The United Steelworkers (USW) announced ratification of a new three-year agreement, ending a 13-month lockout by Honeywell International at the uranium processing plant in Metropolis, Ill., that is the largest conversion plant in the world to produce nuclear fuel for commercial reactors.

After a day-long vote yesterday at the union hall, USW Local 7-669 President Darrell Lillie said the membership approved the agreement, including a separate back to work provision. He declared: "We fought one-day longer on all the core issues and won them to our satisfaction. All of us who were locked out by Honeywell in June of last year who want to go back to work are doing so with union pride, a union contract and union solidarity."

USW International President Leo W. Gerard led a national and global campaign to support the locked out workers. He flagged the dispute in meetings at the White House, with congressional leaders and federal regulatory agencies on Honeywell operating a critical nuclear energy facility with inexperienced scabs ... more