Sign our petition if you want to see good manufacturing jobs stay in the United States; if you want fair trade laws; and if you want America to keep its promise that if you work hard, you can sustain a family and one day retire with dignity.
National Grid is jeopardizing the safety of our communities by locking out 1,100 of its most experienced employees who are critical to ensuring safe and quality gas work in Massachusetts.
Last week, our USW negotiating committee returned to Pittsburgh after receiving unanimous approval for strike authorization from the members of all 13 local unions at the ArcelorMittal facilities covered by our contracts.
Although management certainly received the loud and clear message that we are united in solidarity and ready to fight for the fair contracts we have earned and deserve, the company continues to propose unfair and unnecessary changes to our agreements in healthcare and other areas.
ArcelorMittal has proposed a three-year labor agreement that attacks many of the hard won benefits that we have achieved over the years. USW members have fought for generations to negotiate fair wages, incentives, health insurance, pensions, overtime pay, supplemental unemployment benefits (SUB), sickness and accident benefits (S&A), layoff minimization, scheduling and many other protections that make our workplaces safer and give us a stronger voice on the job.
Please make all necessary arrangements to attend one of the three meetings to be held on Monday, September 17th 2018 at Duneland Falls Banquet Center located at 1100 N. Max Mochal Hwy. Chesterton. Meetings will be held at 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. CST. Please attend the meeting which best fits your schedule.
This week, our negotiating committee continued to meet both internally within our committee and with ArcelorMittal management while 15,000 of our brothers and sisters at U.S. Steel facilities across the country unanimously granted strike authorization.
Three years ago, when steel prices bottomed out due to the unfair and illegal trade, management sought to unravel generations of collective bargaining progress with contract demands designed to reduce our standards of living and destroy the “safety nets” negotiated to protect us from lay-offs and plant closures.
Although we are not satisfied with the little progress we have made at the table since negotiations began on July 9, 2018, on Thursday, we reached an understanding to extend our current contracts for a short period of time while negotiations proceed, subject to a 48-hour notice if either party intends to terminate. Our negotiating committee has been patient in the face of ArcelorMittal’s attempts to frustrate us. We have sought out common ground where management only seeks to divide. We have provided reasonable alternatives to the company’s unreasonable demands.
For the last six weeks, our committee has been working to engage ArcelorMittal management in good faith negotiations, yet we received another predictably unacceptable counterproposal from ArcelorMittal this week with little movement, if any, on the company’s part.
The company has failed to address our need for wage and pension improvements, and management continues to demand unreasonable and unnecessary healthcare concessions from active members and retirees.
