WATERLOO -- "First 'no' vote here!" striking Eagle Ottawa tannery worker Jake Jacobs proclaimed to all within earshot as he walked out of the Black Hawk Labor Temple.

He wasn't the last either.

The 204 unionized tannery workers Friday overwhelmingly rejected company officials' "last, final and best offer" on a new labor contract. The company has not ruled out hiring replacement workers.

"Eagle Ottawa continues to encourage its striking employees to return to work and will begin hiring replacements as necessary in order to fully staff the plant," company officials said in a prepared statement released late Friday.

The strike, which began July 27, enters its sixth week today, passing a five-week 1997 work stoppage.

The membership, aware of the replacement threat, cheered when union negotiators announced rejection of the offer.

"We're strong," said Mike Heckenlively, vice president of Local 7-827 of the Paper Allied-Industrial Chemical and Energy Workers, or PACE, and a 14-year tannery worker. "It was overwhelmingly rejected six weeks ago, and that's what it was again. So this body is going to stand."

The company offer "isn't even enough to consider," he said. "The Cedar Valley community's been great to us, supporting us," including churches, organizations, other union locals and drive-up food donations at the picket line.

"My gosh, it's overwhelming how they're supporting us." Heckenlively said.

"It is unfortunate that we were still unable to reach an agreement at this final stage. We feel we made every effort to address and resolve our issues," said Jeff Riley, general manager for Eagle Ottawa's Waterloo operations.

"I think it's a good offer that serves the needs of our employees and Eagle Ottawa," Riley said. "It may not meet all expectations from either side; however, that is expected with any negotiations."

Many of the workers have taken second jobs, in addition to $60 a week in strike pay and community assistance. Many said they'd stay out on strike despite making less than half their normal pay and the threat of replacements.

PACE international business representative Garth Bowen was attempting to contact a federal mediator to get the parties back to the table as soon as possible.

Bowen said, "We're ready to talk any time they are."

However, company officials warned of "contingency" plans.

"They told us that if it didn't get ratified today, they had a contingency plan and it could include replacement workers," Local 7-827 President Robert Harris said.

"They didn't rule out anything," Bowen said. "We feel if replacement workers are advertised for, it's a large mistake on the company's part, and will only drive us further apart. And when this thing is settled, we're going to have larger issues to resolve than just the few we have now."

If replacements are hired, "We can't let that bother us," Harris said. "I can't see that they'll find enough people to replace us. If they do, we continue picketing and, hopefully, they'll continue negotiating."

Wages, health insurance and time-off issues remain workers' major concerns, Bowen said.

"We've got guys that have worked seven days a week, three months straight, putting in 12 hours a day," Heckenlively said.

"It's hard on family life," said worker Mark Jefferson, who was at The Rath Packing Co. before it closed in the mid-1980s.

"One thing about Rath, Rath took care of its people. Here, they want to work you, work you, work you, but they don't want to give you anything. All they care about is product," he said.

In a prepared statement following the vote, company officials said: "Eagle Ottawa enhanced its original offer and the final package includes improvements in wages, retirement plan benefits, short-term disability, off-shift bonuses, and contract language together with a competitive health insurance plan and a generous ratification or signing bonus. Despite these improvements, the union's membership rejected the offer."

Union negotiators declined to disclose or discuss details of the offer.

However, a discarded copy of the company's rejected amended offer -- a "Supplement to the Settlement Agreement" distributed to workers -- showed no additional time-off provisions from the previous offer, except for one additional unpaid casual day per year.

"We went to a strike with them before, and the promises they said they'd do never happened. This time they're going to have to put it in writing," Heckenlively said.

According to the settlement agreement supplement, the rejected offer called for a 50-cent hourly raise across the board each of the next three years, and a $500 signing bonus minus payroll deductions. It also called for roughly a 20 to 30 percent increase in employee health insurance premiums over the same period.

Workers said their insurance deductibles and other annual out-of-pocket expenses have already doubled since the last agreement in 2000, and that the wage proposal was not enough to offset those costs.

Workers make an average of $12.91 an hour, Harris said. That's roughly double the $6 to $7 an hour workers made when the tannery opened 15 years ago, more senior workers said, but less than the $19 to $20 their counterparts earn at the company's older sister tannery in Grand Haven, Mich.

The bulk of production has been shifted to the Waterloo in recent years.

The Waterloo tannery processes raw hides for leather upholstery for automakers such as General Motors and Toyota. The work stoppage comes at the industry's busy season.

"The Waterloo tannery remains open and limited production has been achieved," the company's statement said. "Additionally, Eagle Ottawa has drawn on its other tanneries located worldwide to supplement Waterloo production. By using these combined resources and executing to the company's contingency plan, Eagle Ottawa will continue to meet forecasted customer demand."

The statement did not specify when replacement hiring might start, and union officials still feel an equitable agreement can be reached.