Contract negotiations between Tucson-based copper producer Asarco LLC and unions representing about 2,000 workers in Arizona and Texas are expected to resume in early October, according to United Steelworkers Local 937.
Asarco and representatives of eight unions led by the Steelworkers had planned to meet this week, but the company was still preparing information the unions had requested, and the two sides agreed to meet again on Oct. 2, according to an online post by Local 937.
The unions called all-day member meetings on Sept. 11 to go over details of Asarco’s “last, best, final offer,” which union leaders called “deeply concessionary.”
Asarco’s union employees have worked without a new contract since their last collective-bargaining agreement expired last November.
In December, union members authorized their bargaining committee to call a strike if talks broke down, though the unions are required to give Asarco 48 hours’ notice before walking off the job.
