In 1998, Tony Piermont was President and John D' Alessio was Vice President. Shop Committee members David Estrella, Angelo Latini and Joe Tarvis completed the Negotiating Committee. David Kay was Recording Secretary and Angelo Latini was Secretary Treasurer. Everett Corey was our Business Agent.

In voting for the 1998 contract, Local 587 members voted strike when the company offered a raise of ten cents.  As Brother Angelo Latini said, "They gave us a dime, we told them no. They wanted us to recommend the contract for a dime, we said no. So we came to the union hall on a Sat morning and we asked everybody to go on strike and everybody agreed to go on strike. The negotiator for the company was so sure that the local was going to take the contract with the dime. He started driving to Jersey. When he got a phone call on his cell phone that they didn't take the package, he turned around and came back."

At 3:00 pm on Sunday afternoon the company asked the Shop Committee for a one week extension. The negotiating committee agreed and called the membership to ask them to report to work on Monday. By the end of the week the offer was up to 3% which was then accepted by the membership. While there were some in the Local that would have preferred to strike instead of working during the contract extension, Brother Francis Winthrop explains: ". You go out on strike, You’re going out on strike because you’ve no other recourse. I voted for strike, yes. I voted for the shop committee too. The shop committee felt we’d be better off."

The negotiating committee, along with Business Agent Everett Corey, met with the following company negotiators to forge this year's contract: Daniel Smith, James Nichols, Robert Aldrich, Patricia Strickland, Guy Harris