Steelworkers to Vote On Geneva Steel Offer
VINEYARD, Utah -- The United Steelworkers union will vote today on a proposed new 18-month contract reached with Geneva Steel. The new pact offers wage increases and adds bonuses for productivity, while keeping the other terms of the four-year agreement it replaces.</br></br>If the plan is ratified, the 2,100 workers would receive an immediate across-the-board wage increase of 25 cents an hour and an additional 15-cents-an-hour boost on the anniversary date of the contract. Compensation under the plan for attaining an annual production rate of 1.5 million tons will be guaranteed, thus assuring employees a 33-cents-an-hour payment in addition to the across-the-board increases.</br></br>Additional compensation under the plan will be based upon increased plantwide production levels: If it ships at a 1.6 million-ton annual rate, workers will receive 48 cents an hour, while they would earn an extra $1.84 an hour if the plant hits the company's goal of 2.5 millions tons. The present hourly wage for a middle-level worker is $13.15 an hour.</br></br>In 1992, the company shipped at a 1.4 million-ton annual rate, but this year has improved to a rate of 1.6 million to 1.7 million tons, based on the first seven months of the year, a Geneva spokesman said.</br></br>The short duration of the contract will give workers and management enough time to evaluate the pay-for-performance system, the company said.