The contract that workers voted on was the same one rejected three weeks earlier except for $250 added to the signing bonus.

At the first vote on the contract, November 4, workers were outraged that the proposed contract gave the company the right to start a 12-hour shift in one department at the Devon catalytic converter plant. Although the shift was voluntary for all the current workers, it would be mandatory for new hires. Many workers saw it as a way the company could get around paying time and a half for Saturday work and double time for Sundays.

The company also proposed increasing workers' payments for medical insurance by doubling copayments for doctor's visits to $10 and doubling the family coverage copayments to $40 a week.

The strike began immediately after the contract was voted down. No union member crossed the picket lines, which were kept up around the clock.

The second vote on the contract was held November 22, the day before Thanksgiving. Union workers from each plant held separate meetings to hear a report on the further negotiations.

Norman Hayman, a Steelworkers staff representative, gave the report to all the meetings. Bob Stanford, a line operator at the Devon catalytic converter plant, said he thought the report painted a bleak picture for the prospect of continuing the strike. Stanford said he reported that the company hadn't budged on the 12-hour issue or the medical payments. He also said it was announced that if the contract was ratified, the company would pay workers for the two-day Thanksgiving holiday. Stanford said he was still against the contract because of the poor medical benefits alone.

Gary Coladonato, a line operator at the Devon plant, said he felt pressure to accept the contract. At his plant meeting the vote from the other two smaller plants was announced. Workers at the West Deptford, New Jersey, plant voted 70-1 in favor of the contract proposal, and those at the West Whiteland, Pennsylvania, plant voted 81 to 9 for the contract. The vote at the Devon plant was 110 to 79 in favor of the contract.

Coladonato thought it was wrong to have workers have separate discussions at each of the three plants, because the 12-hour schedule didn't affect the two smaller plants, so they never got to hear why workers at Devon were concerned about it.

Darien Washington, a production worker at the West Whiteland plant, said he thought it was a poor contract, but that if three weeks later the union negotiators could not win more than $250 in added signing bonus, it was not wise to vote down the contract again.

All workers returned to work, and the company dropped charges over alleged picket line incidents during the strike.  
 
 
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