Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
USW OKs strike against ArcelorMittal
Steelworkers currently working under expired contract
COATESVILLE » The labor union that represents workers at the ArcelorMittal steel mill in the city is considering a strike as negotiations for a new contract have gone past the initial deadline of Sept. 1.
United Steelworkers (USW) announced in a news release Monday that 13 local unions representing about 15,000 workers in several states unanimously granted their negotiating committee the authority to implement a strike against ArcelorMittal if necessary.
“The flexibility of our contracts and world-class efficiency and productivity of this particular group of steelworkers enabled ArcelorMittal to survive floods of unfairly traded and illegally dumped foreign imports that brought about the harshest market conditions our industry has faced in decades,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “Now that the company is generating enormous – even historic – amounts of cash, it is an insult that bargaining progress has been hindered by management’s unrealistic concessionary demands and unfair labor practices.”
Vonie Long, president of USW Local 1165, said union members in Coatesville are supporting the decision to authorize a strike.
“Our membership is solidly behind our bargaining team; the strike authorization votes do send that message to the bargaining table in Pittsburgh,” Long said. “We feel these are decent times in the domestic steel industry, and we expect the contract to reflect that.”
He said workers have agreed to continue working under the conditions of the old contract, which expired Sept. 1, and each side would need to give 48 hours’ notice if they seek to change that position.
Long said workers don’t want to accept some of the conciliatory demands of ArcelorMittal, such as: shifting more health care costs onto employees; reducing wage incentives; and walking away from obligations to retirees.
He said the strike authorization vote means calling a strike is a possibility, but it’s just one of many possibilities, and ultimately union members want to come to a fair agreement and avoid a strike if possible.
“We don’t want a labor dispute, but the strike authorization vote gives our bargaining committee another tool at the table,” Long said. “Hopefully that shows ArcelorMittal we’re behind the committee to bring about a fair contract.”
USW represents about 530 employees at the steel mill in Coatesville, Long said.
ArcelorMittal spokesperson Mary Beth Holdford released the following statement Tuesday: “The United Steelworkers voted (Monday) to authorize their bargaining committee to initiate a strike against ArcelorMittal USA, if they deem such a strike necessary in the future.
“It is important to note that this is not a declaration of a strike, talks continue this week and we continue to work diligently to reach a mutually agreeable conclusion. Further, our plants continue to operate in a safe and orderly fashion.
“The current contract expired Sept. 1, 2018, and both parties have signed an extension agreement agreeing to continue to operate on the same terms as the last contract.”
USW District 1 Director David McCall, who chairs negotiations with ArcelorMittal, said that the company’s union-represented production, maintenance, office and technical workers are uniformly fed up with management’s attempts to reduce, eliminate, undermine and weaken contractual protections and benefits hard-won through generations of collective bargaining.
“ArcelorMittal can easily afford to negotiate fair labor agreements with us, but the company has instead insisted on concessions that would more than wipe out any pay increases in its proposal,” McCall said. “Management has even failed to address some of our noneconomic proposals and ignored most of the local issues we have brought to the table, demonstrating a fundamental lack of respect for the men and women upon whose shoulders rests the company’s past, present and future success.”
McCall added that although the union would prefer to resolve the outstanding issues without a work stoppage, USW members have delivered a clear message through their overwhelming support of strike authorization.
“We are organized and mobilized and will not allow ArcelorMittal to bully us into accepting anything less than the fair contracts we have earned and deserve,” McCall said. “These are jobs worth fighting for, and we intend to keep it that way.”