Steel Mills

SMU Recap: Where Contract Talks Stand Between Mills and the USW

July 17, 2022

We’ve been covering the latest turn of the screw in contract talks between US and Canadian steelmakers and the United Steelworkers (USW) union.

Some of you have asked us lately what the key dates and companies are. Below is a summary of where things stand – rhetoric and minutia aside – with USW and Canadian steelmakers Stelco and Algoma as well as with the union and US steelmakers US Steel and Cleveland-Cliffs.

Stelco

A prior contract expired on June 30. Local USW chapters have voted to authorize a strike. The USW has also requested conciliators from the Ontario Ministry of Labour to resolve differences between the Hamilton, Ontario-based steelmaker and the union.

Algoma

Local unions representing workers at the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario-based steelmaker have voted to authorize a strike. The contract between Stelco and the USW runs through July 31. Talks continue in the meantime.

US Steel

Master contract negotiations between US Steel and the USW are underway in Pittsburgh, which is home to both the company and the union. The current labor pact between the USW and US Steel runs through Sept. 1. SunCoke Energy has joined the talks because it is expected to take over the two blast furnaces at US Steel’s Granite City Works near St. Louis to make pig iron. Granite City, like most of US Steel’s mills, is represented by the USW. Not included in the talks is US Steel’s Big River Steel subsidiary in Arkansas. Big River is a non-union mill.

Cleveland-Cliffs

Master contract negotiations between the USW and the steelmaker are underway in Pittsburgh. As with US Steel, the labor agreement between Cliffs and the USW does not expire until Sept. 1.

Recall that a strike authorization vote gives union negotiators the authority to call a strike if they decide to. It is a largely procedural step. It does not mean that the union will go a strike.

By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is managing editor for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.