plans.”
Negotiations started in February, Woodward said, and there have been about six or seven sessions.
He said the company has had a union workforce for probably 50 years. To his knowledge the plant has never had a strike or a lockout.
“We certainly are not looking for a work stoppage. We are looking for a fair agreement,” Woodward said. “I guess there are all types of possibilities that could take place on April 5 at midnight.”
Resco Chief Financial Officer Matt Mastarone said, “I'm not going to comment on any of the specifics as it relates to what the company and the Tarentum union are negotiating. What I will tell you is that the negotiations are ongoing and the union and the company continue to operate under a contract extension.
“The company is confident that we are going to reach a mutually beneficial agreement,” Mastarone said.
“We're apart on a number of issues,” Woodard said, “but I think the biggest ones are pensions and health care.”
The workers make financial contributions to their health insurance, he noted, but he declined to say how much.
On the pension issue, Woodward said the longer-tenured workers have a traditional defined benefit pension plan, while those who were hired after 2008 have a self-administered 401(k) plan to which they and the company contribute.
He said the workers would like to be joined under one plan, the Steelworkers Pension Trust, which is administered by the USW.
“They have it in one of their other facilities,” Woodward said, “but for some reason they don't want to pull the trigger on it here.”
That would relieve the company of overseeing the workers' pensions, he said.
The Steelworkers pension plan has been managed well, he believes, and is probably one of the few pension plans in the country that “hasn't been out of the ‘green zone.' ”
That's a reference to the barometer under the federal Pension Protection Act in which “green zone” status indicates the fund is in good shape.
Tom Yerace is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-226-4675 or tyerace@tribweb.com.
