HAMILTON, Ohio (AFX) - The graduation ceremony had all the trappings of a high school commencement -- nervous speeches, cheering families, flashing camera strobes -- but the people receiving diplomas weren't teenagers going to college or into the job market for the first time.
Three men among those walking across the auditorium stage to receive a diploma and handshake Thursday thought they'd found their life's work, until a lockout at AK Steel's Middletown Works forced them to make a mid-life adjustment.
'I should have done this 10 years ago,' said Ryan Kraus, one of three AK workers among the 10 adults in the first class to finish the construction training program at Butler Tech.
'I've always enjoyed this kind of work, and you can make a good living at it,' he said.
Kraus was among about 2,500 union production and maintenance workers locked out of the Middletown Works, about 30 miles north of Cincinnati, when their contract expired Feb. 28. AK has continued operating the mill with salaried employees and replacement workers.
About 400 hourly workers have retired or resigned during the lockout, the company said. Others are looking for jobs now that unemployment benefits are running out and they see less chance of returning to work, since fewer jobs are expected to exist even if there is a settlement.
They know that a lockout that started seven years ago at AK's mill in Mansfield lasted three years and three months.
The International Association of Machinists, which now represents the plant's union workers, is participating in negotiations, including a session Friday. The company has been adamant that it must have a contract that lets it reduce the permanent work force, increase job flexibility, freeze retirement benefits and assess workers part of their health insurance costs.
It also has cracked down on pickets, winning a temporary order Thursday that limits their number and activities outside the Middletown Works.
'There has been an acceleration of activity on the picket lines and elsewhere, and we're concerned that the trend will continue,' company spokesman Alan McCoy said.
Depending on when they applied, when they took vacation and other considerations, unemployment benefits for virtually all the locked out workers end by next week.
Some have found other work. A few have started their own businesses.
Lonnie Foster, who retired in March after 32 years in the mill, became an instructor at Butler Tech, teaching welding and general construction skills, including to the three AK workers who graduated Thursday.
'This program is set up for people needing a change in life, a change in career,' Foster said. 'These are commercial construction jobs, and they're going to be making pretty good money -- $15 to $17 an hour.'
The program is sponsored by several construction companies, and people who finish the 12-week session likely will be offered a job, although the pay may be less than what they earned at the mill.
'When we were locked out, I thought, 'Life's over, what are we going to do now?'' said Todd Frazier, who entered the class with Kraus. 'Now at least I have something else I can do.'
Still, Frazier isn't sure he will take a job in construction now that he has finished the program.
He has three children at home and his $462 weekly unemployment benefits ran out last week. He might have to enter a three- or four-year apprenticeship to get back to the income level he had at AK.
But he's finding reluctance from employers, who figure he'll leave whenever he has a chance to return to the mill.
'I've gone to easily 12-13 interviews in the past two weeks, and nobody's hiring us,' Frazier said. 'Everybody's got that thought in their head -- why take the time to get us trained when we'll go back to AK the first chance we get?'
Kraus said he'd never go back to the mill. He figures, in the long term, a career in construction is more stable, and he's considering several job offers.
Until he takes a full-time job, Frazier said the $150 weekly benefits from the Machinists union will help, along with a part-time job.
'I've delivered pizzas before. That's something that could possibly get us by,' Frazier said.
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