Steelworkers Oppose Shareholder-Proposed Timken Split
04/23/2013 - The United Steelworkers (USW) said that the union supports Timken Co. management's opposition to a shareholder proposal that calls for splitting the company into distinct bearing and steel divisions.
The United Steelworkers (USW) said that the union supports Timken Co. management's opposition to a shareholder proposal that calls for splitting the company into distinct bearing and steel divisions.
USW District 1 director David McCall, who chairs the union's negotiations with Timken, said that the union has reviewed a proposal put forward by Relational Investors LLC and the California State Teachers' Retirement System to spin off the steelmaking business from the rest of the 114-year-old company.
"Timken has a long, successful history in its present form, providing employment to our communities and value to shareholders," McCall said. "We believe that changing the corporate structure as proposed threatens to undermine both."
The USW represents 850,000 men and women employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in public sector and service occupations.
USW Local 1123 represents about 2,300 Timken workers in Canton, Ohio.
