USW set to vote on U.S. Steel labor deal

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BY ANDREA HOLECEK
holecek@nwitimes.com
219.933.3316 | Monday, August 11, 2008 | (4 comment(s))

The USW bargaining committee for U.S. Steel Corp. is set to vote on a labor agreement offer from the company that would replace the one expiring at the end of this month.

The union's U.S. Steel negotiating team received the company's offer late Sunday afternoon. The presidents of USW locals at U.S. Steel domestic plants could vote on the offer and have a tentative agreement Monday. If approved, the agreement would be presented to members for their vote within the next several weeks.

No information about details of the offer was available Monday. The U.S. Steel agreement would cover about 15,000 workers and 12 plants, and set a pattern for other integrated steel industry agreements.

Labor agreement talks between the USW and ArcelorMittal have moved in the opposite direction.

After 12 weeks of bargaining, the union broke off talks with ArcelorMittal on Friday. The contract with ArcelorMittal, which also expires Aug. 31, covers about 14,000 workers at 14 U.S. plants.

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Alex wrote on Aug 11, 2008 11:41 PM:

" I seriously doubt there will be a strike. Thye umbrella agreement covers USX and Mittal workers as far as wages, vacations, etc.....standard stuff covered in the body of the contract.
The problem is the Inland workers and current retiree's do not want to switch over to what ISG plants have which is VEBA (a fund contributed to by the company) this is going to cause great strain for the union and the company.
The unions need to be very careful because many people still remember the 6 month strike at USX in 1986? Mittal has the money to do the same thing which is starve you guys out. "

beth wrote on Aug 11, 2008 9:52 PM:

" i just hate to hear about all of this. My husband thank god is at USS and yet i have a family member over at Mittal. I wish things would work out for everyone..this could be a horrible thing for our area! "

Geoff wrote on Aug 11, 2008 7:32 PM:

" Fred is right. The big hang up right now is the retirees from Inland and the current retirement deal in place for future Inland retirees. Mittal will never bend on that issue, so I guess we are going to have a problem. I foresee a strike looming here shortly, which Mittal will see as a reason to just close most of the US plants. "

fred wrote on Aug 11, 2008 6:05 PM:

" Good luck USW in negotiating with ArcelorMittal, you're gonna need it. You have no leverage, this is a forgien owned operation who could care less about your history with ISG or Bethlehem. In their eyes the USW was part of what was the demise of Bethlehem Steel with the incessant contract demands of more, more,
more. "

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