Resolution No. 9: Collective Bargaining

WHEREAS, collective bargaining is our union’s most important responsibility, and we commit our unwavering support to our members in their collective bargaining struggles across the wide range of locations where we work in North America, regardless of the economic environment; and

WHEREAS, union members earn higher wages and enjoy better benefits on average than non-union workers; and

WHEREAS, many workers have realized significant wage growth since the COVID-19 pandemic, that growth is being outpaced by high inflation; and

WHEREAS, in the United States, according to a 2024 survey, workers paid back to their employers an average of 25 percent of the cost of their health insurance premiums for family coverage and 16 percent for employee-only coverage.  These health premiums have grown substantially in the last 10 years, rising 26.5 percent for single coverage and 30.5 percent for family coverage; and

WHEREAS, according to the 2024 National Compensation Survey, only 7 percent of private sector employers offer their workers in the United States a defined benefit pension plan; and

WHEREAS, only one in five Canadian private sector workers are covered by workplace pension plans; and

WHEREAS, although extreme increases in health care costs have moderated over the past few years, employers continue to attempt to shift costs to our members and decrease benefit levels.  In Canada, the universal public health care system remains under threat from both court challenges and right-wing forces. This includes but is not limited to efforts to repeal legislation implementing a national pharmacare program, which would end national coverage for diabetes and birth control drugs and extinguish the possibility for more comprehensive publicly-provided coverage in the future; and

WHEREAS, the corporations we face at the bargaining table are ever-increasing in both power and complexity through acquisition and complicated transnational or private equity structures.  The corporate protections we have negotiated in the United States, particularly successorship clauses, have allowed the sisters, brothers, and siblings at Cooper Tire, Graphic Packaging, BP-Toledo, Clearwater Paper, former ContiTech-St. Marys, Pactiv Evergreen, Exxon-Billings, Magellan, WestRock, Ineos, and others protections to prevent buyers from coming in and gutting their contracts; and

WHEREAS, our labor agreements provide extraordinary protections for our members, especially when our members need it most. We have defended the retirement security of our members, fought for access to universal affordable healthcare, provided for safer workplaces, and saved good jobs; and

WHEREAS, we recognize that our union’s successes are realized through the strength, solidarity and determination of local leaders and members working with skilled and knowledgeable staff, together utilizing the resources available only through a strong, diverse and financially viable international union; and

WHEREAS, some employers have gone to great lengths to attempt to break our union since we last met in convention, and these assaults continue across both our nations. We continue to struggle for fair labor agreements in our mines, mills, factories, health care, public sector and service settings, and when strikes and lockouts occur, they are often long and bitter struggles; and

WHEREAS, the attempts to strip away contract protections and collective bargaining rights have spread to the public sector, and governmental bodies at our federal, state, provincial and municipal levels are openly attacking unions at every opportunity; and

WHEREAS, our union is facing potentially difficult rounds of bargaining with major employers in oil, steel, paper, mining and smelting, health care, higher education, the public sector and other key sectors; and

WHEREAS, our members and our employers continue to struggle in a global economy and are increasingly under tremendous pressure from countries violating our trade laws through circumvention and other unfair trade practices in order to tilt the playing field in their favor.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that:

1. USW members will continue the fight to improve and maintain fair and equitable contracts with our employers in every sector.
2. It is imperative that the USW negotiate and maintain adequate defined benefit retirement income plans for our members, providing for guaranteed lifetime retirement income security and resisting two-tier pension plans. Where we are unable to negotiate defined benefit pension plans, we should demand adequate employer-funded multi-employer pension plans and, failing that, then defined contribution retirement plans with sufficient contributions that allow our members to retire with dignity and otherwise provide for disability income and spousal benefits in the event of the member’s death before or after retirement.
3. We urge our locals and staff to negotiate provisions that ensure economic security and health and safety for women, including full reproductive health services and travel coverage for members living in states that prohibit such coverage.
4. The USW will continue to provide professional, technical and strategic assistance, research, Strike and Defense Fund support and legal back-up in support of our members’ collective bargaining efforts.
5. Through rank-and-file solidarity and support from local unions, USW members will support the picket lines and assist in the struggles of our fellow workers.