YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - More than 500 workers at the Vallourec plant here decide next week if they want to join a union.

The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled the vote on January 21, 22 and 23 to decide if employees of the pipe mill will be represented by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.

According to a news release from the UE, union organizer and mill worker Bill Allen says, "Workers need a union contract to make sure jobs at Vallourec are the kind of jobs that benefit workers and the surrounding community, not just the French multinational company that owns the mill."

Allen says that the pay and benefit package for workers at the company's plants in France, where workers are unionized, can be worth $5 an hour more than in Youngstown. More than 80% of Vallourec's 23,000 workers worldwide are represented by unions.

Workers from Vallourec's local plant as well as those from the company's French operations have scheduled a 1 p.m. Saturday news conference to express support for the labor organizing effort.

The union claims that next month, the NLRB will hear unfair labor practice complaints filed against Vallourec for interfering with worker organizing in Youngstown.

The union says that the organizing campaign has been spurred in part by changes that came with Vallourec's purchase of the mill, including pension cuts, reductions in holiday and premium pay and a two-tier wage system that puts newer mill employees at lower wage levels.

Vallourec Star issued a statement saying that the company doubts that union representation would improve the workplace for employees or the company.

"While we support the rights of employees to choose whether they wish to organize a union, we do not believe this would add value, foster teamwork or add to the competitiveness of the company," stated Judson Wallace, President of Vallourec Star. "Vallourec Star employees enjoy competitive wage rates and positive working conditions, which they receive without a union," he added.

The union vote comes just days after word that a company affiliated with Vallourec Star is considering a major expansion.

Youngstown city council this week approved a tax break to entice VAM USA to build a $81.5-million steel-pipe threading facility in the city. The project would bring 84 new full time jobs to the valley by next year, according to city officials.

The city expects to learn from the company within the next ninety days whether it will approve the project.

Vallourec Star LLC is a producer of seamless pipe, tubular product, and coupling stock for the oil and gas industry. Vallourec Star has operated a pipe mill in Youngstown for the past eleven years. The site currently employs approximately 820 employees.