The news that AK Steel is planning $14 million in upgrades to its Butler Works contains no guarantees regarding new-contract talks that are expected to begin in June or July.

But the 1,400 local AK Steel employees represented by United Auto Workers Local 3303 can at least embrace a measure of confidence that, if they enter the negotiations with a reasonable proposal on the bargaining table, and if the company does likewise, a quick settlement is possible.

It is to be hoped that both sides will be firmly committed to avoiding the kind of troubling situation that currently is in progress at AK's Middletown, Ohio, plant.

On March 1, the company locked out 2,650 members of the Armco Employee Independent Union at Middletown as the result of the inability to reach a contract accord.

The Butler contract expires Sept. 30.

Because of what has been happening in Middletown, there has been increasing uneasiness in the Butler area about what might lie ahead for the local plant. Perhaps Thursday's news will help alleviate some of the apprehension that has been building over the upcoming talks, although the planned production upgrades do not suggest that the contract negotiations will be a breeze.

The company has the right to bargain tough for what it feels it needs to remain competitive and to bolster its bottom line, just like the union must bargain for a pact that will be in its members' best interests.

The wish of the community is that a chasm will not exist between the two sides that will prevent an agreement by the time the current pact expires.

It will be in the best interests of the company and union to avoid any disruptions to local production. Development in China and last year's hurricane disasters have boosted the need for electrical steel; the Butler Works and Allegheny Ludlum are the only domestic suppliers of that kind of steel.

Meanwhile, the $14 million of equipment upgrades to the Butler plant's electrical steel production lines are expected to increase specialty steel output by about 50,000 tons — or 20 percent — per year.

The improvements are targeted to be in place by early 2007.

Of course, only AK and the union can negotiate a successor to the current three-year contract. The general economic interests of the community will have no direct bearing on what course the talks take.

All that the community can do is hope — that the optimism generated by the announcement of plant upgrades will not be obscured by acrimony once the talks get under way.

Butler owes much to AK and its predecessor, Armco, for the positive economic stability that the plant has helped provide over the years. But the workers — past and present — whose skills and hard work have enabled the plant to prosper must be acknowledged as well.

At a time when the domestic steel industry continues to struggle, the upcoming talks could be one of the most important negotiations ever to take place on behalf of the local AK workforce.