Leo W. Gerard - United Steelworkers · 2014. 6. 3. · still be heard, even 20 years later. Charlie Hall, retired Local 87 Eaton, Ohio We Still Need Unions I’m a retired member

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I N T E R N AT I O N A L E X E C U T I V E B O A R D

Leo W. GerardInternational President

Stan JohnsonInt’l. Secretary-Treasurer

Thomas M. ConwayInt’l. Vice President

(Administration)

Fred RedmondInt’l. Vice President

(Human Affairs)

Ken NeumannNat’l. Dir. for Canada

Jon GeenenInt’l. Vice President

Gary BeeversInt’l. Vice President

Carol LandryVice President at Large

D I R E C T O R S

David R. McCall, District 1

Michael Bolton, District 2

Stephen Hunt, District 3

John Shinn, District 4

Daniel Roy, District 5

Marty Warren, District 6

Mike Millsap, District 7

Ernest R. “Billy” Thompson, District 8

Daniel Flippo, District 9

Bobby “Mac” McAuliffe, District 10

Emil Ramirez, District 11

Robert LaVenture, District 12

Ruben Garza, District 13

C O M M U N I C AT I O N S S TA F F :

Jim McKay, EditorWayne Ranick, Director of CommunicationsGary Hubbard, Director of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C.Aaron Hudson and Kenny Carlisle, Designers Chelsey Engel, Lynne Hancock, R.J. Hufnagel, Jess Kamm, Tony Montana, Barbara White Stack

Official publication of the United Steelworkers

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Volume 09/No.2 Spring 2014

USW@Work (ISSN 1931-6658) is published four times a year by the United Steelworkers AFL-CIO•CLC Five Gateway Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. Subscriptions to non-members: $12 for one year; $20 for two years. Periodicals postage paid at Pittsburgh, PA and additional mailing offices.

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F E AT U R E SSpeaking OutTrade WatchNews Bytes

O N T H E C O V E ROn the Cover: USW member harvests lumber, a renewable source of pulp for making paper products. See page 14 for story on paper bargaining. USW photo by Steve Dietz

030832

I N S I D EU S W @ W O R KSenator Jay Rockefeller has been there for us since his first day in pub-lic office. When the steel industry was facing devastation from unfair trade, when Steelworkers and their communities were struggling with

the threat of job losses, Sen. Rockefeller always stood with us.

“”International President Leo W. Gerard

March 17, 2014, on the retirement of U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)

FIRST DOWNA regional director for the National Labor Relations Board rules that Northwestern University football players on scholarships are employees eligible to join a union.

PAPER INDUSTRY CONFERENCELocal USW leaders in the paper industry build on nearly a decade of coordinated bargaining by setting goals for upcoming contract negotiations.

ACTION AGAINST CHINAThe USW played a key role in pressing the United States to take action against China over its curbs on exports of rare earth and other materials.

OATH OF OFFICEUSW international officers and district directors take the oath of office on March 1 in Pittsburgh before some 1,000 witnesses.

08 14

16 26

U S W @ Wo r k • S p r i n g 2 0 1 4 32 U S W @ Wo r k • S p r i n g 2 0 1 4

NAFTA: The Foot in the DoorThe article about NAFTA was very good. The

plant where I worked sent many jobs to Mexico, and they did not even officially count as lost jobs because the company offered retirement incentives so they did not have to lay anyone off.

NAFTA opened the door for similar trade deals all over the world. The middle class (which is where most of the government’s tax money came from) is disappearing.

If we had listened to Ross Perot in 1992, I don’t think this country would be in the shape it is in. The “giant sucking sound” that he talked about can still be heard, even 20 years later.

Charlie Hall, retired Local 87Eaton, Ohio

We Still Need UnionsI’m a retired member of Local 1302, the union

that represented workers at Evinrude Motors.Some people say that unions have outlived their

usefulness. They couldn’t be more wrong. Most people who say that don’t remember the Great Depression. I was born in 1935, and if my grandfa-ther had not been a wealthy man, my family would have starved.

What most people don’t know is that Herbert Hoover got us into that Great Depression, and it was at the urging of Franklin Delano Roosevelt that Samuel Gompers started one of the first unions.

If it were not for unions, the Germans and the Japanese would have won World War II.

What we are going through now is nearly as bad as that Great Depression. Why do you think Wall Street, where all of the so-called financial geniuses reside, collapsed? They saw it all coming and didn’t know what to do about it.

Jim Sherwin, retired Local 1302Brookfield, Wis.

Attack on WorkersThe Commonwealth Foundation is at it again.

They have teamed up with extreme legislators in Pennsylvania to push a so-called “paycheck protection” bill that has nothing to do with protect-ing workers’ paychecks and everything to do with silencing their voices.

This time, they are teaming up with a sinister organization known as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and other out-of-state interests to attack workers’ rights. HB 1507 and SB 1034 prohibit teachers, caregivers and public safety workers from paying union dues through payroll deduction, a system that is easy, convenient and costs next to nothing.

Portions of both laws are lifted verbatim from similar laws that ALEC has pushed in other states.

They aren’t written to help workers; they are writ-ten to advance an out-of-state agenda to hurt labor unions and destroy the middle class.

Daniel Nunzer, president Local 256LMonaca, Pa.

Thanks for a Union FamilyMy father was a longtime Steelworker member

and served as a staff representative and sub-district director in Indiana many years ago. My grandfather was an organizer before him.

My father passed away in 1991, and my mother passed away this year at the age of 94. I’ve been going through boxes of photos, articles and keep-sakes related to my parents’ life with the Steel-workers, and I wanted to say thank you.

The USW insurance and retirement benefits, and the many laws the union fought for over the years, allowed my mom to have the quality of life that she did.

My mom’s passing is the end of an era for our family, but I wish the USW success in continu-ing to fight for workers. There are many children of old-time union organizers out here that support your work on behalf of working women and men.

Sharon Jeneske WallaceTaylorville, Ill.

Still a Believer in UnionsMy old bones were very excited and enthused

by the winter edition of [email protected] my humble opinion, the winter edition was

the best ever. I especially liked the articles about Iron Men and Nelson Mandela.

I am not a Steelworker, but I appreciate what the USW and all unions do to help America grow and create jobs.

When I arrived in California in 1958, I got a job with Prudential Insurance Co. and was surrounded by about 10 co-workers who wanted me to join the Insurance Workers Union. Before they could finish, I said, “I want to join right now!”

This they thought amazing since union mem-bership was voluntary and non-members outnum-bered members by about two to one. I thought then, as I do now (age 89), that non-members should not receive benefits that union members receive at the cost of their blood, sweat and tears.

I am proud to have been a union believer and member for over two-thirds of my life. I believe the wealthy should pay their fair share for public needs. All the wealth that they have originates from the backs and brains of the working and middle class. This not a political thought; it is just common decency!

Bud (Maurice) A. WolfLaguna Woods, Calif.


Along the Niagara River in Tonawanda, N.Y., just north of Buffalo, nearly 1,000 USW members have spent

the past few years transforming their workplace into one of the most efficient tire-making operations in the United States.

The Goodyear Dunlop Tires North America plant, built to withstand a bomb when it opened as a munitions factory during World War I, has weath-ered decades of economic challenges thanks to a work force willing and able to change with the times. The factory had one of its best years ever when it marked its 90th year as a tire plant in 2013.

“Buffalo’s biggest asset is how good we are at changing our product mix,” said Local 135L President Tom O’Shei. “Our members are very skilled here. Nobody makes a better motorcycle tire than we do.”

The workers’ skill at building some of the best tires in the world, in a wide variety of styles and sizes, is just one part of Tonawanda’s story of rebirth.

In 2009, with the nation in the depths of an economic crisis, and with Goodyear’s costs mounting and demand falling, the company was looking for solutions.

Goodyear was closing plants and considering phasing out Dunlop’s medium radial truck (MRT) tire depart-ment, which would have eliminated more than 170 USW jobs and put the future of the facility in doubt, when the company found itself needing help fill-ing an unexpected glut of orders.

Dunlop reinvention Working with the USW and New

York economic development offi-cials, the Dunlop plant stepped up and quickly re-invented itself; workers streamlined the tire-building process to make it more productive and efficient and, within six months, went from one of the company’s highest cost-per-tire sites to one of the lowest.

Through the transition, Local 135L members and Dunlop manage-ment learned the value of cooperation. “You’ve got to work together or you’re not going to survive,” O’Shei said.

At the low point of the recession, Dunlop’s USW work force fell to about 780, but the workers “just kept making tires,” O’Shei said. USW photo by Steve Dietz


Today, the 1.5 million-square-foot Dunlop plant operates nearly 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and em-ploys 970 union members. The factory produces thousands of tires every day, including commercial, motorcycle and passenger models. And Goodyear, after a long struggle to turn a profit at its North American operations, recently reported a 72 percent increase in fourth-quarter net income on the continent.

Without the joint efforts of the com-pany, USW leaders and rank-and-file union members, the turnaround would not have been possible, said Bob Lom-bard, a training coordinator and USW member who has worked at the plant for 37 years.

“That’s why we’re still here,” he said.

Better and fasterDuring a recent shift, Local 135L

chief steward Denny Mitchell was operating a state-of-the-art machine to create motorcycle tire beads, or rings of steel wire encased in rubber that help tires adhere to their wheels.

Entering his 24th year at the factory, Mitchell said he takes pride in the fact that the factory creates a product known

by motorcycle and racing enthusiasts as the best in the world. For decades, rac-ers using Dunlop tires have had count-less first-place finishes and set records at tracks across North America.

“I’m proud, especially when I see that we’re not just winning races, but winning them by a substantial amount,” Mitchell said. Part of the reason for that success, he said, has been the willing-ness of the work force in Tonawanda to adapt to meet the needs of their custom-ers and cut down on waste in both time and materials.

“It seems like we’re evolving, we’re becoming better, faster at our change-overs,” he said, noting the wide variety of products the Dunlop plant puts out. “We probably make more different tires than any other plant out there. We’ve always been noted for that.”

Though the tire-building process has become increasingly automated over the years, a highly skilled work force is still needed to assemble the pieces and ensure quality control. Tire builders wrap layers of rubber around a drum, cutting and positioning the various pieces to create the body, sidewalls and tread, before the tire is placed into a mold for curing.

In addition to motorcycle and auto-motive tires, Dunlop workers make tires for commercial trucks. The company also sponsors a number of racing and high-performance automotive events.

Racing connection continuesAlmost from the moment Dunlop

began making tires, motorcyclists were using them to win races. It’s a connec-tion that continues today. The Buffalo factory advertises itself as “The Only Motorcycle Tire Made in America,” and though Dunlop turns out thousands of passenger and commercial tires each month, it still is best known for its high-end motorcycle and racing tires.

Josh Hall, a chief steward for the local who has worked at the plant for 15 years and logged more than 10,000 hours as a tire builder, said quality control is particularly important when making motorcycle tires.

“There are only two tires on there, so you have to get it right,” Hall said.

Workers at the factory have fully embraced their starring role in the world of motorcycles, with many wearing T-shirts that advertise their favorite cycles or races, even traveling to attend events in person.

Ivana Woodard, who has worked at the plant 17 years, has traveled as far away as Ohio to attend races, and “had a blast.”

Woodard said that if not for her job with Dunlop, she never would have taken an interest in the sport.

“We are very proud of what we do here,” said 15-year member David Wyse.

Major Harley supplierOne thing Dunlop workers take par-

ticular pride in is their status as a major supplier of tires for Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Dunlop has other similar customers, including Tucker Rocky, Honda, Kawa-saki, Monarch Coach, Polaris, Toyota, Fleetwood, Wabash, Parts Unlimited and Wingfoot, but the connection to Harley Davidson is clearly the stron-gest.

During each shift, there are dozens of Harleys parked in the Dunlop em-ployees’ parking lot. And each summer, Local 135L members ride Harleys in the Buffalo Labor Day Parade. “Every year it gets a little bigger and a little better,” O’Shei said.

It’s a connection that surely would

have made John Boyd Dunlop proud. Dunlop, the man widely credited with creating the first pneumatic tire, found-ed the company in 1889 in Dublin, Ireland. Though he later sold his stake, the company retained his name and eventually grew to be one of the world’s largest tire makers before being sold to British Tyre and Rubber in 1985.

In 1999, as part of a joint venture with Japanese tire maker Sumitomo, Goodyear acquired a 75 percent stake in Dunlop and took over operation of the Tonawanda facility. In February, Goodyear announced plans to dis-solve the Sumitomo partnership, citing “anticompetitive conduct” by its junior partner. Though the dispute remains unresolved, one possible outcome could be Goodyear’s purchase of the remain-ing 25 percent of the company.

Challenges aheadWhatever the future holds, and even

after its remarkable turnaround, Dunlop and its work force will face challenges. North American tire makers have been on the defensive for more than a decade against unfair competition from subsi-dized and low-priced imports, especial-ly from China. “Free trade” agreements

such as the U.S-South Korea trade deal and the proposed “fast tracking” of the Trans-Pacific Partnership threaten to make the situation worse.

The USW, which represents more than 16,000 workers at tire plants across the United States, including about 8,500 Goodyear workers in Tonawanda and five other locations, has consistently fought for and won tariffs and other measures to protect those jobs. And last summer, members ratified new collec-tive bargaining agreements with Good-year, Bridgestone and BFGoodrich.

“The tire industry has been under unrelenting attack from foreign com-petitors,” said Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson, a former rubber worker who oversees the sector for the union. “These contracts allow these companies to continue to be competitive and viable into the future.”

O’Shei, the Local 135L president since May 2012, believes that as long as members remain willing to adapt, the future continues to look bright for Dunlop and its workers.

“We do what we have to do to stay afloat,” O’Shei said. “If you don’t ad-just, you won’t be here.”

Denny Mitchell (left) and Robert LombardUSW photo by Steve Dietz

Dave Wyse (left) and Paul WoodsUSW photo by Steve Dietz


The United States claimed victory this spring in a ma-jor trade dispute with China over its curbs on exports of

rare earths and other minerals used in high-technology products and industrial applications.

A World Trade Organization (WTO) panel agreed with the United States that China’s limits on rare earth mineral ex-ports violated international trade rules, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Fro-man announced on March 26. Should the ruling stand on appeals, China will have to dismantle the discriminatory policies or face trade sanctions.

China produces more than 90 per-cent of all rare earth minerals, which are used in electronic products such as flat-screen televisions, smart phones, hybrid car batteries, wind turbines, energy efficient lighting and petroleum.

“China’s policies have had a direct impact on U.S. production and employ-ment,” said International President Leo W. Gerard, who praised Froman for

aggressively confronting China.“Those products are critical ingredi-

ents in a broad range of items across the manufacturing sector where workers’ jobs depend on fair trade practices and a steady market supply,” Gerard added.

The WTO action emanated from a massive, 5,800-page complaint filed in 2010 by the USW under Section 301 of U.S. trade law, which contended China had violated dozens of WTO rules over a decade to jump ahead of the United States as a leading producer of renew-able energy technologies.

Predatory practicesIn that complaint, the USW docu-

mented five major areas of improper protectionist and predatory practices used by the Chinese to develop their green sector and cripple U.S. compa-nies and jobs. They included massive illegal subsidies, discriminatory laws and regulations, technology transfer requirements and restrictions on access to critical rare-earth materials.

The USW contended those practices

gave Chinese producers an upper hand in accessing investment, technology, raw materials and markets, while fore-closing the same opportunities to U.S. producers.

Shortly after the USW filed the 301 case, the administration announced it would begin a formal consultation process with China to resolve issues on which it believed the evidence provided by the USW was irrefutable and where cases were ready to prosecute.

The talks resulted in China quickly dismantling some practices that discrim-inated against U.S. firms. Other issues, such as the rare earth exports, were taken up in the WTO dispute resolution process.

The United States took the dispute to the WTO in 2012, in cooperation with Europe and Japan, after China drasti-cally reduced its export quotas for rare earths, causing a spike in world prices.

The export restraints skewed the playing field against the United States and other countries by artificially in-

creasing world prices for the rare earth minerals while artificially lowering prices for Chinese producers, giving them a competitive cost advantage in end products. The export restraints also created pressure on foreign producers to move operations, jobs and technologies to China.

“China’s decision to promote its own industry and discriminate against U.S. companies has caused U.S. manu-facturers to pay as much as three times more than what their Chinese competi-tors pay for the exact same rare earths,” Froman said. “WTO rules prohibit this kind of discriminatory export restraint.”

China has said rampant over-mining caused ecological damage and that it no longer wanted to pay the environmental costs of supplying the vast bulk of the world’s rare earths. It is expected to file an appeal to the WTO decision.

Some industrial companies were forced to pay the inflated prices for rare earth minerals. Other companies relocated plants that relied on supplies

of rare earths for products like electrical lighting to China.

“With this important victory, indus-tries that rely on access to rare earth materials don’t have to be in China to have a fighting chance,” said Holly Hart, USW legislative director and as-sistant to the president. “They can stay right here, employ American workers, and compete based on their efficiency and innovation rather than their access to China’s raw materials.”

Settlement talksOn March 13, 2012, the United

States requested WTO dispute settle-ment consultations with China regard-ing export restraints maintained by China on various forms of rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum. The Euro-pean Union and Japan also requested consultations.

On July 23, 2012, a single WTO panel was established to examine the complaints. Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Korea, Norway, Oman, Peru, Russia, Saudi

Arabia, Taiwan, Vietnam and Turkey joined as third parties in the dispute.

The dispute expanded an earlier victory in 2011 that the United States achieved by challenging China’s use of export restraints on a different set of raw materials used in the steel, alumi-num, and chemicals industries. Those raw materials are bauxite, coke, fluor-spar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide, silicon metal, yellow phospho-rous and zinc.

Assistant Legislative Director Roxanne D. Brown said the WTO deci-sion shows how essential it is that the administration be aggressive and deter-mined when enforcing trade rules.

“The harm China’s policies caused was immense; it cost American indus-tries and workers production, invest-ment, technology and jobs,” she said.

“The only way to put an end to China’s unfair practices is to enforce the rules and hold them accountable. We are grateful the administration took those necessary steps in this case.”

An excavator works with rare earth minerals at the Port of Lianungang in China. Imaginechina via AP Images

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The USW represents miners at the only rare earth elements mine in the United States, located in California’s Clark

Mountain Range just north of the un-incorporated community of Mountain Pass.

“The United Steelworkers take pride in partnering with Molycorp to provide the United States and the rest of the world a reliable supply of rare earth ma-terials,” said District 12 Director Robert LaVenture.

“The Molycorp Mountain Pass facil-ity has a long history of cooperation with our union and is providing good-paying jobs to the local economy,” he added. “We are making our best efforts to keep Mountain Pass world-class in rare earth production.”

Production first began there in the 1950s and was stopped in 2002 for

eight years because of low prices for its rare earth products and environmental restrictions, according to its owner, Molycorp.

While the mine was closed, China, the world’s largest supplier of rare earth elements, tightened the supply and strangled domestic manufacturers who relied on rare earth materials used in flat screen televisions, smart phones, hybrid car batteries, wind turbines, energy ef-ficient lighting and other products.

“Some industrial companies that relied on supplies of rare earths for producing products like electrical light-ing relocated their plants to China,” said International President Leo W. Gerard. “China achieved its intended goal of moving production out of the United States and into China.”

Mining has resumedMining resumed at Mountain Pass

in December 2010. The next month, in January 2011, Molycorp began an expansion and modernization project

campaign called Project Phoenix.The redevelopment has transformed

Mountain Pass into what Molycorp calls one of the world’s most techno-logically advanced, energy efficient and environmentally friendly rare earth production facilities.

With key components of the com-plex mechanically complete, more than 300 USW members are ramping up production at the mine and an associ-ated refinery. Employment is expected to grow.

“Production of light rare earths at Molycorp will help ensure that China can’t hold America and other nations hostage in the future,” Gerard said.

The rare earth carbonatite complex was discovered almost by accident in 1949 when two prospectors, using a borrowed Geiger counter, staked a series of claims on a radioactive outcrop

they thought could be a potential source of uranium.

Samples sent to the U.S. Geological Survey for analysis were identified as the rare earth fluoro-carbonate bastnae-site. A field survey found a much larger, non-radioactive deposit of bastnaesite on adjoining land.

Once largest supplierThe rare earth elements found there

include cerium, used in ultraviolet ab-sorbing glass; lanthanum, samarium and gadolinium, used for infrared absorp-tion in glass, improving the refractive index of glass and for microwave oven temperature controls.

Neodymium is used to absorb ultra-violet light and with cerium to decolor glass. Praseodymium is used as a color-ing agent in glass and europium is used for the red phosphor in television tubes.

Molybdenum Corp. of America bought the mining claims and small scale production began in 1952. Produc-tion expanded greatly in the 1960s to supply europium used in color televi-sion screens.

The deposit was mined in larger scale for 30 years between 1965 and 1995. During that time, the mine sup-plied most of the world’s rare earth metals.

The Molybdenum Corp. of America changed its name to Molycorp in 1974. The corporation was acquired by Union Oil in 1977, which in turn became part of Chevron Corp. in 2005.

In 2008, Chevron sold the mine to privately held Molycorp Minerals LLC, a company formed to revive the Moun-tain Pass mine. Molycorp Inc. became a publicly traded firm in 2010.

The Molycorp

Mountain Pass

facility has a

long history of

cooperation with

our union and is

providing good-

paying jobs to the

local economy.

“

”The Molycorp Mountain Pass facility in California.Photo courtesy of Molycorp


International President Leo W. Gerard joined executives from U.S. Steel and Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) in asking Congress for relief from the unfair and illegal practices of foreign competitors.

“I see people every year who are living on the edge of losing their jobs, and the only place it can get fixed is right here in the Congress,” Gerard said in testimony to the U.S. House Steel Caucus in March. “I’m not here crying wolf. I’m letting you know that unless you take strong action, I don’t know how we can get out of this crisis.”

Joining Gerard in testifying before the committee were Mario Longhi, U.S. Steel chief executive officer, and Carl Moulton, ATI senior vice president. In their testimony, they asked the House Steel Caucus to push the Commerce De-partment to impose countervailing duties on foreign producers of pipe and rebar, particularly from South Korea and Turkey. Duties are already in place on such imports from many other countries.

The Commerce Department in April set preliminary duties on rebar imports from Mexico and Turkey but has yet to take action against South Korean pipe imports.

“The rest of the world has a blueprint to eliminate our steel industry,” Gerard said, reminding the legislators that similar action has been necessary in the past to help U.S. steelmakers compete fairly.

“Once again, it appears as if no one is paying attention to the warning signs.”Those signs include the fact that South Korea has replaced China as the top

importer of oil and gas pipe to the United States, while having no home market for the product.

“It is a product that is only produced for export,” Gerard said. Those exports are then subsidized and “dumped” into the United States at prices intended to undercut domestic producers.

South Korea has used “networks of related companies, all created to evade our laws and conceal the true cost” of importing the pipe, Longhi said.

Chinese companies used similar tactics before the International Trade Commission (ITC) imposed anti-dumping sanctions against them, which were renewed in February. That led China to pull out of the market, proving that “they could not compete when the playing field was leveled,” he said.

The Department of Commerce is expected to issue a decision on new duties by July.

“Our own government appears to be looking at lost American jobs and lost U.S. capacity as the price of maintaining strategic foreign relations,” Gerard said.

“Right now we are unilaterally disarming our nation’s steel and manufac-turing sectors and undermining our national and economic security. Bold and decisive action is needed.”

A free trade agreement with South Korea was sold to a skeptical Congress and the public with promises of more

exports and more jobs for American workers.

Unfortunately, two years after the pact went into effect in March 2012, the actual outcomes of the South Korean trade agreement, known as KORUS, are pretty much the exact opposite of what was promised.

The U.S. trade deficit with South Korea reached an historic high of $20.67 billion in 2013, an increase of more than $7 billion from $13.3 billion in 2011, the year before the pact took ef-fect. In 2012, the first year of the agree-ment, the deficit hit $16.6 billion.

International President Leo W. Ge-rard called KORUS a failure.

“Government data, congressional voices, and economic studies confirm that the US-Korea Free Trade Agree-ment has failed us,” Gerard said in a statement marking the two-year anni-versary.

“It has failed to produce good jobs and the evidence on exports is clear. Our

export growth rate in the past 20 out of 21 months is below the monthly level seen before the FTA was signed.”

“This unsustainable trade imbalance is undermining the economic well-being of American workers,” Gerard added. “If lawmakers in Washington spent as much time worrying about our country’s trade deficit as they did the govern-ment’s budget deficit, our country would have more family-supportive jobs and a better trade policy.”

South Korea a winnerSouth Korea was the winner by its

own measure. Its trade ministry said South Korea’s trade surplus with the United States grew to $17 billion the first year after the pact took effect and $20 billion in the second year. In the first year, its shipments to the United States grew while they fell overall to the rest of the world.

“For the past two years since the implementation of the free trade agree-ment, (South Korean) exports to the U.S. grew much faster than those to the entire world,” Seoul’s trade ministry said in a statement.

The South Korean auto industry was a big winner. Its vehicle exports to the United States grew from 587,328

units in 2011 to 752,675 units in 2013. U.S. vehicle exports grew from 14,819 to 27,553 over the same period. Other beneficiaries included auto parts suppliers,

petroleum goods producers and pro-cessed food makers.

“The entire annual increase in U.S. vehicle exports to Korea are dwarfed by less than one month of the increase alone in Korea’s exports,” Gerard said.

Manufactured metal products ex-ported to South Korea from the United States dropped by 8 percent in the agree-ment’s first year. Exported manufactured wood, paper and petroleum products fell by 3 percent. Thousands of USW mem-bers are employed in the sectors of steel, aluminum, copper, paper and petroleum products.

All told, free trade agreements with South Korea and other countries have caused the loss of tens of thousands of well-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs, according to the Economic Policy Insti-tute (EPI).

In its first year alone, the South Ko-rean agreement led to the loss of 40,000 U.S. jobs, many of them in manufactur-ing, EPI said in a report.

Manufacturing jobs goneThose jobs were cut from manufac-

turers large and small, said International Vice President Fred Redmond, who spoke on the issue at a press confer-ence with economists and members of Congress.

Redmond cited a small machine shop in Pennsylvania where 15 workers mak-ing an average of $20 an hour lost their jobs in the last year because the

company’s contract for parts used in steam and gas turbines moved to Korea.

“Federal job retraining benefits are not what these workers need in Pennsyl-vania, they need jobs,” Redmond said. “We need trade agreements that add work at their shop, not take it away.”

On the larger end of the scale, Redmond noted a Whirlpool refrigera-tor plant in Arkansas that employed 900 USW members closed after Korean-made refrigerators were unlawfully dumped in the American market. He also cited Steelworkers hurt by unfairly priced Korean pipe.

Although the USW works with the Obama administration to improve the framework of trade agreements, Red-mond said it will be difficult for the union to support future agreements, including the TransPacific Partnership, if KORUS isn’t changed significantly.

“We need to eliminate non-tariff trade barriers, include strong rule of origin provisions, develop enforceable labor and environmental standards, and cease our country’s focus on negotiating enhanced rights and protections for cor-porations that allows for the spread of low-road, anti-worker production strate-gies both here and abroad,” he said.

“Right now, KORUS and other major trade agreements have proved to be a drag on growth and an impediment to creating the kind of good jobs that are needed.”

Associated Press photo


Local USW leaders in the paper industry agreed to build on nearly a decade of success in coordinated bargaining by

adding the right to refuse unsafe work, improved retirement security and more skills training to their goals for upcom-ing negotiations.

The goals, developed by 550 local union leaders who met in Pittsburgh from April 1 to 3, push forward the union’s coordinated bargaining pro-gram begun in 2004 and address critical issues currently confronting the paper industry.

“If the paper companies work with us to reach these goals, they will con-tinue to have a productive work force and be able to compete in the world market,” International President Leo W. Gerard told the conference.

Delegates held over 32 company council meetings to build goals and action plans. A policy committee of local leaders refined those sector goals to develop an industry-wide bargain-ing policy that members unanimously approved.

They also attended workshops on safety, workplace change and organiz-ing in addition to plenary sessions with panels, presentations and speeches on issues affecting the paper industry, its

workers and the union.Collective bargaining has evolved

since the USW-PACE merger in 2005 toward a model of strategic coordination that has given members more control over the agenda. Economic and security master agreements are now in place at most major paper companies.

“It brought us the strength of solidar-ity,” Toni Denman, president of Local 2-87 at Neenah Paper in Munsing, Ind., said of coordinated bargaining. “It gave us a common goal. Now we find we have more power bargaining together than separately.”

There is new emphasis on improv-ing retirement security and contractual health and safety provisions. In addi-tion, many paper contracts now contain successorship language, which protects workers and labor agreements in the event of a facility or company sale.

Decade of changeTo the extent that pattern bargaining

existed in the industry a decade ago, it was dictated by employers. Paper com-panies would attempt to set a pattern at the first bargaining table, picking fights where they thought they could be most successful, and then negotiating sepa-rately with other units.

Bargaining that way was inefficient, costly and divisive. There were some

300 contracts with the top 12 paper companies, while overall in the industry, there were 952 different contract expira-tions spread out over a decade.

Under coordinated bargaining, the union council at Neenah, for example, worked together to meet the key eco-nomic needs of different plant loca-tions instead of having one site set the pattern.

“The Neenah facility in Appleton, Wis., needed a better pension,” Den-man said. “The Whiting mill wanted to maintain their health insurance. Our mill wanted a voice in determining our wages. We all now have very good wage increases and benefits. Coordi-nated bargaining showed us the power of standing together.”

This year’s conference delegates chose to retain key bargaining goals first adopted in 2006 that have since become a foundation of the union’s coordinated bargaining policy.

To prevent employers from under-mining the union’s bargaining clout, delegates agreed to only negotiate con-tracts with terms of three years or less, unless the contract is part of a master agreement, accomplishes a key strategic objective or includes other provisions that would move the union forward.

To stop companies from arbitrarily

dumping the rising cost of health care coverage on USW members, the com-mittee agreed to grant no waivers of the right to bargain over health care and premium sharing where employers pick up 80 percent of the cost and workers 20 percent.

Economics and successorshipOther primary goals focused on

maintaining and improving economic packages while resisting two-tier wage and benefit systems and lump-sum pay-ments, and improving retirement and vacation.

While the union continues to fight to maintain defined-benefit plans, paper sector negotiators have been success-ful in creating alternative pensions that provide secure retirements and account for disabilities.

Successorship language, first introduced as a goal in 2006 to protect contracts and jobs in the event of a business sale, continues to be a primary bargaining objective.

Close to 70 percent of USW agree-ments in the industry now include successorship clauses. It has proved an important safeguard in several sales, including RockTenn’s purchase of Smurfit-Stone, PCA’s acquisition of Boise Cascade, and the sale of the Mead-Westvaco envelope group to Cenveo.

One statistic brought home the need for better health and safety language. An estimated 76 USW paper workers have died on the job since 2005 – coinci-dently the same number of people who attended the opening health and safety workshop at the bargaining conference.

“Health and safety in our mills and converting plants must be improved,” said International Vice President Jon Geenen, who oversees collective bar-gaining for the USW’s paper sector.

“We cannot permit companies to continue to believe that you can correct dangerous conditions in our industry by measuring incidents while ignoring the hazards. We must incorporate hazard mapping programs into our agreements where the emphasis is on identifying dangerous conditions for repair before accidents happen, and make it clear that workers have the unmitigated right to refuse to work under unsafe condi-tions.”

Staffing and legislation The paper industry is facing a loom-

ing skills crisis as many experienced workers are scheduled to retire over the next 10 years, while young workers are looking instead to college and other careers, particularly the oil and gas industry on the Gulf Coast.

“It’s worse than the industry thinks,”

Geenen said. “The future of our indus-try and our union is dependent on us getting young people interested in what we do.”

To begin addressing this crisis, del-egates set a goal of improving training programs to insure workers have the skills necessary to work effectively.

USW paper locals continue to lobby politically for issues that help the domestic paper industry. Geenen cited Local 676 President Greg Harvey and his members, along with staff repre-sentative Jim Strong and the union’s legislative department in Washington, D.C., for success in maintaining a tax credit in Maryland for black liquor, a byproduct of wood pulp manufacture used as a biofuel.

If the Maryland bill to reclassify black liquor had passed, Geenen said other states would likely have adopted similar measures, causing paper compa-nies to lose millions of dollars in biofuel tax credits and cut jobs.

The USW also successfully de-fended the Lacey Act, a wildlife and plant protection law that prohibits the importation of illegally logged lumber, from attacks made by lawmakers and wood users who wanted it relaxed. The Lacey Act preserves jobs by preventing the sale of cheaper products made from illegally harvested foreign wood.

International Vice President Jon Geenen addresses paper conference delegates.USW photo by Steve Dietz

Paper conference attendees participate in council meetings and workshops. Photos by Erica Dietz


Taking the oath of office for a new four-year term, Interna-tional President Leo W. Gerard said he and the executive

board get power and strength to lead the USW from its 1.2 million members and retirees.

“You elected us. Without you, we are nothing,” Gerard told rank-and-file members who attended the installation ceremony.

“But don’t elect us and leave us stranded,” Gerard said in a call for par-ticipation in the USW’s ongoing fights for economic and social justice. “Don’t put us in these positions and not show up when we need you.”

Nearly 1,000 USW members, lead-ers and allies witnessed the March 1 installation in Pittsburgh of USW inter-national officers and district directors. Elections were held on Nov. 26.

Gerard and other top officers began new four-year terms, while four new directors, chosen to lead districts 7, 10, 11 and 13, took the oath of office for the first time.

“Whether your membership has cho-sen you to be a steward, or a health and safety rep, or any officer including the president of this great union, there is no greater honor … there can be no greater calling than being chosen to speak on behalf of your brothers and sisters in the workplace and in their community,” Gerard said.

“Because you have a union, every morning that you wake up you have a chance to make a difference.”

USW, members praised Radio and TV personality Ed

Schultz and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka addressed an overflowing crowd in the ballroom of the Pittsburgh

Sheraton Hotel before Gerard was sworn in by Rick Bertrand, the president of Local 6500, Gerard’s home local in Sudbury, Canada.

Trumka praised the USW and its members for being leaders of the North American labor movement in fighting for workplace safety, pensions, health care, Social Security and other worker protections.

The USW, Trumka said, must build on its legacy of great leadership and membership that has over the decades been willing to stand up for brothers and sisters beyond their own ranks.

“Right now, more than ever, we need the leadership of the USW, and we need the leadership of rank-and-file Steelworkers because we face many challenges and battles,” he said.

President Emeritus Lynn Williams, appearing frail in a pre-recorded video

presentation, congratulated the officers and directors on their elections and urged them to organize and be leaders in society.

Gerard opened his remarks by thanking his family and acknowledging departing directors Robert Bratulich (District 11), John (Mickey) Breaux (District 13), John DeFazio (District 10) and Jim Robinson (District 7).

Accomplishments notedIn his speech, Gerard noted a list of

USW accomplishments over the past four years, including bargaining and organizing successes, political gains and trade case victories, along with building stronger formal and informal ties with other unions and allied groups around the world.

He noted the formal relationship between the USW and the miners and metalworkers union Los Mineros

in Mexico, where workers and trade unions are under attack by the govern-ment and employers.

“I don’t think I’m telling secrets out of school. We might end up merging with the Mexican mining and metal-workers union, and we’ll have a union that represents workers from the south-ern tip of Mexico all the way to the North Pole,” Gerard said to applause.

In a sweeping address, Gerard trum-peted the union’s successes under his watch, from Health and Safety to Rapid Response to Women of Steel to the beginnings of the Next Generation pro-gram for young members and leaders.

“We’re not the future, let’s be hon-est. We are the present. That next gen-eration is the future,” Gerard said.

“We need to find a way for them and the Women of Steel and others to get in-volved in our union and work their way

to the top, so some day, at some point, there may be a young woman standing where I am standing, or there may be a young person of color standing where I am standing.”

He also recognized the participation of SOAR, the Steelworker Organization of Active Retirees, in every district and asked SOAR members in the audience to stand for recognition.

“We want to keep our retirees active in our union, so they are fighting for the same social justice issues we fight for,” Gerard said.

Four new directorsStarting new four-year terms along

with Gerard were his fellow incumbents including Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson, International Vice Presidents Tom Conway, Fred Redmond, Carol Landry, John Geenen and Gary Beevers, Canadian National Director

International President Leo W. Gerard takes the oath of office.USW photos by Steve Dietz

Clockwise from top left:AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka; Leo W. Gerard administers the oath of office to Tom Conway; Ken Neumann, Fred Redmond and Stan Johnson; Ed Schultz; Newly-elected district directors take the oath; The overflow crowd cheers the installation


Ken Neumann, and Directors David McCall (District 1), Michael Bolton (District 2), Stephen Hunt (District 3), John Shinn (District 4), Daniel Roy (District 5), Marty Warren (District 6), Billy Thompson (District 8), Daniel Flippo (District 9), and Robert LaVen-ture (District 12).

Newly elected directors beginning their first terms were Mike Millsap (District 7), Bob McAuliffe (District 10), Emil Ramirez (District 11) and Ruben Garza (District 13).

Also on hand to address the crowd and join in the celebration were former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations Stephen Lewis, Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Pennsyl-vania AFL-CIO Chaplain Father Jack O’Malley and Allegheny County Labor Council President Jack Shea. Retired Secretary-Treasurer James English served as the master of ceremonies.

Peduto, the grandson of two Steel-workers, thanked the union for the difference that it has made for three generations of his family, and said he was “beyond honored” to speak at the installation.

The mayor spoke of an immigrant grandfather who, even though he could not speak English, was able to raise himself, with the help of the union, to buy a home and join the middle class.

What his grandparents fought for as Steelworkers – better wages, improved safety on the job and social justice – must be passed on to the younger generation, Peduto said.

“Now, I can give back what my grandparents gave to me,” he added. “Welcome to Pittsburgh, and to those of you who are on the front lines of this fight, thank you.”

Turner, a Cleveland native who brought the crowd to its feet with a rousing call to action on issues from raising the minimum wage to expand-ing voting rights, also drew a connec-tion between the past and the future.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to our forebears who stood up... and we must continue to stand and fight,” Turner said. “We need more folks who use their strength to pull others up, because we are all stronger together.”


Born into one of the richest and most powerful families in the world, Jay Rockefeller easily could have opted for a life of

luxury and privilege. Instead, he has dedicated his life to

service, most of it focused on improving the lives of American workers – espe-cially Steelworkers.

After graduating from Harvard in 1961, Rockefeller, a New York native, worked for the Peace Corps before entering the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program in Emmons, W.Va.

“Coming to West Virginia was the best decision I ever made,” the Demo-crat told a room packed with USW members in March, when the union honored him with its Lifetime Achieve-ment Award. “There is no community like a Steelworker community.”

Rockefeller began his political career with his election to the West Virginia Legislature in 1966. He later served as West Virginia’s secretary of state and as the state’s governor for two terms, but it was in his 30 years as a senator that he made his greatest mark as the undisputed champion of steel.

Today, he chairs the Senate Steel Caucus, a bipartisan group of senators aimed at promoting and defending the industry and its workers.

“I don’t know if there is a Steel-worker working anywhere in America that doesn’t owe part of their job to Jay Rockefeller,” International President Leo W. Gerard said in presenting Rockefeller with the award.

Gerard, who said the union was looking for a unique way to honor the five-term senator, presented Rockefeller with a hand-painted vase made by USW members at West Virginia’s Fenton

Art Glass “on behalf of all the workers whose lives you’ve made better.”

Weirton Steel ESOPAs governor, Rockefeller worked in

1982 to keep Weirton Steel from bank-ruptcy, helping to craft an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) that allowed workers to invest in the busi-ness, preserving the company for another generation. Rockefeller still points to the ESOP as one of his proudest achieve-ments.

By the time he arrived in the Senate in 1985, the American steel industry was in full-blown crisis. Problems ranging from unfair trade to outdated technol-ogy to an unsympathetic administration in the White House had led companies to close mills and lay off workers by the thousands.

Rockefeller got to work trying to save jobs, intervening in labor disputes on behalf of workers and pushing U.S. companies to buy American-made goods. Where he couldn’t save jobs, the senator worked tirelessly to protect and enhance benefits like severance pay, pen-sions, health care, re-training programs and Trade Adjustment Assistance to help workers and families recover.

As a ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, Rockefeller fought against unfair subsidies, currency ma-nipulation, dumping and other practices by overseas competitors that put U.S. firms on the ropes.

John Saunders, a USW contract coor-dinator who worked for Wheeling-Pitts-burgh Steel and its related companies for 41 years, said that while it is easy for political leaders to stand with unions in times of victory, some of Rockefell-er’s most diligent work came during the union’s most difficult days, when USW members and their communities were in need of a friend.

“Jay Rockefeller was standing with the Steelworkers every second of every day,” Saunders said. “If you’re a Steelworker, you’ll never forget Jay Rockefeller.”

In the early years of the 21st cen-tury, when another crisis gripped the industry and jobs were being lost by the thousands, Rockefeller again stood up for steel. With steelmakers facing bankruptcy, Rockefeller helped to enact the Emergency Steel Loan Guaranty Program (ESLG), which helped strug-

gling employers to weather the storm. “In the newspapers, it’s just a sen-

tence, but in a community like ours, it saves lives, it feeds children, it prevents suicides,” Rockefeller said.

Rockefeller and the USW worked together to push President George W. Bush to enact stricter tariffs on imports, an effort that took years and culminated in 2004 with a rally of nearly 40,000 Steelworkers in Washington, D.C.

“Your voices were so loud, the man in the White House heard them,” Rock-efeller recalled. “What the president heard was passion, sadness and anger, but he heard one voice.”

Meanwhile, Rockefeller was working behind the scenes in the Senate, quietly gathering enough votes to force a reluc-tant President Bush to take action.

“Senator Rockefeller was with us every step of the way – all the way to the rally in George Bush’s backyard,” Ge-rard said. “Jay moved the debate to the point where the president of the United States knew that he had to do something. To be very blunt, he may have saved the industry.”

Rockefeller said his aim all along was to make sure U.S. workers were competing on a level playing field.

“We’re the best work force in the world, by God,” Rockefeller said. “We’ve always been a ferocious team. We do not mess around.”

Standing ovationsThe crowd of more than 200 that

packed the Weirton, W.Va., ballroom

beyond capacity showered the Senator with at least a half-dozen standing ova-tions.

“You’re all part of this great quilt of something called social justice,” Rockefeller said as he surveyed the crowd and saw face after face of USW friends made through the decades. “As I look across this room, I see nothing but heroes.”

One of those friends on hand to honor Rockefeller was his Senate col-league, Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown, who will chair the Steel Caucus next year following Rockefeller’s retirement.

“I’m an optimist. Sherrod Brown’s an optimist,” Rockefeller said. “The future is good with Sherrod.”

Brown said he has learned the keys to being a successful Senator by closely watching his longtime colleague.

“The best senators are not necessar-ily the ones who talk the loudest, or who pound away at podiums,” Brown said of Rockefeller. “They’re the ones who do what they need to do to help people. That’s what Jay Rockefeller is all about.”

The 76-year-old Rockefeller’s eyes welled with tears several times as he spoke fondly of a distinguished career spent standing shoulder to shoulder with Steelworkers.

“I think about you all the time, and I think about our life story together all the time,” Rockefeller said. “I thank you all for letting me be a part of your life, and I thank you for being such an enormous factor in mine. What I can’t wait for is the story of tomorrow.”

Then-Gov. Jay Rockefeller visits with Wheeling-Pitt workers in 1983.(Photo courtesy of Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s office)

Sen. Jay Rockefeller with International President Leo W. Gerard


USW activists carried a mes-sage of good jobs, fair trade and investment in the future to the nation’s lawmakers

during this year’s Rapid Response and Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.

Hundreds of members took part in three days of rallies, workshops, speakers, district meetings and legisla-tive lobbying sessions. They braved the threat of a mid-February snowstorm to trek to the U.S. Capitol to visit lawmak-ers’ offices and advance the union’s central theme of jobs – creating them, protecting them and making sure they are good enough to support families.

“Creating jobs means investing in our infrastructure. It means standing up against unfair trade. It means taking on the right-wingers who are refusing to extend unemployment benefits to mil-lions of Americans who are desperate for help,” said International President Leo W. Gerard. “This isn’t all about us – we do this because we want to make this country a better place for our children and our grandchildren.”

USW members visited the offices of nearly every senator and representative

in Washington, urging them to support Buy America provisions and to reject a plan to “fast track” the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.

Members also delivered more than 12,000 postcards to members of Congress calling on them to “Invest in America” by creating an infrastructure development bank to help fund much-needed public projects. Another batch of the cards is on the way to legislators from USW districts across the country.

“This is a critical time for our union and our country,” said Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson, who oversees the Rapid Response program. “When it comes to these decisions, Congress has two choices: Push us forward or allow us to slide backward. It’s your grassroots activism that gives them the courage to make the right decision.”

Activism pays offThat activism has already paid off,

with lawmakers pulling back, at least for now, on a bipartisan proposal to grant President Barack Obama au-thority known as “fast track,” which would allow the president to enter trade agreements without the opportunity for lawmakers to amend and debate them.

Fast track, Gerard said, “is a recipe for continued outsourcing and offshor-ing of jobs. The American people are sick and tired of one-way trade. Why would we want to continue doing things the old way?”

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, one of the strongest voices in Congress on the issue of good jobs, told USW members that lawmakers must put workers and communities first when they consider trade agreements.

Eileen Rodgers, a Local 9445 mem-ber for more than two decades, brought the ballroom to tears with her story of job loss. She was laid off last summer from her nursing home job.

Before starting a new job in May, Rodgers spent months among the 3.6 million long-term unemployed whose benefits have expired. Congress has yet to pass an extension.

Workshops and issuesIn addition to their actions at the

Capitol, Conference attendees also took part in workshops that focused on issues such as building Rapid Response programs, engaging the Next Gen-eration in Rapid Response, state-level activism, and running for and serving in

The USW has created a new political issues fund, often called a super PAC, to help counter unlimited election spending by

anti-union corporations and super-rich zealots. It will enable the union to better fight for jobs and fair trade and oppose right-to-work (for less) and other anti-worker initiatives in the states.

“The union movement is under attack at every level of government, and we need to find ways to counter the influence of the corporations, union busters and their rich friends who are waging this assault,” International Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson said.

After several months of research and discussion with the AFL-CIO and other unions, the International Executive Board approved the fund, USW Works, in December as a way for workers and their families to fight back and have a voice in the political process.

USW Works is separate and distinct from the long-established USW Political Action Committee (PAC), which is funded by voluntary contributions from our members, and cannot be used to support individual political candidates. The funds are separate with no transfers allowed between the two.

The fund can be used to fight for job creation, manufacturing and other issues important to our members, and against anti-union initiatives that interfere with the rights of union members to participate in the political and legislative process.

Where some states limit or even prohibit the use of traditional PAC funds, the new issues fund can be used to protect USW members anywhere.

“Issues like paycheck deception, the right to strike, public sector representation, dues check off and the fundamental rights of representation and collective bargain-ing are being challenged by state and local governments across the nation,” Johnson said.

Although labor cannot match the huge political spending of big business, Inter-national President Leo W. Gerard said the new fund will help to bridge the growing gap between giant corporations and work-ers.

“We need to make sure our members’ rights and jobs are defended,” Gerard said.

public office.USW member Emery Deabay of

Maine, who sits on his state’s Work-ers Compensation Board and is a candidate for the state legislature, said it’s important to continually commu-nicate with lawmakers on important issues, because some will simply tell visitors what they want to hear.

Jerry Kearns, a USW staff rep-resentative who serves as an Iowa state legislator, said “personal calls, personal letters get my ear quicker, especially when it’s a constituent. You give a lot more weight to constitu-ents.”

The conference also gave the USW an opportunity to present the union’s annual Wellstone Awards, named in honor of the late Minnesota

Sen. Paul Wellstone, to Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison and Massachu-setts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The two Democrats were honored for their steadfast commitment to improving the lives of working Americans.

Another longtime champion of la-bor, Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, also addressed USW activ-ists, expressing his vocal opposition to “fast track” as well as his support for other USW-supported initiatives including the National Infrastructure Development Bank, the extension of unemployment benefits and a raise in the minimum wage.

“We have more people living in poverty today than ever in the history of the United States,” Sanders said.

More than 600 USW activists took part in the 2014 Rapid Re-

sponse and Legislative Conference.This year, for the first time, locals

in District 13 were eligible for a $1,000 scholarship to be presented to a local that “promoted, encouraged and engaged its members to partici-pate in each Rapid Response action.”

As a result, Local 9402 was able to send four delegates to Washington with attendees using their vacation time to help offset costs.

Local 9402 President Larry Hall said that because his local has only 32 members, it would have been virtual-ly impossible to attend the conference without the scholarship.

USW photos by Steve Dietz

Leo W. GerardLeo W. Gerard

Kim Miller


Ken Gomeringer, president of Local 4-898 at the PBF Refinery in Delaware City, Del., is concerned about the refinery’s future if Congress and the Obama administration lift

a 39-year ban on exporting U.S. crude oil.“Lifting the ban would help the majors such as

ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell, who have oil re-serves, but small independent refiners like us will be put out of business,” he said. “It’s the price differential between domestic and foreign crude that makes us competitive.”

“Lifting the ban will drive prices up for domestic oil and increase our prices for crude oil. We will not be able to compete. We’ll be like the East Coast in 2009-2012,” he added.

That was when East Coast refineries were in danger of closing because of the high cost of imported crude oil. They have since built infrastructure to ac-commodate crude oil from the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota and oil-sands formations in Canada.

“Lifting the crude oil export ban would undoubt-edly harm U.S. refineries and workers,” said Interna-tional Vice President Gary Beevers, who oversees oil bargaining. “Oil companies that engage in exploration and production would reap huge profits at the expense of their refining units that have to buy oil on the open market.”

Majors push for ban’s endThe U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American

Petroleum Institute, major oil companies and some politicians are pushing for the end of the 1975 crude oil export ban, which Congress put into place after the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74. At the time, U.S. production of crude oil was in a decline thought to be permanent and oil imports were rising.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, proposed lifting the oil export ban in a Jan. 7 speech in which she argued that the Obama administration could change the policy by determining that American light, sweet crude cannot “reasonably be marketed” in the United States – an exception to the 1975 ban.

While many U.S. refiners process heavier crude, some are upgrading facilities to handle the lighter, sweeter varieties found in the United States. Large refiners like Valero and smaller ones like Philadelphia Energy Solutions and PBF Energy have invested bil-lions in their domestic operations to refine oil products for home and export. They oppose changing the cur-rent system.

Consumers can expect higher prices at the pump if the cost of crude oil rises, and higher fuel costs translate into higher prices for everything from food to consumer goods.

“When you look at the total picture, eliminating the ban on crude oil exports is bad for oil workers, independent refiners and the public,” Beevers said. “We don’t need to lose good family-supporting jobs to overseas refiners that would benefit from lifting the ban.”

The USW is engaged in a national campaign in Canada to lobby for better enforce-ment of the so-called Westray

Act, which makes employers criminally liable when their negligence results in a worker’s death.

“If you kill a worker, you go to jail,” Ken Neumann, the USW’s National Director for Canada, said at the cam-paign’s kickoff this March in Plymouth, Nova Scotia.

In the decade since the Westray amendments to Canada’s Criminal Code were passed, more than 9,000 Cana-dians have been killed on the job, and not one corporate executive has faced a single day in jail.

In response, the USW launched the campaign, called “Stop the Killing, Enforce the Law,” that asks federal and provincial attorneys general to improve enforcement.

“We’re not going to stand by and let them ignore the law,” said Interna-tional President Leo W. Gerard. “Work-ers need to know when they are in an accident everybody is going to stand up for them, not just a few people, but everybody.”

The USW lobbied for and sup-ports the law, which imposes a duty on corporations to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm to workers, and the union believes a similar law should be enacted in the United States. Workers in both countries will remain in jeopardy unless there are enforceable deterrents to corporate disregard for worker safety.

The campaign began in Plymouth because it is near the site of the di-sastrous Westray Mine explosion that killed 26 miners on May 9, 1992.

The USW, which was organiz-

ing Westray miners when the explo-sion occurred, pushed for the Westray amendments to the Criminal Code after attempts to prosecute company manag-ers for neglect failed.

The mine was owned and operated by Curragh Resources Inc., which ob-tained government financial support to open it in September 1991, and supply local utilities with coal.

The explosion occurred eight months after the mine opened. A gush of methane gas escaped from the coal seam and erupted into flames. As a fireball raced through the mine, it stirred up coal dust that exploded. The blast was massive, shaking homes a kilome-ter away.

The week-long attempts to rescue the miners were widely followed by na-tional media in Canada until it was clear there would be no survivors. The mine has since been permanently closed.

Investigators later found that manag-ers pushed for production over safety at Westray, ignoring hazardous levels of coal dust underground and accumulat-ing methane. Methane detection equip-ment was inoperable.

After a decade of work and a strong USW campaign to demand “No More Westrays,” Canada’s Parliament in 2003 unanimously passed the Westray amendments.

In the decade since passage, there has been an increase in workplace fatalities, but the law has been used only sparsely.

No more Westrays“We pledged 20 years ago, ‘No

More Westrays,’ ” said District 3 Direc-tor Stephen Hunt. “Unfortunately in this country we have a Westray every day,

sometimes two or three times a day. One thousand people a year die because of their work. It’s one of the worst re-cords in the industrialized world.”

Steelworkers are traveling to com-munities across Canada to spread the message that more needs to be done to protect workers. Union members are making presentations to city councils asking them to endorse the campaign. Many communities have supported the campaign to date, including Toronto, the most populous city in Canada, and the provincial capital of Ontario.

“We are determined to assist provin-cial and territorial justice ministers and attorneys general to take up the cause and enforce a law we fought hard to win,” Hunt said. “The stories of incom-petence, neglect and cynicism that lead to preventable death continue unabated and unchallenged. That has to change.”

The USW is calling on justice min-isters and attorneys general to ensure that there is greater coordination among regulators, police and government attor-neys, and that health and safety regula-tors are trained to reach out to police when there is a possibility that Westray amendment charges are warranted.

The union also wants to make sure that government attorneys are edu-cated, trained and directed to apply the Westray amendments; that dedicated prosecutors are given the responsibil-ity for health and safety fatalities; and police are educated, trained and directed to apply the Westray amendments.

“When a law isn’t being enforced, it’s incumbent on elected officials at every level of government to fix it,” Neumann said. “It’s time for real action to protect the safety of every worker in every province and territory.”

Employees of the PBF Refinery in Delaware City head to work in 2011.(AP Photo/ Suchat Pederson of The News Journal)


It was a game changer when the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago declared that Northwestern University football

players on scholarship are employees eligible to join a union.

The March 26 ruling by NLRB regional director Peter Ohr could eventually open the door for football and basketball players at major private universities to organize and bargain for better treatment.

“This ruling is a major step toward justice,” said Ramogi Huma, presi-dent of the College Athletes Player’s Association (CAPA), a newly formed labor union backed by the United Steelworkers.

The ruling may also pave the way for athletes at public state-affiliated schools to do the same thing. Al-though labor relations at public schools are governed by individual state labor boards, many states follow the NLRB’s legal interpretations.

“The courageous, enlightened young men on the Northwestern football team are demonstrating what can be accomplished when college athletes are unified,” Huma said.

Team unions on campus still face formidable obstacles including the likelihood of years of appeals

before they become a reality. Yet the ruling gives weight to the argument that football players are both students and employees under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Vote held April 25Ohr ruled that those players who

receive grant-in-aid scholarships from Northwestern are employees under the NLRA, and ordered an election for those in that group who have not ex-hausted playing eligibility. The players voted on April 25, but the results were sealed pending appeals. Walk-on play-ers whose financial aid is not contingent on football were excluded.

Northwestern had argued that play-ing college football is not a job, but part of an educational experience that puts academics before sports.

The players are required to spend some time doing both homework and practicing football skills. “But it cannot be said that the employer’s scholarship players are ‘primarily students,’ ” Ohr wrote in his 24-page decision, noting that players were recruited for their ath-letic talents rather than academic ability.

The players must abide by certain rules and regulations and are held to different standards than other students. They must undergo drug testing and risk losing their scholarships if they do not follow team regulations, or if they miss practices or games.

CAPA made several arguments before the NLRB on why football play-ers should be considered employees, including that they are compensated with athletic-based grants or scholar-ships and have supervisors who control their schedules.

CAPA isn’t seeking a specific share of football revenue or even salaries, but instead wants protections against con-cussions and other injuries, improved medical insurance coverage, and the establishment of a trust fund that play-ers can use to finish their schooling after their eligibility expires.

“The ruling is a tremendous victory, not just for the athletes at Northwestern, but ultimately for all college players, many of whom generate tens of millions of dollars each year for their institu-tions, yet still are in constant danger of being put on the street with one accident or injury,” said International President Leo W. Gerard said.

The USW is a longtime supporter of Huma, a former UCLA football player, and his campaign for improvements in how universities treat athletes.

“Our belief all along was simply that they have a right to expect the same fair treatment that all Americans should ex-pect, and that when they work hard and devote years of their lives in service to an institution, they deserve certain basic protections in return,” Gerard said.

“None of them should live in fear of losing their scholarships in an instant, nor should they be left without health care after debilitating injuries.”

Northwestern football players spend up to 60 hours a week practicing at training camp before college classes even begin. During the season, they put in up to 50 hours a week preparing for and playing games – more time than many full-time employees devote to their jobs.

Scholarships are compensationIn return for their football services,

players are compensated through schol-arships they receive only because they are skilled football players. Scholar-ships can be reduced or canceled for a number of reasons, including ineligibil-ity, misconduct and abuse of team rules. Many schools provide one-year scholar-ships that may be canceled for injury or if a better player is available.

Senior quarterback Kain Colter, one of the leaders in the union drive, said players love Northwestern University and were not seeking unionization out of any particular abuse.

“However, it’s important that players have a seat at the table when it comes to issues that affect their

well-being … Minimizing the risk of concussion should be a priority, and shielding current and former players from sports-related medical bills should be guaranteed,” he said. “Players will gain a number of important protections once this union is in place.”

While appeals could extend to the federal courts and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court, Gerard said that regard-less of the outcome of the Northwestern case, CAPA is here to stay.

“This movement will continue until all athletes have a voice in how they are treated,” he said.

There is no question that major col-lege sports generate staggering amounts of money. The television contract for the new college football playoff system, for example, is worth more than $7 bil-lion over 10 years.

Political Director Tim Waters, the USW’s longtime liaison to college athletes, noted that the March Madness college basketball tournament provides about $800 million annually for the NCAA.

“There is money there to do this,” Waters said. “The players are asking for simple protections, like health care if they get injured on the field and to keep their scholarships if they get injured.”

Their actions will improve the lives of future generations of college athletes.

“”

Northwestern Wildcats quarterback Kain ColterAP Photo by Andrew Richardson

International President Leo W. Gerard and Northwestern quarterback Kain ColterPhoto by Getty Images


When President Barack Obama met USW members in Janu-ary at U.S. Steel’s Irvin plant in Western Pennsylvania, he

promised to do everything in his power to improve the lives of American workers.

By May, the president had followed through on at least four specific actions: He raised the minimum wage for thou-sands of federal workers, he established new “starter” IRAs for those without a pension or 401(k), he expanded the defini-tion of overtime to cover millions of work-ers, and he strengthened the enforcement of laws guaranteeing women equal pay for equal work.

In addition, the National Labor Rela-tions Board is considering a proposal to speed up union elections, giving employers less time to try to bust unions by dissemi-nating anti-union propaganda.

“I’m not going to wait for Congress,” the president said, pointing out that the current Congress has been among the least-productive in American history. “If I can help middle-class families and folks who are working hard to try to get in the middle class do a little bit better, then I’m going to do it.”

In January, Obama signed a memoran-dum establishing the new individual retire-ment accounts, expected to help millions of working Americans save for retirement. In February, the president signed an execu-tive order requiring federal contractors to pay employees at least $10.10 an hour, which provides a pay raise for 200,000

low-wage workers. Then, in March, he directed the Labor Department to expand the number of workers eligible to collect overtime pay, putting more money into the pockets of 8 million Americans who had been putting in 50, 60, even 70 hours a week without any extra compensation.

“Americans don’t expect a free lunch,” President Obama said. “If you’re work-ing hard, [and] you’re barely making ends meet, you should be paid overtime.”

When the president announced his plan to expand overtime rules, Nancy Minor, vice president of Local 10-1 in Philadel-phia, was there. Obama said that since Minor’s divorce 16 years ago, she has been able to raise and support four children be-cause she received overtime pay from the oil refinery where she works.

Minor, who has worked for the Sunoco refinery, now Philadelphia Energy Solu-tions, for 22 years, went to Washington to attend the event because, she said, all Americans deserve good jobs with fair pay. “I want to make sure every worker has the same opportunity,” she said.

International President Leo W. Gerard said President Obama has been forced to go it alone in his effort to support working families because Congress has refused to take action.

“Thanks to the ultra-right-wing ob-structionists in the U.S. House, this session of Congress has been nothing short of a disgrace,” Gerard said. “We are lucky to have a president who isn’t afraid to do what he can to help workers.”

USW members and representa-tives testified at U.S. De-partment of Labor hearings in support of new rules to

protect workers from the deadly dangers of silica.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed the stronger standards last August and scheduled hearings to solicit comments from workers, businesses and medical professionals. Silica dust has been found to cause the debilitating lung disease silicosis, as well as lung cancer and other diseases.

Alan White, a Local 593 member who has worked for Aurubis copper products in Buffalo, N.Y., for more than 18 years, was one of the workers who testified in support of the new rules in March. A former foundry worker at Aurubis, White was diagnosed with a

life-threatening case of silicosis four years ago.

“What happened to me is prevent-able,” said White, who, since his di-agnosis, has moved from the facility’s foundry to another less-dusty job.

Two million workers affectedThe new rules would cut in half the

permitted level of dust exposure, require monitoring and medical exams for work-ers and improve dust controls. They would be the first updates in more than four decades to regulations governing silica dust.

Without proper precautions such as enclosing and ventilating dusty process-es, microscopic particles of crystalline silica dust can be inhaled into a worker’s lungs – where it can remain for life.

About two million American work-ers are exposed to the dust on the job,

including thousands of USW members who work in foundries, glass making, refractory manufacturing and shipyards.

In addition, a growing number of workers in the natural gas industry are at risk due to the practice of hydraulic fracturing, an extraction method that uses large volumes of fine sand.

Safety masks discouragedWhite said that for years the culture

at his workplace was one that subtly discouraged the use of any safety equip-ment that wasn’t required.

“In 16 years as a general helper, I performed every job in every step of our process,” White said at the hearing. “I learned that a dust mask was hardly, if ever, needed to do most jobs there.”

White says his USW membership is the reason he still has a job.

“Thank God that I belong to the Steelworkers or I definitely would have been fired for trying to protect my al-ready damaged lungs,” he said.

Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA David Michaels said the new rules would save more than 700 lives and prevent 1,600 new cases of silicosis each year.

“Since our current silica standards were issued in 1971, numerous stud-ies have found increased risk of lung cancer among silica-exposed workers,” Michaels said. “This proposed rule brings worker protections into the 21st century.”

White, who recently became a grandfather, joined Michaels last fall to announce the proposed rule changes. He said his goal was to make sure nobody else has to suffer his fate.

“My health will not improve, but as OSHA moves forward with this silica standard other workers will be able to enjoy their time with their grandchil-dren,” White said.

Mike Wright, director of the USW Health, Safety and Environment Depart-ment, said that the union has long been fighting for tighter controls on the deadly dust and that the new standards were long overdue.

He called on OSHA to implement the rules as soon as possible.

“We must move quickly forward to get this rule in place and to lift the bur-den of silicosis and all the other health effects of silica from American work-ers,” Wright said.

International President Leo W. Gerard said that while many em-ployers already take the necessary precautions to protect workers from silica’s dangers, and unions can bargain for better conditions in each workplace, all workers across the country deserve the same protections.

“The best employers are already doing what OSHA has proposed,” Gerard said. “But everyone deserves protection from deadly workplace diseases.”

White said that he knows from first-hand experience that stronger federal regulations are necessary because without them, some companies will simply avoid protecting workers in the name of bolstering their own bottom lines.

“As much as they plaster ‘your safety is our number one prior-ity’ throughout the facility, they could easily mention the dangers of working with silica and the cor-responding protective measures in safety training, all for less money than replacing good people,” White said. “If there were a stricter OSHA standard for silica in place when I worked in the foundry, I might not be sick.”

Speaking on behalf of the USW at the hearings in addition to White and Wright were Assistant Health, Safety and Environment Director Jim Frederick; Local 8888 Health and Safety Commit-tee Chair Allen Harville; legisla-tive representative Anna Fendley; John Scardella of the Tony Maz-zocchi Center for Health, Safety and Environmental Education; medical consultant Dr. Steven Markowitz; Ashlee Fitch, depart-ment intern from Local 5668, and Rami Katrib, department intern.Glass Industry Council Director Tim Tuttle, who lost his father to silicosis, submitted written testimony.

Also testifying at the hearings in Washington, D.C., were medi-cal doctors and officials from the United Auto Workers, the AFL-CIO and other labor groups, as well as industry and Chamber of Commerce representatives.

USW members and representatives pose at U.S. Department of Labor hearings on silica dust. Back row, from left: Mike Wright, Alan White, John Scardella and Ashlee Fitch. Front row, from left: Anna Fendley, Allen Harville, Rami Katrib, Jim Frederick and Dr. Steven Markowitz.

Surrounded by supporters, President Obama signs a memorandum directing Labor Secretary Tom Perez to modernize overtime protections. In his address, Obama called attention to Nancy Minor, vice president of Local 10-1 in Philadelphia, shown at the president’s right.Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Labor


In the 1980s, when the steel industry collapsed, Andrew “Lefty” Palm stood with workers against job-stealing imports and steep give-

backs sought by corporations.“Lefty worried about the workers

every day,” said International Presi-dent Leo W. Gerard, who served on the USW’s International Executive Board with Palm.

Palm died on Feb. 21 at his home in Estero, Fla., of complications from pro-gressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disorder. He was 74 and had retired

from the USW in 2005 as International Vice President (Administration).

As a District Director and Interna-tional Vice President, Palm oversaw ne-gotiations with major U.S. steel produc-ers during some of the industry’s darkest days. He also led talks with aluminum producers, tire and rubber companies and others.

Both members and companies respected Palm, said Gerard, who described him as a smart and analytical negotiator.

Nicknamed Lefty because he was

left-handed, Palm was affable and known for fairness, an even temper and humor.

Palm was born in McKeesport, Pa., a small industrial city outside Pittsburgh, and joined the union as a shop worker with Enamel Products Co., later named Precoat Metals. He served as a steward and later president of Local 4648.

His sister, Nancy McConnell, re-called how Palm made a point of buying American-made products when possible and insisted his children do the same.

“He always said we needed to be doing more for Americans and not to support foreign imports,” she said.

Palm was elected Director of District 15 in a special election held in 1982. At the time, most of District 15’s more than 50,000 members were concentrated in Homestead, Clairton, Duquesne and other mill towns around Pittsburgh.

Palm would be a district director for nearly 20 years, holding the position through consolidations that broadened the region for which he was responsible.

He was re-elected to full terms as District 15 Director in 1985 and 1989. After his third re-election in 1993, the USW consolidated districts nationally and Palm assumed charge of a newly-formed District 10, covering all of Pennsylvania. He was re-elected again in 1997.

In 2001, Palm was elected an Inter-national Vice President. Health problems related to his disease contributed to his decision to retire in 2005 at age 65.

Glenn Ellison, International Secretary-Treasurer of the United Rubber Workers (URW) union at the time of

its merger with the United Steelwork-ers, died April 10 in Ashland, Ohio. He was 79.

Ellison was born Feb. 25, 1935, in Oka, W.Va., the son of John and Fanny (nee Snodgrass) Ellison, and graduated from the Calhoun County High School at Grantsville, W.Va., in 1950.

He moved to Ashland after gradua-tion and worked at the Faultless Rubber Co., a maker of medical and hygiene products, where he began his union career with URW Local 196. He served the local as department steward, execu-tive board member, vice president and president, a post he held for 10 years.

In 1969, Ellison was appointed to the URW International staff as a field representative. He served as District 1 Director from January 1979 until De-cember 1981, and in 1987, was named administrative assistant to International Secretary-Treasurer Kenneth L. Coss.

He was elected International Secre-tary-Treasurer of the URW in 1990.

Ellison served as secretary-treasurer until the URW merged with the USW in mid-1995, when he became admin-istrative assistant to the International Secretary-Treasurer of the USW. He retired on Dec. 1, 1995.

He is survived by his wife Betty Metcalf, whom he married in 1957. Also surviving is son James Ellison, daughter Cathleen Bishop, three grand-daughters, and five great grandchildren.

It took a whisper from a friend on a picket line in Ohio for Richard Wise to learn about Union Plus benefits for members who are

locked out or on strike.Wise and fellow members of Local

8565 held strong for more than a year in a work stoppage that ended on Jan. 25 with an offer to unconditionally return to work at the Rotek bearings plant in Aurora, Ohio.

“They asked for more than we felt we could give,” Wise said of Rotek, which is facing National Labor Rela-tions Board complaints. “We took a stand.”

And while solidarity is an important lesson of any strike or lockout, it’s not the only thing Wise learned during his time on the picket line.

One day, a friend leaned over and asked him if he knew about a strike and lockout assistance benefit provided to

USW members who hold a valid Union Plus credit card.

The $300 strike benefit is one of several hardship grants available to union members who hold the Union Plus credit card for at least three months and meet eligibility requirements. USW members can apply at USWcard.com.

Grants are gifts that do not need to be paid back. Union Plus offerings include disability grants of $1,600 to $2,700 for eligible cardholders who have lost significant income from a long-term disability and hospital grants of $1,200 to help reimburse eligible cardholders for hospital expenses.

Also available are job loss grants of $300 for eligible cardholders who have been recently laid off, and the $300 strike grants for eligible cardholders who are on union-sanctioned strikes or company-induced lockouts.

Union Plus is a program of Union

Privilege, an organization created by the AFL-CIO in 1986 to provide union members and their families with consumer benefits and services, includ-ing credit cards, mortgages, wireless discounts and more.

Members of Local 8565 at Rotek, Inc., made an unconditional offer on Jan. 25 to return to work,

ending a year-long unfair labor practice strike at the company’s Aurora, Ohio, bearings plant.

District 1 Director David McCall said the strategic decision to end the labor dispute at Rotek, a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp, was based on the belief that the outstanding issues could and should be resolved in negotiations.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is prosecuting Rotek for a long list of unfair labor practices, including allegations that the company unilater-ally implemented changes to the expired

contract in January 2013 without first negotiating to a good faith impasse and that the company did not provide infor-mation necessary for bargaining.

“Rather than continue to wait for management, we proactively offered to end our strike in the interest of getting these Steelworkers back on the job as soon as possible,” McCall said. “Region 8 of NLRB has agreed that the com-pany’s illegal behavior instigated and prolonged the labor dispute, and Rotek will soon enough need to answer for it.”

Since the labor dispute ended, Tim Gudszend, the company’s president, desperately wants customers, govern-ment officials and the public to believe that it’s back to business as usual.

Unfortunately, “business as usual” at Rotek means the company continues its clumsy, misguided attempts to avoid negotiating in good faith. Gudszend described the concessionary proposals that the company illegally implemented in January 2013 as reflecting the “eco-nomic realities” that the company faces and that workers simply need to accept.

The NLRB’s finding that Rotek caused and prolonged the labor dispute means that Rotek’s replacement workers should be considered temporary – not permanent. However, in more than two months since the USW ended the strike, the company has recalled only 12 work-ers, with six more scheduled to return April 30.

The USW has filed additional unfair labor practice charges pertaining to the slow pace of the recall and the com-pany’s insistence that its replacement workers are now permanent employees.

It is estimated that the company’s back pay liability has topped $1 mil-lion and will continue to grow until the members of Local 8565 return to their jobs – an economic reality Rotek might delay but should not escape.

In the meantime, members of Local 8565 will continue the fight to redefine “business as usual” in Aurora and push for fairness and justice at Rotek.

Rotek workers and supporters rally.USW photo


Solidarity Shows at Neo Industries

When 22 members of Local 2003-15 launched an unfair labor practice strike against Neo Industries in Portage, Ind., USW members from across the region stepped up and dem-onstrated solidarity. As picketing continued through the cold winter, union brothers and

sisters raised money and delivered food and firewood.The strike began on Feb. 7 after Neo, which supplies chrome plated rolls to steel mills, made

plans to eliminate half of the bargaining unit by contracting out the jobs of truck drivers and mainte-nance technicians.

It is a familiar story to many American workers. The members at Neo had made concessions in the past to help the company compete, only to be rewarded by new management’s attack on their

jobs.Neo’s proposal was voted down by the members, who struck after the company refused

to bargain in good faith. The company taunted members by saying their small union was too weak to last long on the picket line.

On March 18, District 7 Director Mike Millsap called on members from across the region to march to the entrance of the Neo facility and show them “it doesn’t matter if it’s a local of 5,000 members or 20, together the USW is going to stand up and fight back!”

Backed by hundreds of Steelworkers and retirees, Millsap told the crowd that the strikers had the support of the community, including police officers who refused to provide security to Neo and steel mill customers where local union presidents had warned about scab drivers.

Seven weeks after the strike started, Local 2003-15 reached a settlement with Neo that dramati-cally increased severance pay to displaced drivers to $10,000 each from an initial offer as low as $500.

The key issue was getting a fair severance package for the drivers, who now have money to pay bills while they search for new jobs with good working condi-tions, Millsap said.

“It was about fairness for the drivers. The production guys stood up for them and their families,” Millsap said. “We showed that we will stand up and fight for one another no matter what.”

Social Media Victory for Valero Workers

Workers at Valero refineries and plants can discuss employment issues now on social media without fear of being disciplined or fired.

In a settlement of a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaint, Valero Services, Inc. agreed to rescind its current social media policy. It will revert to an older electronic policy that did not contain anything about social media. It will post NLRB remedial notices at its 52 facilities nation-wide and email all its U.S. employees the remedial notice to make them aware of the changes.

In 2012, Valero Services, Inc., which provides employee leasing servic-es, unilaterally implemented a strict new social media policy. Local 13-423 from the Valero Port Arthur, Texas, refinery demanded to bargain over the new policy and the company refused.

The local filed an unfair labor practice charge, alleging Valero Services violated the National Labor Relations Act by unilaterally implementing the policy and refusing to bargain over it. After an NLRB regional office issued a complaint, the union and company negotiated the approved non-board settlement.

PAC Member of the Quarter

Charlie Odier has been working overtime for more than a decade to educate his co-workers on political issues and rally

them to join the cause by contributing to the USW PAC fund and turning out for political actions.

Members of Local 715L at BFGoodrich in Woodburn, Ind., have responded in a big way. They average $2,000 per month in PAC contributions, and Odier has built the local’s political and Rapid Response team from a few people 10 years ago to more than 20 today.

For all that he has done, Odier is the PAC Member of the Quarter for spring 2014.

After working for 45 years and serving as chair of the local’s Rapid Response and political education committees, Odier is get-ting ready to retire. He won’t be giving up activism. He intends to be a candidate for the Indiana State House’s District 52 seat in the November election.

“Working people are getting screwed and they’ve got to start standing up,” he said.

Odier and his team have organized voter-registration drives, signing up more than 10,000 people. They have held “Made in the USA” rallies and lobbied lawmakers to pass Buy America ordinances at the state and local levels. They helped turn out 40,000 people to rally at the Indiana State House in 2012 to pro-test right-to-work (for less) legislation.

As he gets ready to enter a new phase of activism, Odier has been grooming younger members to take over his duties by taking them on lobbying visits and to Rapid Re-sponse events, where they see first-hand how right-wing attacks on workers affect them and their families.

Anacortes Disaster Anniversary Marked

The USW’s Tesoro Council marked the anniversary of the 2010 explo-sion that killed seven employees at a refinery in Anacortes, Wash., with private memorials and a call for the company to improve job

safety.The memorials were held on April 2, the anniversary of the fatal explo-

sion and fire that safety agencies later said could have been prevented.The council represents workers at Tesoro refineries and pipelines. At a

meeting in March, the council criticized Tesoro for an accident in February at a refinery near Martinez, Calif., where two workers were splashed with sulfuric acid in an alkylation unit.

The council also called on Tesoro to follow the recommendations of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board and make necessary improvements and changes to procedures to minimize risk and improve safety.

New Co-Chair for Iron Ore Alliance

The Iron Ore Alliance, a joint initiative of the USW and U.S. Steel in Minnesota, has named John Rebrovich of District 11 as its new co-chair.

Rebrovich, a sub-district director, succeeded retired Director Bob Bratulich as co-chair along with Chris Masciantonio, general manager of government affairs for U.S. Steel.

“The Iron Ore Alliance provides a voice for the 1,900 workers at Minnesota Ore Operations, to advance common interests – of the USW and the company – of employing, investing and protecting the environment,” Rebrovich said.

Rebrovich has worked in the iron ore mining indus-try since 1976, when he started in operations for Hib-bing Taconite. He has served as president of Local 2705 and vice president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO.

Corning WorkersRatify Contract

Local 1026 members at the Corn-ing plant in Canton, N.Y., voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new

four-year agreement that covers about 150 members and includes 3 percent raises each year.

The former agreement expired March 31, but workers remained on the job while negotiations continued. The ratification vote was held in April.

The plant produces specialty glass for the semiconductor industry as well as glass for space vehicles and other aerospace products. A large expansion project is expected to begin this spring.

AK Agreement Approved

Members of Local 169 ratified a three-year labor agreement cover-ing about 280 hourly production and maintenance employees at AK Steel’s Mansfield Works in Mansfield, Ohio. The new agree-

ment took effect on March 31.

Photo by Scott Marshall


Atomic Council Meets

Local 9-677 hosted the spring Atomic Energy Workers Council meeting in Erwin, Tenn., where members reviewed problems with De-

partment of Energy (DOE) sites including radiation leaks at a waste isolation plant.

Much discussion centered around the leaks at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, N.M., and efforts by Local 12-9477 to obtain information from the DOE on worker exposures. Union leaders at DOE facilities at Erwin and in Hanford, Wash.; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Portsmouth, Ohio, and Paducah, Ky., also gave reports.

Delegates heard accounts of ongoing issues sur-rounding the interpretation and application of the Davis-Bacon Act, and the DOE practice of reimburs-ing contractors for grievance arbitrations.

Participants also discussed security clearance ap-peals, health and safety, USW legislative efforts and communications. The meeting ended with a tour of the Nuclear Fuel Services facility in Erwin.

ICD, University Scholarships Available

Three USW members who won full-time scholarships through the union’s Institute for Career Development (ICD) and the Universi-ty of Phoenix in 2013 were so successful that three more scholar-

ships are being offered this year.Last year’s winners were Toby Keller of Local 50 at the U.S. Steel

Granite City Works in Granite City, Ill.; Darrell Keller of Local 351L at BFGoodrich in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Jim Mason of Local 2L at Good-year in Akron, Ohio.

The scholarship opportunity is an added benefit to Steelworkers who have ICD written into their contracts. Application details for this year are available on the ICD’s website, www.icdlearning.org.

Keller earned a bachelor’s degree in 1996 with ICD tuition assis-tance and is now pursuing a Master’s of Business Administration online. He estimated the scholarship was worth up to $40,000.

“It has been a great experience,” he said. “I would recommend on-line learning to any working adults.”

Darrell Keller (no relation to Toby) is studying information technol-ogy and software engineering. He estimated his scholarship was worth about $55,000.

Mason, vice president of Local 2L, values the flexibility of online learning. “To be able to do this and know that it came through the ICD, it’s just awesome,” he said.

Salt of the Earth Anniversary Celebrated

The 60th anniversary of the groundbreaking 1954 film Salt of the Earth was commemorated with a celebration at the Local 890 hall in Bayard, N.M.

The film portrays the 1951 strike against Empire Zinc and the dan-gerous working conditions and ethnic inequalities that Mexican-Ameri-can mineworkers and their extremely active women’s auxiliary faced.

Salt of the Earth featured Local 890 members and their families, in-cluding mineworker Juan Chacón, who played the male lead. Several of the original 1951 mineworkers, women picketers and family members attended the event, which included food, music, a tour of strike locations and emotionally charged recollections from participants.

District 12 Director Robert LaVenture discussed connections be-tween the actions of the women’s auxiliary in 1951 and today’s Women of Steel program.

For more information about Women of Steel and USW’s current fight for workers in the mining sector, especially in the Southwestern United States, visit www.usw.org/act/activism/women-of-steel and www.usw.org/asarco.

Hospital Organizing DriveInternational Vice President Fred Redmond and

District 10 Director Bob McAuliffe joined Steelwork-ers and others at a vigil in April to support the Service Employees International Union’s organizing drive at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).

UPMC employees Josh Malloy and Christoria Hughes had fasted for a week to bring attention to low wages that force full-time workers to seek help from food banks.

“How does a healthcare corporation justify million-dollar salaries at the top and pay at the bottom that leaves families hungry?” Redmond asked.

Power Rate Lowered to Save Jobs

The West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) approved a special power rate giving Felman Production up to $9 million a year in

discounts to help restart its idled ferrosilicomanga-nese plant.

The proposal, if accepted by Felman, could clear the way for 155 laid-off members of Local 5171 to return to work at the plant in New Haven, W.Va.

USW members lobbied with management for reduced rates after high power costs forced Felman to idle production last August. The plan, approved in April, ties the new power rate to the price of raw materials.

The ferrosilicomanganese produced by Felman is used in the steel industry as a deoxidizer, desul-phurizer and alloying element to increase steel’s tensile strength and wear resistance.

“Members are excited to return to work soon, to provide for their families once again,” said Roy Martin, Local 5171 vice president.

Resolute Forest Products Pact Ratified

USW members overwhelmingly ratified a master contract agreement with Resolute Forest Products, a producer of newsprint and specialty and coated paper.

The five-year agreement covers 1,500 USW members in seven local unions in Calhoun, Tenn., Catawba, S.C., Coosa Pines, Ala., and Augusta, Ga.

The agreement secures quality health care coverage and improves wages in each of its five years while ensuring that the Resolute mills continue to operate efficiently.

The second-generation master agreement builds on one ne-gotiated four years ago to permit AbitibiBowater Inc. to emerge from bankruptcy reorganization. The company now operates as Resolute.

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City ________________________________________

State _________________________ Zip _________

4/16/13 Michael Charles, 58 Compass Minerals4/17/13 Dustin Creekmore, 24 ExxonMobil (Signature Industrial Services)4/17/13 Chad McDonald, 29 ExxonMobil (Signature Industrial Services)4/30/13 Cindy Lavoie, 36 Rio Tinto Alcan5/4/13 Brian Black, 38 Timken5/4/13 Mark Tovissi, 50 Timken5/9/13 James White, 53 Air Liquide 5/18/13 Isaac Garcia, 22 Chevron Molycorp Mine5/18/13 Derrick Martinez, 23 JR Simplot6/5/13 Alfredo Zavala, 37 Graphic Packaging7/19/13 John Meyer, 51 Bridgestone/Firestone8/23/13 Jesse McClure, 62 Constellium Rolled Products8/26/13 Kris Swierkosz, 56 National Steel Car8/27/13 Marks Parrott, 42 RockTenn8/31/13 Joseph Boudreaux, 53 Georgia Pacific10/8/13 Antonio Pollard, 41 S.T.U.P.P.10/16/13 Shannon Jones, 30 Georgia Pacific10/18/13 Fernando Rivera, 52 National Cement of California10/22/13 Timothy Pawlicki, 51 Carlisle Transportation Products11/13/13 Michael Samuelson, 39 ArcelorMittal12/6/13 Gary Hytimen, 61 Cleveland Cliffs – Tilden Mine12/15/13 Antonio Palazzolo, 32 USS Great Lakes Works12/19/13 Jamie Parker, 47 Georgia Pacific1/22/14 Paul Fornea, 41 International Paper1/31/14 Tony Perrin, 57 Maruichi – Leavitt Tube2/14/14 Frank Johnson, 62 Republic Steel2/14/14 Russ Brown, 64 USS Clairton Works2/17/14 Jason Shulist, 31 Potash Corp. Cory Mine3/15/14 Jean-Philippe Germain, 26 Ciment-Québec3/16/14 Miles Lorenz, 59 Teck Coal Mountain Mine3/21/14 Robert Wayne Watts, 61 Arcelor Mittal4/4/14 Christopher Casto, 36 USS Great Lakes4/6/14 Paul Rochette, 36 Vale Canada Ltd.

Documents

Leo W. Gerard - United Steelworkers · 2014. 6. 3. · still be heard, even 20 years later. Charlie Hall, retired Local 87 Eaton, Ohio We Still Need Unions I’m a retired member