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| AK Steel, Inc. | |
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| Type | Public (NYSE: AKS) |
| Founded | 1900 |
| Headquarters |  West Chester, Ohio |
| Key people | James L. Wainscott (CEO) |
| Industry | Steel |
| Products | Steel products |
| Revenue | ▲$7 Billion FY2007[1] |
| Employees | 7,000 (2006)[2] |
| Website | www.aksteel.com |
AK Steel Holding Corporation, formerly known as Armco, is a major American steel company founded in 1900 as the American Rolling Mills Corporation. Today the company is situated in West Chester, Ohio, (a suburb of Cincinnati) after having moved from Middletown, Ohio, in August 2007.[3]
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AK Steel's main products are carbon, stainless and electrical steels, cold rolled and aluminium coated stainless steel for automakers.
One of AK Steel's best-known products may be the Armco barriers installed around many auto-racing tracks, particularly in Formula One. These barriers were commonly called simply "Armco." Reports of Formula-One races frequently include a statement like "his steering-link broke, which sent him into the Armco."
The company has production facilities in a number of American cities including:
And has additional production facilities in Canada, Mexico and Western Europe.
The current CEO at AK Steel Holding is James L. Wainscott
In 2002 AK Steel Holding Corp. was ranked number 16 on the Political Economy Research Institutes' "The Toxic 100: Top Corporate Air Polluters in the United States" list.[4] Their Air releases for 2002 was approximately 328,418 pounds, and their Total Air Toxic Score was 133,591. [5] The Environmental Protection Agency issued an Emergency Order pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act to AK Steel's Butler Works located in Butler, Pennsylvania concerning the nitrate/nitrite compounds being released into the Connoquenessing Creek, an occasional water source for the Borough of Zelenople on June 27, 2000.[6] They had violated the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act and that it had failed properly to dispose of hexavalent chromium waste in Butler.[7] In 2004 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Justice Department announced that AK Steel Holding settled their alleged environmental violations at their steel mill in Butler, Pennsylvania.[8] AK Steel Holding agreed to a $1.2 million settlement, which consists of a $300,000 penalty and a $900,000 in projects which will reduce smog-producing ozone in Pennsylvania.[8] In 2006, AK Steel reached an estimated $12,000,000 settlement to compensate for PCB contamination in Middletown, Ohio.[9]
AK Steel and the Armco Employees Independent Federation (AEIF; an employee labor union) had a collective bargaining agreement in place in 2004. As part of the agreement there was a stipulation that said AK Steel must employ 3,114 workers, a "minimum base force guarantee". There was also the authority for AK Steel to suspend the minimum number. On January 13, 2004, AK Steel informed the AEIF that it was suspending the minimum. The union then filed a grievance contesting the suspension. An arbitrator upheld the decision by AK Steel on July 1, 2004, subject to certain limitations, through at least May 10, 2005. The union sought and was granted a new hiring, and on July 1, 2005 the arbitrator issued a comprise total workforce. As part of the agreement the arbitrator allowed AK Steel to set aside financial payments to a fund, in lieu of hiring to the minimum, the amount of which was set by the arbitrator on October 7, 2005. On September 29, 2005, the AEIF filed a lawsuit against AK Steel in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (AEIF v. AK Steel Corp.; Case No. 1:05-CV-639), in which the AEIF sought to vacate that portion of the July 1, 2005 Award. AK Steel answered the complaint and filed counterclaims (AK Steel Corp. v. AEIF, Case No. 1:05-CV-531) on November 2, 2005.[10][11]
On February 20, 2006 the AEIF workers announced that they would strike if they did not get a new contract on March 1.[12]
On March 1, 2006, AK Steel began a lockout of around 2700, workers, at their Middletown Works plant, in Middletown, Ohio.[13][14]
This lockout was the longest labor stalemate in the 105-year history of the Middletown Works.[15] The previous longest stalemate was a six-day company lockout in 1986.[16][17]
By the next day, the mill was operated by 1,800 salaried and temporary replacement workers. In late October, AK offered a "final" contract, which was rejected by the union at a vote of 2 to 1.[18] One year after the lockout started, on February 28, 2007, AK Steel reached a labor deal with the labor union,[19][20] The lockout was over when the union members ratified the proposed contract on March 14, 2007.[21][22] As part of the agreement the AEIF and AK Steel reached a joint settlement of their five total counter lawsuits, with AK Steel paying $7,702,301. A third of the amount was for profit sharing, a third for an assistance fund for employee benefits of employees not recalled to work, and a third an escrow account to settle employee disputes and claims as a result of the lockout.[11]
Following the close of trading on June 30, 2008, AK Steel was added to Standard and Poor's S&P 500 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) Steel Sub-Industry index, aligning the company with the very best of America's most prominent corporations. The S&P 500 is a widely known and utilized indicator of the U.S. equities market.[23][24]