Members of the United Steelworkers' Local 5220 at Stelco Inc.'s Edmonton subsidiary, AltaSteel, will vote Thursday, Feb. 3, to renew its strike mandate. The mandate was first granted to the local's bargaining committee last September during ongoing contract negotiations.

Local 5220 represents 266 bargaining unit members and has been without a collective agreement since July 2004. The local is currently in negotiations with potential bidders for Stelco in light of Stelco management's declared intention to sell AltaSteel as part of its restructuring process. Steelworkers' Local 8782 (Lake Erie Steel) and other Steelworker locals in the Stelco chain are also negotiating with potential bidders as Stelco works to come out of bankruptcy protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).

Thursday's voting will take place from 8:30 to 10 a.m. and from 8:30 to 10 p.m. Results will be released around 1 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.