People of the Butler area have cause for feeling hopeful about the prospects for a new contract covering 1,400 employees at the local AK Steel plant — without a work disruption.

Plant workers who are represented by Local 3303, United Auto Workers of America, will vote on a tentative pact Thursday and Friday, just a month after negotiations got under way.

The current five-year contract expires Sept. 30.

While the results of this week's vote cannot be predicted, an upbeat signal has been sent by the two sides' ability to so quickly assemble a contract package that union negotiators deemed worthy of a vote by rank-and-file members.

The quick tentative agreement indicates a desire by both sides to avoid the kind of contract situation currently enveloping AK Steel's Middletown Works in Ohio. On Feb. 28, the company locked out 2,700 employees after that plant's union contract expired.

Since then, replacement workers and members of the company's management have operated the plant.

The Middletown situation has been a source of concern in the Butler area — not only for AK Steel employees and their families, but also for anyone concerned about the Butler area economy.

A prolonged lockout or strike affecting 1,400 workers would have a significant detrimental economic impact on the area.

People concerned about the area's health hope that the contract proposal that will be voted on reflects the needs of both sides.

Whatever the terms of the contract proposal, however, it is the 1,400 workers covered by the current contract who will decide the fate of the new pact. They alone have the responsibility of judging the contract proposal in terms of how it would meet their individual needs, not on the basis of the broader community interest.

The workers are well aware of their plant's positive impact on the community, but that broader interest shifts to the background when workers weigh such a contract proposal in terms of their own needs.

Nevertheless, this week's vote is indicative of a realistic and cooperative mind-set by both sides.

People shouldn't read anything into the fact that terms of the proposed contract won't be divulged prior to the rank-and-file vote. In most cases when a new pact is at stake, both sides opt to keep terms of the proposal up for a vote under wraps.

The important thing at this stage is the movement toward a contract instead of having the two sides bogged down and at an impasse.

The people of the Butler area will be watching with great interest in the days ahead as union members vote. Meanwhile, tomorrow is the day that the rank-and-file workers will be presented full details regarding the proposed pact and, presumably, a recommendation from the union's bargaining team — a recommendation that either can be accepted or rejected.

Whatever decision is made hopefully will be one that the workers in the years ahead will be able to judge as having been correct.

The theory that the best contract is one exhibiting give-and-take by both sides hopefully applies to the proposed pact.

Both sides will have reason to be proud — and the community will breathe a sigh of relief — if the proposed contract is judged to be acceptable by the employees.