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South Lebanon — He's known by neighbors, friends and fellow village leaders as the mild-mannered mayor of South Lebanon. But to nearly 2,000 union members in Middletown, James. D. Smith is a man of tempered steel.

He was the lead negotiator for the contract between AK Steel Corp. and members of the International Association of Machinists Local 1943 last month that brought about the end to a 13-month lockout of hourly employees at Middletown's largest employer.

The Smith-brokered labor contract, ratified by 85 percent of union members, went into effect March 15 and runs through Sept. 15, 2011. The agreement set wheels in motion for about 1,700 hourly production and maintenance workers to begin returning last week to AK Steel's Middletown Works.

The contract, Smith said, calls for wage increases of up to $2.32 per hour and for AK Steel to begin contributing to the IAM National pension fund at a rate of $1.50 per hour and increasing the amount to $1.80 per hour after 36 months.

Smith, grand lodge representative of the IAM, entered the AK Steel situation as the lead negotiator last August.

"The contract came about only after two failed proposals," he said. "After the first two were rejected, AK Steel made two huge progressive moves and finally, on Feb. 28, we came to an agreement, which I signed that brought a large part of the contract agreement back. One of the most important parts of the agreement, I feel, is the guaranteed employment security clause that no one can be laid off due to contracting out. Employment security is rare in contract negotiations nowadays."

Smith's negotiations also ended a miserable year for workers who faced foreclosures on their homes, repossessions of their cars, mounting bills and untold emotional stress.

"When I was assigned to negotiations, I got to know a lot of the workers personally. What hurt some of the workers most, I believe, was that in order for them to get other jobs, they would have to resign their jobs with AK before another company would accept them. Not many people with 10 and 20 years seniority wanted to give that up."

Smith said when IAM became part of the negotiations last summer, the union was able to ease workers' burdens.

"We were able to start paying the membership about $250,000 a week to help them. Each member received about $150 a week. It wasn't a huge amount, but it did make a difference in their lives," Smith said.

Anthony Marconi, Middletown vice mayor, said he couldn't thank Smith enough for his work on the agreement.

"Of course I got to know him during this process because he was the lead negotiator. He was totally honest, up front and had just a tremendous amount of integrity throughout the whole process," Marconi said.

In addition to the labor contract at the Middletown Works, Smith has been a key IAM representative for private and government contracts in more than 200 labor agreements, including those of Cincinnati-based Keebler Co., General Electric in Evendale, the Kroger Co. and the city of Lawrenceburg in Indiana.

Smith is serving his fifth term as mayor of South Lebanon.