Steel Mills
USW Ratifies ATI Contract
Written by Sandy Williams
March 2, 2016
United Steelworkers voted by a 5:1 margin on Tuesday to ratify a new four-year contract at Allegheny Technologies. The ratification will put 2,220 workers back on the job after a six-month lockout, pending approval by the National Labor Relations Board.
A contract was finally hammered out after the NLRB filed an unfair labor suit against ATI charging the lockout was illegal and the company bargained in bad faith.
“The strength and solidarity of our union paid off with a fair contract that contains virtually none of the drastic concessions ATI sought to arbitrarily impose,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard.
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According to a press release by the USW update, the new contract protects retirement benefits and maintains affordable, quality health care for active workers and retirees. It protects union jobs against outside contractors, maintains the grievance procedure and other important contract language, and introduces a new profit sharing system that allows USW members a bigger share in ATI’s future success.
Gerard and USW International Vice President Tom Conway said it was time for USW members to return to work and start the process of healing after the pain imposed by the six months of unnecessary lockout.
Sandy Williams
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