Steelworkers Ratify Four-Year Contract With ArcelorMittal

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The United Steelworkers (USW) today announced that its members have overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year contract with ArcelorMittal in a mail-in secret ballot vote that concluded here today at the union’s headquarters. The new contract is retroactive to Sept. 1, covering about 14,000 USW members employed at 14 ArcelorMittal plants in the United States.

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“Reaching this agreement was a struggle that required tremendous support and solidarity from our members on the shop floor,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “The hard work of our members was instrumental in rescuing the industry five years ago and putting it back onto the road of profit that it rides today.”

USW District 1 Director David McCall, who serves as chairman of the USW’s ArcelorMittal negotiating committee, said that he is particularly proud of the negotiating committee’s dedication to fairness at the bargaining table on behalf of the union’s current members as well as retirees.

“From the outset of these negotiations, we promised to improve our earnings security, job security and retirement security,” he said, “and we achieved important gains in all three.”

The new contract provides a one-time $6,000 cash payment, $1 an hour general wage increase retroactive to Sept.1, and four percent wage increases will come in years two, three and four. It improves the existing medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, life insurance and Sick and Accident (S&A) benefits for all eligible employees and secures continued funding for a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association Trust (VEBA) to provide benefits for retirees who lost their healthcare coverage in bankruptcy court under previous employers.

Retiree premiums for all retirees will be reduced by approximately thirty five percent and will remain fixed for the term of the proposed Agreement.

Finally, the agreement requires the company to make significant capital investment in its domestic plants to keep our mills state of the art in order to compete in a global steel market and provides for an “Energy Efficiency and Carbon Emissions Task Force” where the union and company will work together to protect and benefit the industry and the environment.

Contact: Tony Montana (USW) – 216-308-4798

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United Steelworkers (USW)

CONTACT: Tony Montana of United Steelworkers (USW), +1-216-308-4798

Web Site: http://www.usw.org/