Strike enters second week at Shelby plant
SHELBY -- U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is due to visit Shelby in support of the striking Arcelormittal workers, the union confirmed in also providing several updates on the week-old strike.
As initial plans stand, Brown is expected to visit on today, Monday, Nov. 8 Norm Shoemaker, Mid-ohio Area Labor Council president and a top United Steelworkers Local 3057 official, confirmed.
On Saturday, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-ohio and a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate, visited Shelby to show support for the striking workers.
About 500 Shelby workers, who are part of Local 3057, went on strike at midnight Oct. 31 after a new contract could not be reached.
The plant is Shelby’s largest employer. Its workers have been on the picket lines since Monday, Nov. 1.
The Steelworkers issued a statement, providing an update and noting the challenges faced by the striking workers, who are “not earning a wage.”
“Since the members are not working, there is no money coming into the local to help the day-to-day operations during this strike,” reads the USW statement from Shoemaker.
“Without this money, the daily needs of food and drink for families and those walking the picket lines is difficult to provide,” read the Steelworkers statement that was provided by others via social media.
“The USW Strike and Defense Fund program does not begin until 3 weeks of a strike has passed,” the statement also said. “Even then, it is very modest.”
Community donations also are being sought to assist the workers. They can be dropped off at the Steelworkers union hall at 30 Mohican St. For those wishing to assist via the mail, the mailing address is P.O. Box 6, Shelby, Ohio 44875.
The statement summarized issues that the union negotiators were seeking to resolve in a new agreement. They included weekends for Easter and Thanksgiving. “Shelby has always been a 7-day-a-week operation,” Shoemaker said in a statement. “It has become extremely important to the members to have time off with their families in light of the current climate.”
Pensions also are an issue.
“Pension has only been addressed once in the last 20 years,” the statement read. “The yearly multiplier was at $75 and has dropped to $54 over the years.”
Insurance benefits are another issue.
“The company implemented a three-tier program and mandated new hires go into a plan that contains higher premiums and higher deductibles,” the statement read. “This has caused hardship within these families and the bargaining unit.”
The statement also noted the unexpected nature of the strike.
On Oct. 31, “...Shelby Arcelormittal walked away abruptly from the negotiating table, which we believe warrants an Unfair Labor Practice charge,” the statement said. “The union negotiating team believed they were close to a fair agreement they could take back to the membership.”
Attempts by the Daily Globe to reach Arcelormittal have been unsuccessful.
The United Steelworkers statement also highlighted the Shelby plant’s history dating back to 1890. It includes:
* 100 percent of the tubing being produced to build American troop ships and other machinery to support the World War I effort.
* producing the tubing was used to make airplanes, artillery and other machinery during World War II.
* making tubing for the Spirit of St. Louis airplane flown by Charles Lindbergh across the Atlantic Ocean in the 1927 historic flight.
* In 1890, Jonas Feighner asking Shelby citizens to buy shares to build a manufacturing plant so the USA could make its own seamless tubing. That Shelby plant burned to the ground in 1908 with the plant rebuilt along Main Street and becoming known as Plant 1. Plant 2 along Vernon Road was added in 1976.
“Over the years, there have been three additions built onto this plant to accommodate the popularity of the product made at the ‘Tuby,’” the statement noted.
The union local dates back nearly 80 years. “In August of 1943, the hourly employees at Shelby and the United Steelworkers banded together to create USW Local 3057 in order (to) bargain for better working conditions, better benefits and better wages,” the statement detailed.
“The ‘Birthplace of the Seamless Tube Industry in America’ has allowed generations of Shelby area citizens to make a living and raise families for 131 years and counting,” the statement added.
The Shelby plant remains on its original 130-acre site.