PITTSBURGH — The United Steelworkers said Thursday in a news release that an independent arbitrator has ordered AK Steel to abandon plans to lay off about 750 workers and shut down its Ashland, Ky., plant.

Instead the company, which owns the Butler Works in Butler Township, has been ordered to look for ways to cut production elsewhere because the USW's contract contains a provision to prevent its members being laid off while other plants are operating.

In explaining his ruling, arbitrator Raymond F. Sekula wrote that "the failure of the Company to temper its 'full capacity' commitment to the Ashland bargaining unit except in cases in which there is no demand at all for Ashland products acts as a restriction on the Company in that if there is customer demand for products which can be produced at Ashland, that work must contractually be assigned to it."

Alan McCoy, AK Steel spokesman, was unavailable for comment Thursday.