JACKSON TWP — All 34 members of Berry Metals Employees Association went on strike at midnight Tuesday after voting down a five-year contract proposed by management.

However, the independent union and management settled their differences after 16 hours on Tuesday.

Don Batista, past president of Berry Metals Employees Association, said negotiations went on for a month before the union voted Monday to strike. He said major sticking points were seniority issues, an unpaid half-hour lunch and inconsistent wage increases among the machine shop, welding shop and foundry housed.

But an impromptu negotiation session on Tuesday afternoon caused a union revote at 4 p.m., which had a large majority of union members vote in favor of a contract that had been tweaked by management.

Berry Metals manufactures oxygen lancers used in the steel industry. Batista said the company supplies lancers to more than 90 percent of the U.S. steel industry. Berry Metals also provides and repairs lancers for steel mills all over the world.

Mike Hnath, the attorney and negotiator for Berry Metals, said just before the union vote Tuesday afternoon that management made small changes in wage distribution and seniority provisions in the retooled contract. He said management was hopeful the contract would be approved by workers.

Batista said workers would return to the shop this morning. He said workers seemed pleased the strike was brief.

"There's a big sigh of relief," Batista said.

He said workers hit the picket line on the residential property next to Berry Metals, which is on Route 68 near its intersection with Hartmann Road at Harmony Junction. They had planned to picket until an agreement was reached.

Batista said several vehicles honked and offered the chilly pickets a thumbs-up on Tuesday, and a handful of trucks refused to cross the picket line.

"A couple trucks had their turn signals on to come in, and they saw us and kept going," Batista said on Thursday before the revote.

Asked how he feels about going back to work, Batista glanced through the falling snow at the homemade wood stove erected at the site of the strike.

"It's going to be a lot warmer," he responded.