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MIDDLETOWN — After more than a year on the picket line, nearly 1,800 locked-out steelworkers at Middletown's AK Steel Corp. will be returning to work.

Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local Lodge 1943 overwhelmingly approved a 54-month deal with AK Steel by a vote of 1,275 to 226. Forty-four votes were excluded because they were deemed void or challenged by vote counters.

The contract is en route from Cincinnati, where the vote counting took place, to Middletown where it will be signed this afternoon by union president Brian Daley and AK Steel officials.

The contract, which goes into effect Thursday and runs through Sept. 15, 2011, will put all eligible union members back inside Middletown Works within 90 days. Recall letters will be going out to union members Thursday and workers could be called in for physicals and drug testing as early as Tuesday.

Union members will be called back at a rate of 300 people at a time, and they will likely be grouped by department, said Jim Smith, the lead negotiator for the Machinists.

Eligible union members will receive $150 per week until they are called back into the mill. A transition period — during which time replacement employees would be working alongside union members — would last six months.

"We've got a deal"

At 10 a.m. this morning, eight union members started leafing through the paper ballots mailed to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services in downtown Cincinnati. The vote counting process was slow-going, which left many locked-out workers and residents anxiously awaiting results.

But as soon as the votes were tallied Machinists spokesman Jim Tyler declared, "We've got a deal!"

"Its been a long year," said Smith, of the Machinists. "I think we need to heal some wounds and get back to work."

Officials from the Machinists said the response to the mail-in voting method was high, and many ballots came in less than a week after a tentative agreement with the company was inked Feb. 28. Some union officials said they expected a closer voting result.

"I expected a high turnout, but I didn't think that it would be that big of a landslide," said Brad Schneider, a 7-year employee of AK Steel and Wednesday's ballot counting judge. "We started opening up the envelopes, and it was accept, accept, accept. We sort of knew how it was going to go."

When Brian Daley, president of Local Lodge 1943, announced that the lockout was over at a gathering of union members at the Machinists' Crawford Street headquarters, the news was met with rousing applause and cheers. Some in the crowd cheered, "Way to go, Brian!"

Union members, some of whom lost their homes, cars and much more as a result of the labor dispute, said they were just ready to pick up the pieces of their lives and get back to work.

"This lockout left a wide path of destruction," Daley said.

Mark Sanders, of Hamilton, called his wife, Jennifer, on his cell phone as soon as he got the news.

"It's over baby! We're going back to work," Sanders said. "I'm just so happy it's over. We've been waiting for this. We are ready to go back to work. It's been a long year."

Holly McGee, whose husband Randy has worked for AK Steel for 8 years, said she knew the contract would be approved.

"I'm excited to get a paycheck again," McGee said, as she held her baby in her arms.

Scott Fannin, of Middletown, said the settlement of the lockout will help Middletown and those steelworkers who have been struggling for the past year without jobs.

"I'm happy it's over even though the contract's terrible," Fannin said. "It's the worst contract AK presented, but I voted for it."

Daley thanked local residents and businesses for their support. He said the union would remember those businesses that supported them during the past year.

Daley also praised political eaders such as Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones, Middletown Mayor David Schiavone, Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox, Governor Ted Strickland and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown for their help in ending the lockout.

Strickland and Brown, who were both vocal opponents of the lockout, sent representatives to Cincinnati today to witness the ratification vote count.

Earlier this year, Strickland arranged a meeting in Middletown to bring together members of the union and the company to discuss the negotiation process.

AK Steel turned down the offer for that meeting, but said they would be willing to meet with Strickland on an individual basis to discuss the lockout.

Since then, AK Steel spokesman Alan McCoy has said he, as well as company President, Chairman and CEO James L. Wainscott, have had conversations with Brown and Strickland representatives about the labor dispute.

Schiavone said he will sleep a little easier tonight knowing that the lockout is over.

"I think we all will in this community," Schiavone said. "It's been a tough year for everyone. Today we got good news."

Schiavone said his 27-year tradition of filling out his NCAA Tournament bracket with some old high school buddies will be a little sweeter tonight. Three of them work for AK and have been locked out for the past year.

"They're my best friends in the world," Schiavone said. "I know first hand what has happened to these guys."

The lockout of 2,505 members of the then-Armco Employees Independent Federation began when the union's contract expired at midnight Feb. 28. The Machinists Local Lodge 1943 now stands at 1,759 after retirements, quits and deaths during the past 13 months.

Since March 1, 2006, AK Steel has operated Middletown Works with between 1,800 and 1,900 temporary replacement and salaried employees.

AK Steel officials have continued to say they would need to hire at least 200 replacement workers to become permanent employees to fill hiring gaps.