CONTACT:
Tony Montana (AM): (412) 562-2592, tmontana@usw.org
R.J. Hufnagel (USS): (412) 562-2450, rhufnagel@usw.org
Thousands of members of the United Steelworkers (USW) union from across the United States, along with labor, political, religious and community allies, held a series of rallies and marches on Thursday to call for fair contracts with steelmakers ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel.
Those contracts, which cover a total of 31,000 workers, are set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on the night of Saturday, Sept. 1. The union has been negotiating with the two companies since July.
“Today, we saw hard-working people standing up with one voice demanding fair treatment for themselves and their families,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard.
“These workers have gone three years without a wage increase,” Gerard said. “In that time, they’ve seen the cost of everything go up; they’ve seen their employers report millions of dollars in profits; they’ve seen management pay themselves millions of dollars in bonuses. And today, they stood up and said they’d seen enough.”
The union’s negotiations with ArcelorMittal cover about 15,000 members of 13 local unions while the USW’s master agreement with U.S. Steel covers more than 16,000 workers at 24 local unions.
“These workers and their families have made significant sacrifices over the years to put these two companies in a position to be extremely successful. They deserve to share in that success,” Gerard said.
The locations included in the two companies’ collective bargaining agreements are as follows:
ArcelorMittal: Burns Harbor, Cleveland, Coatesville, Conshohocken, Indiana Harbor East, Indiana Harbor West, Minorca Mine, Riverdale, Steelton, Warren Coke, Weirton, I/N Tek, I/N Kote, Columbus Coatings and Columbus Processing
U.S. Steel: Clairton Works; East Chicago Tin, Fairfield, Fairfield Southern, Fairless Hills, Gary Works, Granite City Works, Great Lakes Works, Keetac, Lone Star Tubular, Lorain Tubular, Midwest Plant, Minntac and Mon Valley Works
For bargaining updates and other information on the current negotiations, visit www.usw.org/steel.
The USW represents 850,000 workers in North America employed in many industries that include metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining and the service and public sectors.