Aug 17, 2015 3 min read

It was a quiet afternoon Monday at Allegheny Technologies Inc.’s Washington plate mill in Canton Township, with little activity seen coming from the specialty metals plant.

Just down from the plant’s main entrance on Green Street, four workers represented by the United Steelworkers union manned an information picket, a reaction to the company’s lockout of the union that went into effect Saturday.

Kevin Costick, Mike Jones, John Poland and Don Yazevac stood under a tent with a “Locked Out” sign prominently displayed. They were stationed at one of three picket sites around the plant, which is just off the Jessop Place exit of Interstate 70.

On Friday, the Pittsburgh-based specialty metals producer announced the lockout that’s impacting about 2,200 USW workers employed at ATI’s flat-rolled products division plants in several states.

Poland said union leadership was attempting to continue negotiations with the company. Until Saturday, the union was working under terms of a contract that expired June 30 as it negotiated with the company.

On Aug. 6, ATI said it made its final contract proposal, asking the union to review it by Aug. 10 and take it to membership for a vote.

The members at the picket on Monday said it would have been impossible to hold a vote for more than 2,000 members in the amount of time the company allotted.

According to the union, the company, which has been facing low global prices for stainless-steel products, is asking for reduced wages and overtime, changes to employee health care costs and the ability to contract out more of its work.

In giving the lockout notice Friday, ATI said it would continue to operate the affected plants with ATI salaried and nonunion employees and temporary professional staffing until a new contract could be finalized with the union.

But there was silence at the Green Street plant Monday, raising a question as to how much work was being done inside.

The four men were skeptical, noting the time it takes to train people for the various jobs in the plant.

Poland, who said the union informed locked-out members Monday that they could apply for unemployment benefits, noted that the current situation removes the economic impact of more than 200 good-paying jobs in the community. He said the union was making posters available to local businesses wishing to support it.

In the meantime, he said, he and others would continue to man the pickets.

“We’ll be right here until they figure they’ve lost enough money,” said Poland.