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United Steelworkers Rank-and-File Accept Labor Agreement With U. S. Steel
02/01/2016 - The United Steelworkers union has ratified a three-year labor contract with United States Steel Corporation, the union has announced.
“We are proud of the productive relationship we’ve built with U. S. Steel,” Mike Millsap, a union district director and secretary of the bargaining committee, said in a statement.
“We hope to build on it as we move forward from what has been a very challenging year.”
The new agreement covers approximately 18,000 workers at more than a dozen facilities across the United States. The rank-and-file approved the agreement by more than a 2-to-1 margin, the union said.
The union and the integrated steelmaker reached a tentative agreement in December after six months of negotiations.
The union said the agreement freezes wages, but provides for an increase in the union’s profit-sharing percentage. It also includes “modest changes” to active and retiree health insurance benefits. Despite those changes, the union said its negotiators were successful in fending off company demands for “significant” premium contributions and other “large-scale” out-of-pocket increases.
“The past year has been a difficult one for the steel industry, for USW members, and for manufacturing towns all across this country,” said USW international president Leo W. Gerard in a statement. “The key to weathering this crisis is not to attack each other, but to work together to find solutions to our common problems - namely the severe imbalance and unfairness in our trade system. This must be our shared goal as we move forward.”
The contract is retroactive to 1 September 2015.
"We are pleased with the outcome of the ratification vote. We believe these three-year agreements are in the best interests of our company, our employees and all of our stakeholders," U. S. Steel president and CEO Mario Longhi said in a statement.
“We hope to build on it as we move forward from what has been a very challenging year.”
The new agreement covers approximately 18,000 workers at more than a dozen facilities across the United States. The rank-and-file approved the agreement by more than a 2-to-1 margin, the union said.
The union and the integrated steelmaker reached a tentative agreement in December after six months of negotiations.
The union said the agreement freezes wages, but provides for an increase in the union’s profit-sharing percentage. It also includes “modest changes” to active and retiree health insurance benefits. Despite those changes, the union said its negotiators were successful in fending off company demands for “significant” premium contributions and other “large-scale” out-of-pocket increases.
“The past year has been a difficult one for the steel industry, for USW members, and for manufacturing towns all across this country,” said USW international president Leo W. Gerard in a statement. “The key to weathering this crisis is not to attack each other, but to work together to find solutions to our common problems - namely the severe imbalance and unfairness in our trade system. This must be our shared goal as we move forward.”
The contract is retroactive to 1 September 2015.
"We are pleased with the outcome of the ratification vote. We believe these three-year agreements are in the best interests of our company, our employees and all of our stakeholders," U. S. Steel president and CEO Mario Longhi said in a statement.
