May 9, 2006 — Steelworkers have announced they will protest Brazil-owned Gerdau-Ameristeel's labor relations and the impact on shareholders at the company's annual shareholders' meeting this Wednesday, May 10.

Steelworkers' National Director Ken Neumann said the action is intended to draw attention to the serious consequences of Gerdau's negotiating strategies.

Currently, collective agreements are open at seven Gerdau Ameristeel locations. Another five contracts will come due over the next year, including those at mills in Whitby, Ont., and Selkirk, Man.

So far, said Neumann, company proposals put forward in two current sets of negotiations in the U.S. demand concessions, concessions that he says Gerdau is illegally trying to impose on workers at the Texas facility. “Those concessions include multi-year wage freezes, two-tier wages, pension reductions, cuts in retiree health care, forced overtime and cuts in overtime pay, vacation cutbacks and more. It is not a recipe for labor peace, let alone improvements in productivity.”

The United Steelworkers represents 288,000 men and women working in every sector of Canada's economy, including about 1,000 at Gerdau's Canadian operations in Selkirk, Whitby, and Courtice.