`Direct victims'
The lawsuits alleged that Locarno, Orcasita and Gustavo Soler -- who was killed after he took over for Locarno -- "were direct victims of Drummond's plan to violently destroy the union."
"I think they thought they could get away with anything, literally get away with murder," United Steelworkers lawyer Daniel Kovalik said.
Drummond's relationship with the Sintramienergetica union, which represents a third of the company's 6,200 local workers, has long been tense.
The union accuses the company of unsafe conditions it says contributed to 13 accidental deaths since 1995, of forcing injured employees to work and of indiscriminately dismissing workers.
Drummond said: "We have a good relationship with our rank-and-file workforce."
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