AK Steel receives counterproposal from AEIF

The Armco Employees Independent Federation (AEIF) has offered a counterproposal to AK Steel Corp.'s proposed labor contract for the locked out Middletown workers. AEIF, which represents 2,400 hourly workers at the Middletown plant, met with AK Steel Wednesday. They presented their counterproposal to the company at the meeting, which lasted 30 minutes. The company gave union their latest proposal on May 15, 2006. AK Steel is pursuing a “new era” contract that would shed labor costs. AK Steel will now review the union's counterproposal. The company currently has about 3,100 workers in Middletown and 7,700 workers nationwide. The Middletown workers have been locked out since February 28 when their contract expired without a new deal in place.