Second Algoma Steel union approves strike mandate

United Steelworkers Local 2724, Algoma Steel's second-largest collective bargaining group, has approved a strike mandate.

Local 2724 represents about 500 salaried employees at the Sault steelmaker.

Rebecca McCracken, the local's president, says her members voted 95.1 per cent in favour at strike authorization meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.

A strike authorization vote isn't a vote to go on strike immediately, but it places the Steelworkers in a legal strike position.

United Steelworkers Local 2251, representing more than 2,000 hourly workers at Algoma Steel, voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate on Monday.

As SooToday reported last night, that local has set up a strike committee and is recruiting rank-and-file members to volunteer to help organize a strike.