Steel Mills

USW and US Steel Reach Tentative Agreement

Written by Sandy Williams

December 20, 2015

The USW and US Steel reached a tentative agreement late Saturday on a new contract for the more than 18,000 workers at US Steel’s flat-rolled, tubular and iron ore mining facilities in the United States.

“This tentative agreement represents a major step forward from the position we found ourselves in earlier this summer when we were facing relentless company demands for deep and permanent concessions,” said the USW in an update to members. “As you know, our industry is in the midst of a crisis. But we have been determined not to be forced to pay the full price for the problems of unfair trade and global overcapacity. Our goal throughout this process was to make sure we were not made scapegoats for what are global and, we believe, temporary, problems.”

Details of the contract have not been released by the union or US Steel. Summaries of the proposal will be prepared and distributed to workers to review, said the USW, followed by discussion meetings and voting for ratification.

“We are pleased that we have reached a tentative agreement in the best interest of our company, our stakeholders and our employees,” said Mario Longhi, US Steel President and Chief Executive Officer. “We believe this competitive three-year contract further supports the mutual success we have had with the USW in pursuing our Carnegie Way efforts and confronting unfair trade that is significantly impacting our industry.”

The agreement reached Saturday, Dec. 19 was referred to by the USW as “one of the most difficult rounds of bargaining we have faced.” Union employees have been working under terms of the previous contract that expired on Sept. 1.

Sandy Williams

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