Aluminum and
Steel plant owned by the
Maxxam company located in
Spokane and
Tacoma Washington,
Newark,
Ohio,
Gramercy and
Louisiana.
On September 30, 1998, three thousand
union steelworkers at
Kaiser Aluminum went on strike at five plants. On January 14, 1999, after these workers offered to return to work they were locked out by the company.
Since the
labor dispute began,
Kaiser has reported net losses amounting to $132 million (4th Qtr 1998, 1st Qtr 1999, 2nd Qtr 1999 & 3rd Qtr 1999).
Instead of agreeing to a reasonable contract in line with industry competitors,
Kaiser forced a costly strike of highly skilled and safety oriented
union employees and brought in replacement workers and management to operate these facilities.