Meetings held earlier this month by U.S. Steel to convince its locked out workers to vote in favour of its latest offer backfired and ended in yelling and hollering, say employees.

Members of United Steelworkers Local 8782 said on Monday that their colleagues became angry at the "arrogant" comments made by company officials and responded vocally.

"It was not nice," said Chad Law of Port Dover.

About 1,000 union members will head to a government-supervised vote on Wednesday at the Port Dover Community Centre on what the company is calling their final offer.

The proposal has not been endorsed by the union bargaining committee, which held its own meeting at the community centre on Monday.

Steelworkers emerging from that meeting said it appeared members are not taking the company’s side.

Bill Degrow of Townsend said he felt the split against the company was about 60-40 earlier this month but soared to 90% following the meeting with company officials.

At issue are proposals that would see workers accept a $300 co-pay on benefits as well as cuts to both regular and "pre-retirement" vacation.

"Somebody needs to tell the CEO to get a thesaurus," said Ron Okkema of Brantford. "He’s saying there are no concessions in our contract. There are several concessions."

Law said he’s "pretty sure" members will turn down the contract on Wednesday.

Union president Bill Ferguson said he won’t "speculate" on the outcome of Wednesday’s vote but added: "If the company meeting is any indication, I think they (the company) have a problem."

The workers were locked at the end of April out for the second time in three years after talks failed to produce a settlement.

U.S. Steel then used its right under Ontario law to force a vote and has warned workers in letters to them this is their "last" offer.

Workers are "upset" with the company because key clauses in the contract have been pulled and left "blank," said Ferguson.

Of particular concern is the absence of a long-standing clause that protected workers from outsourcing, he said.

"I think the trust factor has been virtually destroyed," Ferguson said.

If the proposal is turned down, the union will "step out and let people know what’s really going on at U.S. Steel," said Ferguson.

The union, he said, "will start asking questions" and "demanding answers" about the "secret deal" struck between Ottawa and the company to end a government-launched lawsuit during the 2010 lockout.

Ferguson said the union has been unable to find out what is in the settlement.

"It’s going to be an interesting week," he said.

Daniel R. Pearce

519-426-3528 ext. 132

daniel.pearce@sunmedia.ca

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