USW approves 'best contract in 30 years'

USW approves 'best contract in 30 years'
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
By Len Boselovic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Members of the United Steelworkers yesterday overwhelmingly approved a four-year agreement with U.S. Steel, prompting union leaders to declare that the industry's newfound prosperity has given steelworkers their best contract in 30 years.

Their enthusiasm was not matched on Wall Street, where declining steel prices and increasing concerns about a global economic slowdown sent U.S. Steel shares tumbling 13 percent.

The labor agreement provides for annual wage increases, enhanced pensions and reduced health-care premiums for retirees, and requires the company to invest $3 billion in its U.S. operations. Workers will receive a $1-an-hour raise in the first year and 4 percent increases in each of the next three years. They also will receive a $6,000 cash payment by Oct. 1.

"This is an historic agreement that completes the restructuring of the steel industry following its near collapse five years ago," said USW President Leo Gerard.

The contract was approved by a vote of 10,571 to 2,670. It covers about 16,000 workers at 14 domestic plants, including about 2,600 workers at U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson plant in Braddock, the Irvin plant in West Mifflin and the Clairton coke plant.

The agreement is retroactive to Sept. 1, when the previous contract expired.

Mr. Gerard said the terms were similar to a tentative contract agreement between the union and ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel producer, and will be the basis of a contract to be negotiated with Russian steel producer Severstal, the new owner of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel.

"This is a pattern agreement. They're going to have to figure out how to take it," Mr. Gerard said of the Russians.

The agreement comes five years after the near collapse of the U.S. steel industry, which underwent a radical restructuring that included shedding billions in retiree and health-care obligations, closing plants, mergers and concessions agreed to by the USW.

"The industry's restructuring is over," said USW Vice President Tom Conway, the union's chief negotiator. "It's the best basic steel contract that we've had in the last 30 years."

The new contract is the union's reward for making sacrifices and providing leadership in difficult times, Mr. Gerard said. "It is the United Steelworkers union that saved this industry," he said.

The newfound prosperity is evident in U.S. Steel's first-half profits, which rose 57 percent to $903 million. That's more than the steelmaker earned in all of 2007.

However, falling scrap prices -- usually a leading indicator of where steel prices are headed -- and concerns about a recession have soured investors on steel stocks in recent weeks.

Shares of U.S. Steel fell $13.92 yesterday, finishing at $93.69. They are off nearly 23 percent for the year after advancing 65 percent in 2007.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08254/910753-28.stm

How DARE they!

(Do I need a sarcasm icon?)

So, no. :hi: