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USW Membership Ratifies Agreement with RG Steel
05/06/2011 - Members of the United Steelworkers (USW) have ratified their new contract with RG Steel, which purchased USW-represented facilities from Severstal North America last month.
Members of the United Steelworkers (USW) have ratified their new contract with RG Steel, which purchased USW-represented facilities from Severstal North America in a stock transaction last month.
Roughly 57% of the hourly production, maintenance, office and clerical employees of the former Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel facilities in the Ohio Valley; the former WCI Steel facility in Warren, Ohio; and the former Bethlehem Steel facility in Sparrows Point, Md., voted in favor of the new contract along with employees at Mountain State Carbon in Follansbee, W. Va. and Wheeling Corrugating in Wheeling, W. Va..
USW International President Leo W. Gerard praised the members at RG Steel for enduring over two years of uncertainty over ownership issues and the future of the plants.
"The men and women who labor in these mills have earned the security and stability provided by this agreement," said Gerard. "Their hard work, commitment and solidarity have made the difference between success and survival or failure and the loss of these jobs and the communities they support."
USW District 1 Director David McCall, who chairs the union's negotiations with RG Steel, had similar praise for the rank and file members. He said the key to the long term success is for members to support RG Steel in its drive to become the strong third leg of the integrated steel industry in North America, at long last completing the restructuring process that began in 2002 with the formation of ISG.
The USW represents 1.2 million active and retired workers in North America in a wide variety of industries and the public and private sectors.
