New union local By Rick Stouffer, PittsburghLIVE.com
When is a union local not a union local? When it has a number but no approved charter, and when it's negotiating for a new contract but with no elected officers.
Such is the dilemma facing members of Local 1357 of the Laborers International Union of North America who are employed at Airo Die Casting Inc. in Loyalhanna. In trying to secede from Local 1451, the roughly 340 former members now find themselves in no man's land, negotiating a contract with Airo using stewards selected by the president of the old local.