USW Local 1938 held their rally at the Miner's Memorial building in Virginia August 30th. Hundreds of Steelworkers from across the range were in attendance. I saw many from our own local there to support our union brothers and sisters that work at the USSteel Minntac mine. While they are nearing the deadline for the expiration of their contract, we are still a month away with our bargaining team scheduled to leave for PIttsburgh this weekend. These rallies are an important part of the baragaining process. They show our solidarity with each other to our communities and to the companies that we bargain with. Four street corners full of workers gathered shouting for a fair contract sends a clear message. Not only does that message resonate with USteel and Arcelor-Mittal, Cliffs is also hearing that message. Thanks to all of those that attended and those that didn't should make it a point to attend the next rally.
Here is the write-up on the ralies held nationwide from the USW site:
Thousands of Steelworkers Rally Across Nation for Fair Treatment
CONTACT:
Tony Montana (AM): (412) 562-2592, [email protected]
R.J. Hufnagel (USS): (412) 562-2450, [email protected]
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.
