BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week

MASSENA — A strike has likely been averted as the United SteelWorkers Union and Arconic have reached a tentative agreement.

Officials say the agreement was reached on Saturday, May 14, just a day before the previous contract was set to expire.

The tentative agreement is fully endorsed by the bargaining committee and is set to be voted on, though specifics have not yet been released, according to officials.

Highlights of the deal are as follows:

• The contract is to run four years

• Workers will see a 7% rise in wages in the first year

• Workers will see a 4.5% rise in wages over the next three years

• No changes to the healthcare plan are expected

• A $6 multiplayer on retirement was added

• Martin Luther King day was added as a paid holiday

• A $4,000 signing bonus was included, which will be paid out with $2,000 now and $2,000 in Jan. 2023

• Red Card was moved from 30% to 50%

Of note, one major change is the elimination of pay-for-performance. Instead, union officials say it will be “baked into those percentage raises.”

“Wages are something we can count on in overtime and our vacation rate. We could never depend on PFP which is variable pay, to pay out. We can depend on our wages,” union officials posted on Facebook.

Some posted in response, saying workers should not have to work overtime and others saying the removal of PFP adds no incentive for working harder.

Union officials could not be immediately reached for comment regarding the removal of pay-for-performance.