Feb 9, 2016 2 min read

Members of the United Steelworkers, who have been locked out of the Allegheny Technologies plant in Canton Township since Aug. 15, will hold a rally at 1 p.m. Thursday outside the plant gate.

“We’re kind of getting together to show some solidarity and get the spirits of some guys up,” said Skip Longdon. president of Local 7139-5 in Canton.

He said “a busload” of representatives from international headquarters in Pittsburgh will participate, and political officials are expected.

ATI has locked out about 2,200 USW employees at 12 plants in six states, including the Allegheny Ludlum plate mill in Canton. About 220, or 10 percent, of the affected workers are employed there.

A contract between USW and Pittsburgh-based ATI expired June 30, but employees continued to work under terms of that pact until the lockout. ATI’s demand that workers begin paying part of their health insurance premiums was a major contract issue.

Negotiations continued until Aug. 6, when ATI said it made its “last, best and final” contract offer. ATI gave the union an Aug. 10 deadline to consider the offer and present it for vote – a deadline some USW members contended was too soon to get a complete vote.

ATI then instituted the lockout and has been operating the facilities with salaried and nonunion employees and temporary professional staff.

For affected workers, a ray of hope illuminates the rally. After more than five months away from the negotiating table, the two sides have been talking for about two weeks, Longdon said.

“We’re making slow movement, but it’s movement,” he added.

Longdon is on the union negotiating team, but is not involved in the talks. The USW international is handling them.