While 14,000 union steelworkers at 14 ArcelorMittal plants await details of the tentative labor pact reached last weekend, some local union officials at U.S. Steel Corp. plants have opposed a similar settlement covering their members.
"You've got your pros and cons on it. You've got the benefits improvements, but I think they should have gotten more," said Andrew Miklos, president of United Steelworkers Local 1557 at U.S. Steel's Clairton coke plant, which has about 1,210 members. He wanted improvements in the grievance procedures and language limiting the company's ability to contract work at the plant out to other companies.
Miklos said he was one of nine local union presidents to vote against the settlement that the USW's bargaining committee presented to the local presidents on Aug. 11. Despite his opposition, Miklos said the union officers at Clairton did not make any recommendation on how members should vote.
The 16,000 USW members at the 12 U.S. Steel plants covered by the four-year agreement have until Tuesday to mail their votes on the contract to USW headquarters in Pittsburgh. If approved, it would be retroactive to Sept. 1, the expiration date of the old pact.
Tom Conway, chairman of steel-industry bargaining for the union, said he was confident that members will approve the pacts.
Steelworkers at U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal will get a $6,000 ratification bonus if the contracts are approved. They will get a $1 an hour increase in the first year and 4 percent wage hikes in each of the remaining three years of the contract.
But giving percentage increases rather than a specific amount will create divisions within the work force, because higher-paid workers will get more of an increase, Miklos said.
U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal have agreed to invest $3 billion in their plants, an investment the USW sought to ensure the plants remain competitive and make jobs more secure. Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel has committed to invest $1 billion in new coke ovens at Clairton.
Chuck Jackson, president of USW Local 1219 at the Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, and Joseph Ballas, president of USW Local 2227 at the Irvin Plant in West Mifflin, could not be reached for comment.
Unlike the settlement with U.S. Steel, the proposed agreement the union reached with ArcelorMittal on Saturday had the support of 13 of the 14 local union presidents at ArcelorMittal plants. Voting on the ArcelorMittal contract also will be conducted by a mail-in ballot, and the deadline to return those ballots has not been set, USW spokesman Tony Montana said.
The ArcelorMittal contract covers the tin mill plant in Weirton, W.Va. Mark Glyptis, president of USW Local 2911, which represents about 950 steelworkers at Weirton, was pleased with the deal because he said it achieved economic and employment security for the workers, a commitment for investment and retirement security.
The commitment to invest in the plants was "terribly important to us," Glyptis said, because "the goal is to be the premier tin producer."
"Some very good things are going to happen at Weirton (mill)," Glyptis said. He declined to say if that involves restarting the steel production at the mill.
The contract does not cover steelworkers at Koppers Inc.'s coke-producing plant in Monessen, which ArcelorMittal is in the process of acquiring, Montana said. Koppers, based in Downtown, said the sale should be completed by the end of the year. When that occurs, the issue will be addressed, Montana said.
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