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USW MEMBERS AT USS WILL NOT BE SECOND CLASS
As you know, our union has been in negotiations with both Cliffs and US Steel over the past months. While progress had been slow, there has been recent significant moves by Cliffs to try to reach an agreement by our deadline of September 1st. While there are still a few items to wrap up, the pathway to an agreement is plain to both companies.
This stands in stark contrast to the conduct at the table with US Steel. The company is very aware of the advances the union has made at Cliffs in almost every major provision of the agreement. Today the management at USS told the union that they have no intention of making the same kind of progress and essentially say they are done negotiating about the major items such as wages, pensions, holidays, vacation and other improvements that would match the pattern at Cliffs. They are far short of what their competitors are offering, and they need to be giving serious thought to the consequences of treating their workforce is such a dramatically different manner.
This arrogance will not stand. The workforce at US Steel will not tolerate being treated like 2nd class citizens while continuing to deliver 1st class quality steel products to the market.
Every day we go into the plants and go above and beyond to ensure the company delivers the highest quality, on-time steel to our customers. Every day we work towards ensuring we have a safe workplace while the company piles up cash over the past quarters with historic earning levels selling the steels we make.
For US Steel to now take the position that they are somehow going to treat the workforce at our plants in such a drastically different manner is completely unacceptable, and frankly we aren’t going to stand for it. This is a fight that this company should not pick. They will not win it.
So, it’s time for us to push back. Time to let your bosses know that the Pittsburgh management is making a big mistake. It’s time to let them know that their X-App Bull*&%t isn’t going to work and that we fully understand the value we add to the success of this company.
Your local leadership will soon be back home calling meetings and talking to you on the shop floors. The union is going to pull together and teach management what solidarity means. They have time to avoid this problem but they’ll now need to begin moving quickly and abandon their stone walling hard-headed approach.
Stay in touch with your CAT teams and local union leadership and let’s show US Steel what it means to confront a union for no good reason.
In Solidarity,
Your USS Bargaining Committee