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Workers at a Leetsdale manufacturing plant voted this week to oust their longtime union.

The 50 employees of Almatis Inc., located in the Leetsdale Industrial Park, cast secret ballots Tuesday and Wednesday in the vote to decertify the United Steelworkers of America Local 1211.

Adam Seymour, an employee at the plant that produces alumnia-based materials, said the vote was close.

“I’m sure the feelings are split either way, but personally, not having to pay union dues now, I just gave myself another raise,” he said.

The employees accepted a new four-year contract and agreed to avoid a strike during another close vote in October, but several individuals remained unsatisfied with the terms of the deal.

Seymour and others said the employees filed a petition for the decertification vote with the National Labor Relations Board last month because they were unhappy with the way the union negotiated after the old contract expired at the end of July.

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