A settlement agreement between Freightcar America and hundreds of the company’s former workers in Johnstown is expected to be approved Monday.

A federal judge in Johnstown is expected to rule in favor of the agreement that will guarantee pensions for workers who lost their jobs and benefits when the railcar plant shut down in 2007.

Freightcar management had claimed it was too expensive to run the Johnstown plant and they had to close it because it wasn’t cost effective. In response, the company moved all of its railcar manufacturing to plants in Virginia and Illinois.

The publicly-traded company had $817 million in sales last year. Union representatives said workers at the Johnstown plant made Freightcar much money, and in turn filed a class-action lawsuit claiming many of the workers were laid off just shy of earning their pensions.

Stay with WJACTV.com and WJAC-TV News for continuing coverage when a ruling is issued.