Putting together food boxes for strikers’ families in the back of United Steelworkers of America Local 303L’s union hall, Willie Singleton reflected on a labor agency’s decision to file a complaint against Titan Tire of Natchez.

&uot;I’m really glad they came to this decision … more than happy,&uot; Singleton said Friday. &uot;Now the question is, ‘when to we get our money and go back to work?’ &uot;

But many things, it seems, are still unknown about the upcoming complaint.

The National Labor Relations Board does not yet know whether any charges Steelworkers filed against Titan Tire in January 1999 will be included in a complaint the agency is expected to file against Titan later this month, an NLRB official said Friday.

Regional Director Curtis Wells said Thursday that the NLRB will file a complaint at the end of July against Titan Tire, asking that workers fired in 1998 be reinstated in their former positions and paid back pay and benefits.

&uot;But we’re still doing research to see what specific (January 1999 charges) will be contained in the complaint,&uot;&160;said Rodney Johnson of the agency’s New Orleans office.

On Jan. 29, 1999, Local 303L, whose members have been on strike from Titan’s Natchez plant since September 1998, filed documents with the NLRB charging that Titan had violated the National Labor Relations Act. Charges included promising workers more benefits if they quit the union. The NLRB has been investigating the charges ever since. But Wells has already disclosed the main allegations that would be contained in the complaint the NLRB plans to file against Titan.

The board will accuse the company of illegally firing about 250 employees when it took over Fidelity Corp. on or about Sept. 4, 1998. It will charge that Titan had the same purpose, equipment, customers and supervision as Fidelity — essentially becoming Fidelity’s alter ego — and, therefore, should not have fired those employees without first bargaining with the union.

The agency will not ask that 343 employees now working at the plant be fired.

If Titan does not reinstate its former workers this month and pay them the pay and benefits they would have received since Sept. 4, 1998, the NLRB will file the complaint with an administrative law judge.

A hearing could be set for Natchez or the nearest available courthouse as soon as this fall.

&uot;We had a hearing before (Bankruptcy Judge Edward) Ellington on this same thing before, and he said we were in the right,&uot; said Morry Taylor, president of Titan International. &uot;The union appealed it to federal court, and that judge agreed with Ellington. This has already been decided.&uot;

Union officials have estimated that having to pay back pay and benefits to workers fired in 1998 could cost Titan more than $30 million.

&uot;If there’s any way this would help settle this strike, that would be good,&uot;&160;said Natchez Mayor Hank Smith, admitting that he, like most people in the Miss-Lou, does not yet know much about the upcoming NLRB complaint.

&uot;But it concerns me if this forces the plant to close and (we) lose jobs out there, particularly on the heels of what happened with IP last week.&uot;

Smith was referring to International Paper’s July 6 announcement that it would sell its chemical cellulose operations — including the Natchez mill, which employs 750 people.

Neither Virginia Salmon, president of the Adams County Board of Supervisors, nor Wally Kirk, chairman of the board of the Natchez-Adams County Economic Development Authority, would comment on the NLRB complaint.

If the judge rules against Titan, the company can still appeal his decision to a five-judge panel of the NLRB, then to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.

&uot;I&160;realize we still have a way to go. This is just the first step, but it’s a big step,&uot;&160;said Local 303L&160;member Louis Johnson.

&uot;I was surprised about the (NLRB’s decision) because we’ve been fighting for a good long time,&uot;&160;said member Charles Carter. &uot;But however long it takes, we’ll be there. The bridge may be long, but it’s got to end sometime.&uot;