USW active and retired members and their

families are invited to “speak out” on these

pages. Letters should be short and to the point. We reserve the right to

edit for length.

Mail to:USW@Work

Five Gateway Center, Pittsburgh PA 15222

or e-mail:editor@usw.org

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

Direct inquiries and articles for USW@Work to:United Steelworkers Communications Department

Five Gateway CenterPittsburgh, PA 15222phone 412-562-2400

fax 412-562-2445online: www.usw.org

Volume 09/No.3 Summer 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.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: USW@Work, USW Membership Department, 3340 Perimeter Hill Drive, Nashville, TN 37211

Copyright 2014 by United Steelworkers, AFL-CIO•CLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the United Steelworkers.

F E AT U R E SSpeaking OutTrade WatchNews Bytes

O N T H E C O V E RUSW member Mary Mack on the job at the Aurubis mill in Buffalo, N.Y.USW photo by Steve Dietz

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I N S I D EU S W @ W O R KChina’s unfair trade practices have left behind too

many shattered workers’ dreams, shuttered factories and hollowed out communities.

“”International President Leo W. Gerard

May 23, 2014

STAND UP FOR STEEL JOBS The USW and the Alliance for American Manufacturing sponsored rallies around the country seeking limits on unfairly traded steel imports.

NEW ALCOA PACT USW members ratify a new five-year contract with Alcoa that raises wages for 6,100 workers and preserves benefits the aluminum maker sought to change.

BUILDING ON PROGRESS Nearly 9,000 employees at International Paper are working under new master contracts at the company’s paper mills and converter opera-tions around the United States.

NEW TIRE TRADE CASE The USW has launched a new trade case against Chinese-made tires that are once again surging into the United States at unfairly low prices, un-dercutting domestic producers and stealing jobs.

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Safety First During my 40 years as a union member and

officer I have been personally and professionally involved in safety.

I thought the most recent cover photo sent the wrong message to our union brothers and sisters. The worker should be using his safety shield.

The USW puts out an excellent magazine with very informative articles, and I look forward to reading it. Thank you and all my union brothers and sisters for their work to make our unions, and all workplaces, safer.

Tarence E. Bryant, retired Local 2632Rockwood, Pa.

Unsafe imageOn the cover of the most recent issue of

USW@Work, there is a photo of a man cutting a tree with a chain saw. He has no eye protection on his face. He is wearing a face shield, but it is on top of his helmet.

How could you publish such an unsafe photo?

Bill Moutz, retired Local 1218Verona Pa.

Editor’s note: We agree safety is an all-impor-tant issue. The cover photograph was a staged shot taken with the intent of showcasing USW members and the demanding and often dangerous work that they do. It’s an honor to represent them.

Buy American TiresI read the USW@Work story about the Good-

year-Dunlop tire workers. It is very good to see a company and workers doing a good job, getting along together and staying in the United States.

I have a GMC truck and a Dodge car. I need to put all new tires on both of them by this fall. I will find a dealer that sells Goodyear tires made in the USA. This is the only place I will ever buy my new tires.

James Sneller, retired Local 1302Mohawk, Mich.

Act to Stop ExtremistsI became a Steelworker in 1956 at age 17 at

Youngstown Sheet & Tube. I became an Ameri-can Postal Worker in 1984. In between, I was a Teamster and an AFSCME member. I spent 20 years in the Navy, but they didn’t have a union!

The existence of unions is in jeopardy due to the onslaught of conservative politicians and pundits who are hell-bent on the dissolution of organized labor.

We must dedicate ourselves to whipping the butts of ALEC, Citizens United, the Koch

brothers and dedicated extremists like Karl Rove and Scalia the skunk and his Supremes!

We must organize, motivate and mobilize people to get them to the polls in November! We must beat back the onslaught of clueless conser-vative clowns out to destroy everything we’ve gained.

We must all act.

John Zordich, retired APWU Local 442Youngstown, Ohio

Lynn Williams, Beloved in LorainLike so many others, I was heartbroken to

hear that Brother Lynn Williams had passed. A great union leader and much more, Lynn is loved today by many in Lorain, Ohio, where I served as an officer of Local 1104.

About 22 years ago, Republic attempted to break our union rather than negotiate in good faith. It tried to float a contract proposal directly to the membership and even attempted a decertifi-cation petition.

In this crisis situation, Lynn traveled to Lorain and helped to set up meetings where the union explained why the company proposal was a bad deal. It would have allowed management to con-tract out our jobs and end the pension agreement.

Facing threats of violence and attacks on the union, Lynn showed courage and leadership in helping us to rally our members, who voted to stand with our International and authorize a strike. The membership’s backbone stiffened. We were able to achieve a solid contract, rally our union and stand strong again.

If you are in Lorain, visit the Lynn R. Wil-liams Learning Center. It is a reminder of the time he helped us save our union and our dignity.

Bruce Bostick, retired Local 1104Lorain, Ohio

American Cars = American JobsI admire the dedication of our unions to keep

good jobs, save pensions and create safe working conditions.

It just breaks my heart to see the very mem-bers of these unions doing their best to undermine our country and send jobs overseas. I’m talking about all of the imported cars in every union parking lot in this country.

For every import sold, a domestic car is not. The long term effect of this is thousands of good jobs gone. Our money is no longer getting re-cycled into our communities. Instead, our dollars are being sucked up and sent overseas.

Garry QuinnCuyahoga Falls, Ohio

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When former International President Lynn R. Wil-liams was a schoolboy in the Great Depression,

there was no work, no pay, and too often, not enough food in the Canadian industrial town where his father was a minister.

President Williams, who died on May 5 in Toronto at 89, kept his Depression-era experiences and the compassion that grew from them with him while he led the Steelworkers from 1983 to 1994, one of the union’s most difficult and turbulent periods.

“Lynn Williams held this union together through the worst of times, the massive bankruptcies and consolida-tions in the North American steel indus-try,” said International President Leo W. Gerard, who called President Williams his mentor.

“Lynn showed that he was a leader of great compassion and integrity, securing deals to save as much of the industry as possible while at the same time preserving pensions and benefits for workers.”

More than 400 friends, family mem-bers, admirers and mentees of President Williams gathered in a meeting room at the USW-represented Westin Bristol Place hotel in Toronto on June 21 to commemorate his life and legacy.

Speakers described President Wil-liams as a principled man of vision, who inspired with great speeches, but also knew how to listen in a way that made it clear he heard every word spoken and respected the person speaking.

USW commemorationsGerard announced two enduring

commemorations for President Williams sponsored by the USW. One will be a scholarship for a working-class student

at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. In the 1960s, President Wil-liams encouraged union members to make paycheck contributions towards the university’s construction.

In addition, the USW will create an endowment at the University of To-ronto for what will be called the Annual Sefton-Williams Memorial Lecture.

It expands a prestigious lecture series also dedicated to the memory of President Williams’ mentor Larry Sef-ton, whose long career in the Canadian labor movement included serving as director of District 6 for two decades and as the first secretary-treasurer of the Ontario Federation of Labour.

The lecture series began in 1982 and presents topics of interest to scholars and practitioners of labor-management relations. President Williams delivered the inaugural lecture.

President Williams’ wife Audrey preceded him in death, but all four of his children attended the commemora-tion. Two of them, Brian and Barbara, spoke. Barbara thanked the USW and particularly Canadian National Director Ken Neumann for the devotion shown to her father in his final years. Also, one of President Williams’ grandsons, Evan Williams, read excerpts from his 2011 memoir, One Day Longer.

In the memoir, President Williams says that it was in the Canadian town of Sarnia, where he lived from age 7 to 14, that the “need to help people was etched indelibly on my psyche.”

His friends’ fathers were, for the most part, unemployed during the 1930s. He would often come home from school to find his mother, Emma, feed-ing someone or giving them something warm to wear.

“All the workers were suffering periods of layoff, reduced hours and

reduced wages. All the businesses were short of customers. The entire town was reeling from the loss of jobs, the loss of income and of purchasing power,” he wrote.

Helping othersHis father, Waldemar, would help

people in his congregation look for work, even part-time work, or find chores for them to do around some-body’s house to help them get by. Together, at Christmastime, they would deliver food baskets to the neediest families.

When the Williams family gathered around the dinner table, the discussion would often turn to the failed economy and how to build a better society based on the principles of social and economic justice.

President Williams held onto that so-cial consciousness – and the determina-tion to bring about fundamental changes in working people’s lives – throughout his life and career in the union move-ment.

“Lynn Williams dedicated his entire career to improving the lives of ordinary working people, driven by an unrelent-ing passion for social justice,” Neumann said.

“Steelworkers across the conti-nent are mourning the passing of Lynn Williams, but we are also celebrating the life of an exceptional labor leader whose legacy will be an inspiration for generations to come.”

Named President in 1983The first Canadian to lead the union,

he was appointed International Presi-dent on Nov. 17, 1983, following the death in office of his predecessor, Lloyd McBride.

He won a 1984 special election to complete the final two years of

Lynn R. WilliamsUSW photos

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President McBride’s term and was re-elected to full terms in 1985 and 1989. During those years, he would steer the union’s members through waves of layoffs.

“My entire career in the labor move-ment was based on the belief that, in the face of serious obstacles, workers, whether on strike or not, needed to remain united and committed over the long haul,” he wrote in the memoir.

“If they did, they would be in a strong position both to achieve their col-lective bargaining goals and to realize the broader objective of creating a more just and democratic society.”

Beset in the 1970s by lower-cost foreign competition, the North Ameri-can steel industry was imploding in the 1980s when President Williams took of-fice. Steel towns throughout the United States and Canada were decimated by the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Faced with dramatic industrial restructuring and upheaval, President Williams developed new bargaining techniques to protect the interests of workers and retirees and played a lead-ing role in the restructuring of the North American steel industry.

President Williams demanded finan-cial transparency from the industry and hired investment bankers to advise the union on stock options, profit sharing and ways to leverage the union’s power

in corporate takeovers. He mediated bailouts that saved dozens of steel plants from closing by leveraging em-ployee stock holdings.

Seats on corporate boardsIn exchange for wage and benefit

concessions, President Williams negoti-ated contract provisions allowing em-ployee stock-ownership plans and union seats on corporate boards.

“Workers really have something to say,” he said then, “but it has to be done in a way where working people are rec-ognized as important in the institutions where they work.”

President Williams cooperated with industry when the result would benefit workers. Under his leadership, for ex-ample, the USW worked with industry to invest in domestic facilities and to protect American jobs from unfair for-eign competition.

Later in retirement, President Wil-liams called the steel industry collapse a “frightful time” for the union, its mem-bers and retirees. The crisis created a wave of early retirements that, in many cases, threatened retiree health benefits and pensions.

“If you can imagine an old mattress out in the junkyard with the springs popping up, I was like a guy lying on the springs trying to hold them all down,” he told USW@Work in 2010.

“And I didn’t have enough body

parts to put a hand on this one, a hand on that one and a knee on another one. I didn’t have enough body parts to hold them all down.”

Lynn Russell Williams was born July 21, 1924, in rural Springfield, On-tario, one of three children in a devoutly religious family. His father was a minis-ter in the United Church of Canada. His mother, Emma Elizabeth Fisher Wil-liams, was an ardent churchgoer who named him after Lynn Harold Hough, a Methodist theologian.

His father moved the family to Sarnia in 1931 so he could take over the pulpit of a church whose congregation was primarily working-class people. Many of the workers then in Sarnia, which was built around a railroad and an oil refinery, had lost jobs or were suffering through periods of layoffs and reduced working hours and wages. The economic tragedy extended to teachers, business professionals and President Williams’ own family.

Impressed by his father’s selfless commitment to his congregation in time of need, President Williams briefly con-sidered following him into the ministry, and in 1941 enrolled in McMaster Uni-versity in Hamilton, studying English and philosophy as an introduction to theology.

He quickly decided, however, to give up theology as a career for the growing labor movement, which he saw

as a more democratic way of helping people than the ministry.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1944 and serving a year in the Royal Canadian Navy, President Williams married Audrey Hansuld in 1946 and began work towards a mas-ter’s degree in industrial relations at the University of Toronto.

Williams remembered the time as heady days for the North American labor movement. In 1945 and 1946 industrial unionism embraced by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) had come of age in the United States and Canada.

Industrial unionism growsUnder the leadership of John L.

Lewis, the CIO was committed to leav-ing behind the old model of craft union-ism, in which workers were organized by craft, in favor of industrial unionism, where all workers in an industry would be organized into a single union, regard-less of their specific occupations.

Organization of unions grew in both countries and new sectors, such as public employees, joined the fold of organized labor. As a result, incomes and living standards improved.

“I had decided by then that the la-bour movement was where I was head-ing,” Williams said in his book.

During the summer break after his first year at the university, President

Williams was hired at John Inglis and Company and joined Local 2900, which represented the work force. Inglis made weapons for the military during the war and then became a major appliance company.

President Williams volunteered for everything available at the local union, including a summer school conducted by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). The CLC subsequently hired him to help with an organizing cam-paign at Eaton’s department store in Toronto, which then employed 13,000 people.

In 1956, President Williams joined the USWA’s staff as an organizer in Can-ada, where he worked in Regina, Sas-katchewan, the Niagara Peninsula and Toronto. He transferred to the District 6 headquarters in Toronto in 1965 and became director of District 6 in 1973. In 1977, President Williams was elected International Secretary of the union and moved to Pittsburgh.

Leadership rolesHe was the first union leader to hold

executive leadership roles, although not simultaneously, with the CLC and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).

President Williams was the driving force behind the creation of the Steel-workers Organization of Active Retirees

(SOAR) to harness the power and influ-ence of the union’s pensioners.

In retirement, he served as president of SOAR, which has grown into a force of labor, political and social justice activism in both the United States and Canada.

“Lynn’s vision was the union should be there to help people – not just when they are at work, but when they are out of work and retired,” Gerard said.

President Williams also helped to launch the Institute for Career Develop-ment, a unique work force training pro-gram for USW members at participating companies.

The institute was created in 1989 as a result of contract negotiations with major steel companies. It has since expanded to include other industries including tire and rubber, glass and packaging. Today, there are more than 70 career development programs nation-wide.

In retirement, President Williams moved from Pittsburgh back to Canada, where in 2005 he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor, in recognition for a lifetime of achievement in the labor movement.

The city of Toronto in 2007 named a street after President Williams in the for-mer factory district near the John Inglis plant where he once worked.

USW photos

International President Leo W. Gerard and Lynn R. Williams

Former International President George Becker and Lynn R. Williams

George Becker, Lynn R. Williams and John “Jack” Sheehan, retired USW legislative director

U S W @ Wo r k • S u m m e r 2 0 1 4 98 U S W @ Wo r k • S u m m e r 2 0 1 4

A look around Western New York quickly reveals the toll that the U.S. manufacturing crisis has taken on this long-

time industrial hub.Once home to thriving steel mills,

automotive parts factories, refineries, foundries and other industrial sites, the region, like many others around the country, has seen more than its share of factories shuttered thanks to unfair trade and an uneven economy.

One place that has escaped that fate is the Aurubis (formerly known as American Brass) mill in northern Buffalo, where production has been relatively steady, even in some of the toughest economic times.

“In my 24 years here, any time I wanted to work I was able to work,” Local 593 member Tom Kukula said as he prepared to operate a hot rolling machine. “This place has been good to me.”

Kukula, one of more than 500 Local 593 members who work at Aurubis Buf-falo, said that while the economic crisis brought some temporary belt-tightening to the 1.1 million-square-foot factory, the presence of the union has made a big difference in workers’ lives.

In fact, in 2010, while other compa-nies were idling operations or laying off workers, the Buffalo plant, then owned by Sweden’s Nordic Capital, was expanding its press room at a cost of $2.5 million. Since 2011, the company has added 30 union jobs and plans to continue hiring.

Copper producer, recyclerAurubis, based in Hamburg, Ger-

many, is the second-largest copper pro-ducer and largest copper recycler in the world. The company employs more than 6,300 workers at 36 locations world-wide. The Buffalo plant, which Aurubis acquired in 2011, is the company’s only production facility in the United States. One other U.S. location in Chicago is devoted exclusively to sales.

The Buffalo site began as a 61,000-square-foot factory in 1906, and the hourly workers have been union members since 1937. They became Steelworkers in 1967 when the Interna-tional Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers merged with the USW.

One difference the USW has made at Aurubis has been in the kind of

Jim Smith USW photos by Steve Dietz

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highly skilled, experienced work force that comes with good, family-sustaining jobs. For member Marc Alston, that has meant a cleaner and safer work envi-ronment, as well as better wages and benefits.

“It’s good to have the union there to relieve the pressure, to have your back,” Alston said.

Bernard Green, a furnace manager and caster who has worked at the fac-tory for 33 years, said the USW has helped the workers in Buffalo keep up with the ever-rising cost of living. In non-union businesses, he said, own-ers retain too high a percentage of the profits, and workers and their families

suffer.“Everything goes to the top and

there’s nothing left at the bottom,” Green said.

Product flexibilityOver the years, employee workloads

at the mill have grown. Without the USW, the workers would have no way to push back, Green said.

“I know the company has to make money, but there needs to be compro-mise,” he added.

The workers at Aurubis have com-promised, remaining flexible enough to adjust the company’s product lineup as customer needs change. As a result, the company has been able to increase

market share, add jobs and continue to thrive.

The workers also are dedicated to efficiency, recycling scrap metal from the press room and putting it back into the furnaces to be re-melted. Around the factory are massive containers of various types of scrap metal, including old Canadian pennies, which are melted down for reuse. According to Aurubis, 65 percent of the metal produced at the factory is delivered to customers, while 35 percent is recycled back into the process.

One area in which the union workers have not been as willing to compromise, though, has been health and safety.

After a worker was killed in an accident at the mill in 2007, manage-ment began to pay closer attention to the union’s concerns on worker safety, said Local 593 Recording Secretary Tim Hook. That commitment continued to improve when Aurubis took over the operation in 2011.

Wake-up call“That was such a wake-up call,”

Hook said of the accident, adding that until the 1980s, workers in some parts of the facility were not even required to wear hard hats. “Things have changed a lot. It’s all about education, and that is up to all of us.”

Another wake-up call on worker

health has been the case of USW member Alan White, who has worked at the facility for 19 years. Five years ago, White was diagnosed with the deadly lung disease silicosis, the result of exposure to silica dust in the mill’s foundry. While he has since been moved to a safer job within the factory, White’s condition is permanent.

White’s case has contributed to big changes beyond his Buffalo workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed new rules to dramatically reduce silica exposure for all American workers.

“Employers know that they can control silica exposure,” White said last year during testimony in support of the

new rules. “This is not rocket science.”Bud Malucci, a member of the

USW bargaining committee who has worked at Aurubis for 35 years, said the union has made “great strides” in safety, including negotiating a full-time, company-paid union safety representa-tive 10 years ago.

Health and safety isn’t the only issue that is remaking the Aurubis work-place. Kukula said several dozen of his longest-tenured colleagues would be ap-proaching retirement in the next two or three years. As they leave, he said, “we are going to lose a lot of knowledge.”

Perched in a control room one story above the shop floor, Ku-

kula rolled 20,000-pound

Rocco Schiavone

Brad Laude

Marc Alston

USW photos by Steve Dietz

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slabs of hot brass created in the casting shop back and forth until they were methodically spread out into long, thin sheets.

He said many of his co-workers have been at the factory since before its processes were largely automated – gaining a wealth of institutional knowledge that will require extensive training of new workers to replace.

Learning the processEven with increasing automation,

new workers “need to learn how to roll, not how to be a button-pusher,” Kukula said.

New employees at Aurubis learn the entire metal-making process from start

to finish, said Brad Laude, a foundry worker who makes sure final products are free from impurities.

Ken Tangelder, a 30-year employee who worked at a nearby Republic Steel plant for eight years before joining Aurubis, is one of the workers closing in on retirement.

When Republic shut down its South Buffalo mill in 1984, about 100 workers including Tangelder landed jobs at Aurubis, providing the grow-ing company with a seasoned group of workers.

“We were all experienced at run-ning machinery,” he said.

The workers take a great deal of pride in the metal and parts they

manufacture. The process begins when workers in the foundry melt down raw material supplied by mines, which is mixed with recycled scrap metal. The resulting molten material is formed into huge bars of copper or brass.

Those bars are shipped to the hot roll department where they are reheat-ed and flattened into long, thin plates, which are eventually rolled into coils. Some of that metal is earmarked for specific customers, and some ends up in the Aurubis press room, where work-ers employ a dozen presses to form the metal into rings, nuts, casings and other small pieces of hardware that eventu-ally become part of something else.

Aurubis products become compo-

nents in heat-exchange technology for automobiles and buildings, as well as connector strips, zippers, batteries, cas-kets, lighters, ammunition and more.

Before the United States changed the composition of the penny in 1982, workers at the Buffalo plant even produced the one-cent coins for the U.S. Mint.

Family working togetherHook has worked at the plant for

18 years. He said that it is not uncom-mon at Aurubis for family members to work side by side. Hook’s brother, who has worked there 28 years, is a roll operator, and an uncle was in charge of the tube room before he retired.

Sharon Goodison has worked at the facility for 28 years, while her husband recently retired from a job there. She said the USW has helped workers hold on to the good benefits they’ve earned over the years, despite a difficult economy.

Soon after its acquisition by the German conglomerate, workers at the mill began to build connections with their international colleagues.

In October 2013, the Buffalo plant welcomed four workers from Europe who spent six months helping to install a slitter machine that was relocated from Sweden.

Despite language and cultural barriers, the transition went smoothly.

It’s just one example of how the work force at Aurubis has built a cooperative relationship throughout the company.

When Aurubis took over, manage-ment asked union members to ramp up production, and the workers obliged, exceeding management’s expectations. As a result, Kukula said, the union in 2014 reached a new three-year contract that will run through 2017 and provide USW members with raises and benefit enhancements.

“It’s not us against them anymore,” Kukula said. “We’re all on the same team. You’ve got to work together.”

USW photos by Steve DietzMary Mack

Donna Poulsen

Anthony Cambio

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USW members ratified master contract agreements with International Paper (IP) covering nearly 9,000 employees at paper mills and converter operations around the United States.

“International Paper is our largest bargaining partner in the paper sector. These two agreements demonstrate the qual-ity of our relationship with IP and set a mark for the rest of the industry,” International President Leo W. Gerard said.

The agreements, Gerard said, “build on the legacy of family-supporting union jobs in urban and rural communities throughout the country.”

Master agreements cover wages, benefits and overall working conditions, such as health and safety. Local issues pertaining to each facility are negotiated separately between local unions and management.

Both of the new master agreements improved wages and pensions and secured stable long-term health care coverage for employees at a time of upheaval in the paper industry, which has been battered by unfairly traded imports, declin-ing global demand for paper and challenging prices for raw materials and finished products.

International Vice President Jon Geenen, who heads the USW’s paper sector, praised members and local union leaders at the USW IP sites for their high level of engagement during the negotiations.

Collective bargaining in the paper industry has evolved since the USW-PACE merger in 2005 toward a model of strategic coordination that has given members more control over the agenda.

“The strength of our local union leadership has enabled us to continue making progress in an economy and industry that has seen significant challenges,” Geenen said.

The first of two master agreements, a six-year pact cover-ing over 6,000 workers at 18 IP paper mills, was approved by a nearly 4-to-1 margin in April.

A separate master agreement covering 2,800 plus work-ers at 53 IP converter plants was ratified by a 10-to-1 margin at the end of May. Converting plants fabricate products like envelopes, paper bags, boxes and containers from paper pro-duced in the mills.

The newly ratified IP contracts are third-generation master agreements that build on the progress made in the previous two rounds of coordinated bargaining.

Pay rates differ in the mills and converting plants, but both of the master agreements included general wage increases of 2.5 percent in each of the first three years and 2 percent in each of the final three years.

IP agreed to increase defined benefit pension plan multi-pliers in both agreements – a meaningful gain in an era when many employers are eliminating defined benefit pension plans altogether or refusing to give increases in benefit multipliers.

The contracts maintain quality health care coverage with some changes, giving IP members long-term stability through the life of the agreements while health care reform in the United States develops. Wellness initiatives were introduced.

Cost-sharing percentages for health care coverage in both master agreements continue to be frozen at the current 20 per-cent level for employees and 80 percent for the corporation.

“The mill and converter master agreements are another substantial step forward,” said International Secretary-Trea-surer Stan Johnson.

“These agreements provide our members earnings, benefit and retirement protections throughout their terms and should provide for stable, secure and efficient operations going

Anaheim, Calif. Atlanta (Forest Park), Ga.Arden Hills, Minn.Barrington, N.J.Bay Minette, Ala.Bellmawr, N.J.Biglerville, Pa.Binghamton, N.Y.Bogalusa, La.Butler, Ind.Carrollton, TexasCharlotte, N.C.Cleveland, Tenn.Dallas, TexasDes Plaines, Ill.Eaton, OhioEdinburg, TexasEighty Four, Pa.Fond du Lac, Wis.

Ft. Wayne, Ind.,Georgetown, S.C.Gilroy, Calif.Grand Prairie, Texas (Bag)Grand Prairie, Texas (Box)Hazelton, Pa.Houston, Miss.Lynchburg, Va.Magnolia, Miss.Manitowoc, Wis.Marion, OhioMcAllen, TexasMiddletown, OhioMilltown, N.J.Morristown, Tenn.Mt. Carmel, Pa.Mt. Vernon, OhioNewton, N.C.

Olive Branch, Miss.Omaha, Neb.Orlando, Fla.Petersburg, Va.Richmond, Va.San Antonio, TexasSanta Fe Springs, Calif.Savannah, Ga.Shakopee, Minn.Spotswood, N.J.Springhill, La.Springhill, La. (C&D)St. Anthony, Ind.St. Louis, Mo.Statesville, N.C.Thorofare, N.J.Three Rivers, Mich.Waterloo, IowaWooster, Ohio

Augusta, Ga.Bogalusa, La.Franklin, Va.Georgetown, S.C.Newport, Ind.Orange, Texas

Pensacola, Fl.Pine Hill, Ala.Prattville, Ala.Red River, La.Riegelwood, N.C.Riverdale, Ala.

Rome, Ga.Savannah, Ga.Texarkana, TexasTiconderoga, N.Y.Valliant, Okla.Vicksburg, Miss.

The converter master agreement covers the following locations:

The mill master agreement covers the following locations represented by the USW, the IBEW, IAM, IBB and UA:

forward for both USW members and International Paper.”The IP Converter Bargaining Council has undergone sig-

nificant changes since negotiating its first master agreement with IP in 2008. After IP acquired Weyerhaeuser’s packaging business for $6 billion that year, the council welcomed and bargained Weyerhaeuser locals into the master agreement.

The converter council then negotiated a second converter master agreement and, after IP acquired Temple Inland, integrated those locals into the contract. There are now 56 IP converter locations covered by the master agreement.

To accomplish our strategic objectives in the 2014 round of talks, the bargaining councils late last year decided to move up negotiations for new master agreements by several months.

That accomplished the goal of having the master agree-ments and separate pension council agreements expire much closer to one another than they previously did. Harmonizing the expiration dates makes sense because wages, pensions and insurance are integral parts of the overall compensation package.

Local unions at IP found some appeal in doing the agree-ments early since the industry has been in a state of flux, and IP is expected to also see some significant changes in the coming years.

The longer term of the agreements brings more stabil-ity and ultimately benefits IP workers, their families and the company, while setting a higher bar for the rest of the indus-try.

In addition, the bargaining environment was positive in terms of the company’s financial position, as was the level of engagement on the shop floor – a good place to start a posi-tive discussion.

USW photos by Steve DietzWorkers at the IP plant in Bogalusa, La.

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In June, USW members voted by secret ballot to ratify a five-year agreement that raises wages for 6,100 workers at

Alcoa and preserves health and pension benefits that the aluminum maker unsuccessfully sought to change.

The USW negotiating commit-tee beat back the company’s initial demands made when talks opened in April for cuts in health care benefits, elimination of defined benefit pensions for new hires and establishment of a temporary work force.

“These were difficult negotia-tions,” International President Leo W. Gerard said. “Alcoa tested our membership, but they stuck together, stood up and rejected any concessions or two-tier proposals.”

Members approved the settle-ment overwhelmingly in voting held June 5 and 6. Negotiators for the union and company had reached a tentative agreement in Pittsburgh late on May 15 as the last pact, a four-year deal, was expiring.

“This agreement includes significant wage increases in each year of the contract which won’t be eroded by rising health care premiums or unexpected medical expenses,” said International Vice President Tom Conway, who led the negotiations for the USW.

“It reflects the contributions Alcoa’s employees have made to the company and its prospects for growth.”

Pact expires in 2019The agreement is retroactive to

May 16, 2014, and expires on May 15, 2019. It covers members of 11 local unions at 10 Alcoa plants in Warrick and Lafayette, Ind.; Point Comfort and Rockdale, Texas; Davenport, Iowa; Badin, N.C.; Alcoa, Tenn.; Wenatchee, Wash.; Massena, N.Y., and Gum Springs, Ark.

The agreement provides a ratifi-cation bonus of $1,000 and general wage increases each year that aver-age $3.22 per hour, or 14.2 percent, over the life of the contract.

As a result of the strong stance

taken by the bargaining committee, the contract preserves active and retiree health care benefits, with no increases in deductibles, copays or coinsurance. There also are no changes to health care contribution rates for active or retired employ-ees.

Retiree health care benefits and premiums remain unchanged for five years thanks to a Retiree Health Care Account established in previous negotiations.

The agreement includes an increase in the defined benefit pen-sion formula multiplier of $2 per month per year of service. Funding was improved for a performance pay plan and an innovative new benefit was included for Alcoa em-ployees who suffer severe burns.

Members show unityUSW members supported their

negotiators with a strong show of unity, starting with informational picket lines in April when the talks began and a strike authorization vote held when negotiations went down to the wire.

“The solidarity and determi-nation of our members – along with their activism and ability to mobilize – made this agreement possible,” Gerard said.

Alcoa said the new contract gives the global company labor stability as it continues to revamp a business impacted by world oversupply of aluminum smelting capacity.

The company has cut smelt-ing capacity around the world and invested money in growth areas, such as sheet products for the automotive industry and parts for aircraft. Those investments include $575 million to expand plants in Alcoa, Tenn., and in Davenport, Iowa.

Throughout the negotiations, USW members showed manage-ment they were prepared to hold their ground.

Jeremy Kaye, a member of Local 115 and 16-year employee at Lafayette, expressed the sentiments of many when he wore a shirt that read: “The Concession Stand is Closed.”

USW photo by Steve Dietz Molten metal in Warrick, Ind.

Angie White, a member of Local 105 at Alcoa’s Davenport, Iowa, Works, prepares to vote.Photo courtesy of Quad-City Times

Workers at Alcoa’s facility in Warrick, Ind.

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In 2012, as the USW was engaged in public disputes with China over unfair trade practices, a People’s Liberation Army soldier hacked into the union’s computers and stole sensitive e-mail correspondence.

The alleged thief, Capt. Wen Xinyu, was one of five Chinese military officers indicted in May by the U.S. Depart-ment of Justice for breaking into the computer systems of five American companies and the USW.

“Foreign competitors are stopping at nothing to steal our information, flood our markets and take our jobs,” said U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), who expressed alarm at the al-legations.

The 31-count indictment issued on May 19 is an escala-tion of U.S. government efforts to combat Chinese state-sponsored espionage and the first time it has publicly accused employees of a foreign power with cybercrimes.

The Justice Department’s decision to charge Chinese officers was approved at high levels of government and was undertaken, department officials told the Washington Post, because talks had brought little progress.

Diplomacy and criminal prosecution are both part of a broad strategy by the Obama administration to hold China ac-countable for an apparently growing campaign of commercial cyber-spying.

“For too long, the Chinese government has blatantly sought to use cyber espionage to obtain economic advantage for its state-owned industries,” FBI Director James B. Comey said.

Among those named as victims were the USW and three firms that employ USW members – U.S. Steel, Allegheny Technologies (ATI) and Alcoa. Also named were Westing-house Electric Co. and SolarWorld.

The USW called the situation very troubling. “We take it very seriously,” a spokesman said.

Aggressive response demandedU.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the range of trade

secrets and other sensitive business information stolen in the case was significant and demanded an aggressive response.

“This administration will not tolerate actions by any na-tion that seeks to illegally sabotage American companies and undermine the integrity of fair competition in the operation of the free market,” Holder told a news conference in Washing-ton.

As expected, the allegations elicited strong denials from the Chinese government, which dismissed the case as fabri-cated and warned it would jeopardize diplomatic and com-mercial relations.

The indictment suggests that the USW, the nation’s largest industrial union, and several of the named companies were victims of retaliation by the Chinese government for seeking enforcement of international trade rules.

In the years since China was admitted to the World Trade Organization in 2001, the USW has used every available legal avenue to enforce international trade laws to protect mem-bers’ living standards from predatory practices such as illegal export subsidies and dumping.

“At the time of these computer intrusions by the Chinese

military, U.S. Steel, the Steelworkers, ATI and other compa-nies were involved in trade disputes to redress dumping by China’s state-owned steel companies through accepted inter-national dispute resolution mechanisms,” said David Hickton, the United States Attorney for the Western District of Penn-sylvania. “The success of these entities in trade litigation also made them targets.”

USW trade casesIn 2012, when the indictment says the USW’s systems

were compromised, the union was involved in trade cases involving China’s auto parts exports and its control of rare earth metals.

The indictment alleges Wen stole e-mails from senior USW employees containing “sensitive, non-public and delib-erative information about USW strategies,” including those related to pending trade disputes.

SolarWorld, a leading solar products manufacturing com-pany, lost technological secrets, production cost data, cash flow projections and details of its legal strategies to hacking in 2012 at about the same time the U.S. Department of Com-merce found that Chinese solar product manufacturers had dumped products into the U.S. market at below fair-market value.

Westinghouse, one of the world’s leading developers of nuclear power technology, was hacked for trade secrets while it was building four of its AP1000 power plants in China and negotiating construction terms.

Alcoa, the nation’s largest aluminum producer, was the victim of an email fraud in February 2008, about three weeks after it announced a partnership with a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Thousands of e-mail messages and attachments were stolen.

More than 2,500 delegates, representing local unions from across the United States and Canada will

attend the United Steelworkers 2014 Constitutional Convention this August in Las Vegas.

The convention will open at 10 a.m., Monday, Aug. 11, at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, and conclude by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 14. Registration will open on Saturday, Aug. 9.

International President Leo W. Gerard will lead the proceedings at the MGM Grand Marquee Ballroom, which will be outfitted with a large stage and multi-media screens to ensure that all of the delegates and invited guests from around the world will have a great view.

Enlarged images of USW members on the job will be placed around the convention hall and adjoining spaces to act as directional signs and to celebrate the rich diversity of work performed by the membership.

Working unionThe theme of the convention this

year is “A Union That Works,” reflect-ing a return to the basics of organizing new members, servicing current mem-

bers and expanding participation in both the union and politics to further the fight for a better future.

“Stand Up, Fight Back,” was the defiant convention theme three years ago in 2011, when the economy and working families were still reeling from a global recession considered to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

“If you look at what was accom-plished by standing up and fighting back, as tough as times are and as tough as they were, we made progress,” Ge-rard said.

Held every three years, the Consti-tutional Convention is the USW’s top governing body. Delegates will debate and pass policy resolutions submitted by local unions and International leader-ship that will guide the union’s direction until the next convention in 2017.

Last conventionAt the last convention, delegates

adopted measures calling for USW members to work tirelessly to re-elect President Obama, to replace the anti-union majorities in state legislatures and elect strong pro-labor majorities in the U.S. House and Senate. They also

unanimously voted to retain the current dues structure.

The USW signed a solidarity agree-ment with Los Mineros, the Mexican metal and mineworkers union, reaffirm-ing the commitment to build a union for all of North America.

The USW and UNITE HERE also agreed to a strategic alliance under which the two unions work together in Canada on issues of common interest.

Union Plus, the AFL-CIO benefits program, is co-sponsoring the “Workers Helping Workers” concert on Wednes-day night during convention week.

Text “STEEL” to 22555 by Aug. 14, and Union Plus will make a $1 dona-tion on your behalf to the Steelworkers Charitable and Educational Organiza-tion (SCEO) Disaster Relief Fund.

With your help, the USW and Union Plus can be there for our members in their time of need.

Delegates at the 2011 USW Constitutional ConventionUSW photo by Steve Dietz

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The USW has launched a new trade case against Chinese-made tires that are once again surging into the United States at unfairly

low prices, undercutting domestic pro-ducers and American employment.

“We cannot stand idly by while China steals our jobs,” International President Leo W. Gerard said in announc-ing the action.

Petitions filed by the USW on June 3 with the U.S. International Trade Com-mission (ITC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce seek to have U.S. trade authorities impose anti-dumping and countervailing (subsidy) duties on pas-senger and light truck tires imported from China.

“Filing trade cases is not something we take lightly,” Gerard said. “We would prefer that countries live by the rules, but when our members are injured, we act.”

The petitions filed by the union under Sections 701 and 731 of the Trade Act of 1930 demonstrate that surging imports from China are aggressively subsidized by the Chinese government and dumped

in the U.S. market at prices below fair value. Domestic tire makers have been rapidly losing market share as a result.

This is the second time in five years that the USW has sought relief to pre-serve the domestic tire industry. In 2009, the USW filed a China-specific “safe-guard” action against Chinese passenger and light truck tires under Section 421 of U.S. trade law. It was the first and only such successful action in history where relief was provided to a petitioning party.

U.S. market targetedAt a preliminary hearing on June 24,

the USW argued that the huge upsurge in Chinese tire imports since the Section 421 tariffs ended in September 2012 was evidence of the need for duties.

With China no longer subject to Sec-tion 421 relief, it has once again targeted the U.S. market, with exports to the United States skyrocketing to more than 50.8 million tires last year, an all-time high. In the first quarter of 2014 alone, tires imported from China surged an ad-ditional 24 percent.

Mark Williams, president of Local 351L at the Michelin plant in Tusca-loosa, Ala., testified that the layoffs of 100 workers there in 2013 were directly attributable to unfair competition from China.

Tuscaloosa built 16,500 tires a day in early 2012 before production began declining as the Section 421 tariffs were ending. After the layoffs, production fell to 9,500 tires a day while excess inven-tory was depleted.

“We have now crept up to 12,000 tires a day, but that is still less than 75 percent of what we produced when the safeguard was in place,” Williams testified.

Predictably, lawyers representing the Chinese industry claimed there was no correlation between Chinese imports and employment troubles at American tire factories.

Deadlines setCommerce will make its determina-

tion on whether to initiate investigation on July 14 after completing polling analysis of support for the USW peti-

tions. Assuming that the Commerce De-partment will find that there is adequate support for the initiation, the ITC will then conclude the preliminary phase of its investigation.

Specifically, the ITC has a July 22 vote set on whether there is a reasonable indication that the domestic industry is materially injured or threated with injury by the imports claimed to be dumped and subsidized. If the ITC votes yes, the Commerce Department will proceed to investigate the extent of dumping and subsidization that is occurring.

The ITC will then conduct a final injury investigation next year. Import re-lief requires final affirmative determina-tions by both the ITC and the Commerce Department. If the Commission makes a negative determination on July 22, the investigations terminate.

In the four years prior to the now-expired 2009 tariffs, imports from China skyrocketed from 14.6 million to 46 million tires, causing significant harm to the U.S. tire industry with multiple plant closures and job losses.

“President Obama supported our ef-fort, and during the period that relief was

in place Chinese tire imports declined to roughly half of the pre-surge level,” said International Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson, who heads the Rubber/Plastics Industry Council. “Unfortunately, China is at it again.”

When the USW filed its first trade case, it asked that the relief be provided in the form of quotas. The ITC agreed with the USW’s position, but decided that tariffs would be a better response.

President Obama imposed three years of relief with tariffs of 35 percent the first year, 30 percent the second year and 25 percent in the third year. Those tariffs succeeded in restoring production, market share and employment to the U.S. tire sector.

U.S. market targetedThe USW petitions demonstrate that

there is massive dumping of Chinese tires in the U.S. market at below fair market prices.

Dumping margins, the difference between the fair price and the prices charged for export, are as high as 92 percent, while publicly available price information from retailers indicates Chinese tires are undercutting U.S.-made

tires by margins of 12 to 40 percent. “Simply put, China is stealing Ameri-

can jobs, and we intend to fight for every one of those jobs,” Gerard said.

The USW’s petitions identify 41 dif-ferent subsidy programs available to tire producers in China, including numerous export subsidies that are prohibited under international trading rules.

“China is expanding its industry and has targeted the U.S. market as the place to dump product and subsidize sales,” International Vice President Tom Con-way said. “As China expands production and increases employment in this sector, it is our workers who pay the price with job losses.”

China’s share of the U.S. market grew from about 9 percent in 2011 to more than 18 percent last year. At the same time, domestic tire producers saw their share of the U.S. market fall.

If those trends continue, the USW estimates that U.S. producers may lose another 10 million tire shipments this year. Such a loss would be enough to put any of a number of U.S. facilities, and many USW members’ jobs, in jeopardy.

Chinese workers transport tires at the Hankook Tire factory in Jiaxing city, Zhejiang province, China. (Imaginechina via AP Images)

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In a victory for Steelworkers who ral-lied with supporters to save their jobs, the U.S. Department of Commerce has reversed itself and imposed duties on

low-cost South Korean oil pipe.On July 11, the Commerce Department

declared that South Korean steel companies and those in seven other countries were illegally dumping pipe and tubing into the United States at below fair-market cost. The decision, subject to ratification by the U.S. International Trade Commission in August, paves the way for tariffs.

“With this decision, the U.S. Com-merce Department listened to thousands of hard-working Americans and took a stand for fairness on behalf of those workers and their employers,” International President Leo W. Gerard said.

The ruling reversed a preliminary decision by the Commerce Department in February that took no action against South Korea even though it is the largest source of dumped oil country tubular goods (OCTG).

South Korea produces virtually all of its OCTG for export, almost exclusively to un-dercut U.S. manufacturers, said Internation-al Vice President Tom Conway, secretary of the USW Basic Steel Industry Conference.

“South Korea is not using one inch of this product,” he added.

Members protest decisionIn response to the February ruling,

USW members joined forces with steel company managers and political allies to protest the decision and persuade Com-merce to recognize the damaging impact of South Korea’s dumping.

The USW and the Alliance for Ameri-

can Manufacturing (AAM) organized six “Stand up for Steel Jobs” rallies at steel and mining communities nationwide in addition to lobbying in Washington.

By the time the decision came on July 11, unfairly priced imports had already killed 1,000 steel jobs. Failure to impose the duties threatened as many as 500,000 in the overall economy, according to a study issued in May by the Economic Policy Institute.

Gerard commended the Commerce Department for recognizing its earlier error and finally “getting it right.” He said the ruling was long overdue.

“This practice has already caused seri-ous harm to our domestic industry,” Gerard said. “Plants are being idled, workers are losing jobs and communities are suffering.”

Furloughs announcedIn June, U.S. Steel announced plans

to idle tube operations in Pennsylvania and Texas, leading to indefinite furlough for 265 union members. The facilities, in McKeesport, Pa., and Bellville, Texas, are scheduled to close in August.

That same month, U.S. Steel CEO Ma-rio Longhi joined Gerard and other industry leaders who testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee about the importance of trade law enforcement and protecting good jobs.

“Government must set priorities,” Ge-rard told the panel. “To me manufacturing has to be the single most important focus of our trade enforcement.”

Nearly all of the USW members at the McKeesport pipe mill attended a Stand Up for Steel Jobs rally, not knowing then that their plant would be targeted for closure a

few weeks later.Local 5852 President Mark Fronczek said

the McKeesport facility had recently begun to “turn the corner” after a few difficult years and could be thriving if not for the effects of unfair trade.

“We have a great work force,” added McKeesport plant Manager John Blozik. “We can fairly compete with anybody in the world.”

Keep it Made in AmericaIn addition to the Pennsylvania event,

members rallied in Lorain, Ohio; Granite City, Ill.; Fairfield, Ala.; Lone Star, Texas, and Virginia, Minn.

In Granite City, hundreds of USW mem-bers and allies held signs that read “Save our Steel Jobs” and “Keep it Made in America.” They chanted, “Jobs!” and “American steel!” as speakers called on the Commerce Depart-ment to reverse its recommendation.

At the rally in Lorain, U.S. Sen. Sher-rod Brown (D-Ohio) and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) told those in attendance that ensuring fair trade is essential to maintaining a solid middle class.

“This fight for fair trade is the biggest economic fight of our generation,” Kaptur said.

U.S. Steel has invested $100 million in the Lorain plant since 2010, but was forced to lay off 73 workers there earlier this year as a result of unfairly priced imports.

“Lorain can compete and win against anyone in the world if the playing field is fair,” said John Wilkinson, plant manager for U.S. Steel’s tubular operations at Lorain, Ohio, 30 miles west of Cleveland.

In Alabama, U.S. Reps. Robert Aderholt, Terri Sewell and Spencer Bachus joined Dis-trict 9 Director Daniel Flippo and Local 1013 President David Clark.

Minnesota final stopThe final stop of the campaign was June

23 in Minnesota, where more than 2,000 USW members and allies stood united while Gov. Mark Dayton pledged his support and promised to take their concerns directly to President Obama.

Talk show host Ed Schultz was in Minne-sota for the rally and used several segments of his show that week to raise awareness about the issue.

The issue of fair trade is one on which Democrats and Republicans, unions and managers should agree, said AAM Director Scott Paul.

In the GOP stronghold of Lone Star, Texas, Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall told the audience that he would never stop work-

ing to save American jobs.“We just have to keep the pressure on,”

Hall said.Bob Territ, who works in central mainte-

nance at U.S. Steel’s Irvin plant near Pitts-burgh, said he has seen a number of similar battles against unfair trade in his 36 years as a steelworker.

Territ, a trustee of Local 2227, said work-ers with families depend on the good jobs that steel mills provide. They shouldn’t have to hold rallies to convince leaders in Wash-ington about the importance of taking action, he said.

“We elect these people,” Territ said. “They are supposed to be working for us, and we have to fight them to save our own jobs.”

Fighting backThe rallies were just one way in which

USW members fought back. Former U.S. Army Specialist Steve Korotko, former U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Chad Cramer and former U.S. Army Corporal Mike Grillo, who work for U.S. Steel in Braddock, Pa., near Pittsburgh, appealed to Americans’ patrio-tism, appearing in a poster under the head-line: “We Served Our Country. Help Us Fight for Our Jobs.”

The poster image was aimed at generating petition signatures to pressure leaders in the House and Senate to support action on trade.

A majority of the U.S. Senate stood on the side of American workers. Fifty-seven members, including 14 Republicans, signed a letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker in May calling for duties on South Korean steel pipe. About 150 members of the House signed a similar letter.

“We are proud that more than 200 mem-bers of Congress, including a majority of the Senate and over one-third of the House, voiced objections to the preliminary findings that South Korea was not breaking the law, Gerard said. “We thank them for their leader-ship.”

Even with such strong bipartisan support, USW members did not take the Commerce Department’s decision for granted, continu-ing to make their voices heard on trade.

“Enough is enough,” said Dan Voor-hees of Local 1104 in Lorain. “We need to stand up, fight back and save our jobs.”

Gerard said he was thankful that labor and management worked together to demand fair play.

“Still, enforcing our laws should not be a hard-earned reward,” Gerard said. “It’s time for all of our leaders in Washington to stand with us and fight hard for fair – not just free – trade.”

Fairfield

Mon Valley

Granite City

Lorain

USW Photos by Ike Gittlen

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The U.S. Department of Com-merce cleared the way for tariffs on imports of grain-oriented electrical steel from

China, Russia, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Poland and the Czech Republic.

In a preliminary decision issued in May, the department ruled that the seven countries were selling, or dumping, grain-oriented electrical steel in the U.S. market at unfairly low prices.

“The USW appreciates the decision by the Commerce Department, which will ultimately help save hundreds of family-supporting jobs in this important American industry,” International Presi-dent Leo W. Gerard said.

Grain-oriented electrical steel is manufactured using a specialized rolling and annealing process that yields grain structures that are uniformly oriented in the rolling - or lengthwise - direction of the product. It is used primarily in large and medium-sized power transformers.

AK, Ludlum, USW file complaintsThe investigation began last October

in response to complaints filed by the USW and two steel producers, AK Steel Corp. and Allegheny Ludlum, a unit of Allegheny Technologies Inc.

The Commerce Department said it would instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to require cash deposits from

foreign producers based on dumping margins it said ranged from 5.3 percent to 241.9 percent.

The preliminary findings came about seven months after the U.S. Interna-tional Trade Commission (ITC) found that the imports posed a threat to U.S. producers.

Presuming that the Commerce De-partment affirms the dumping margins in a report due on Sept. 15, the case will go back to the ITC for a final determina-tion on injury to U.S. producers. That decision is due by Oct. 29.

The American steel industry is facing its worst im-port crisis in more than a decade. A flood of cheap foreign products and rising excess global capacity is putting 500,000 jobs in jeopardy.

A report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and Stew-art & Stewart, the USW’s trade counsel in Washington, D.C., documents how foreign competitors, often supported by their governments, are building up capacity and shipping products around the globe.

The large, open U.S. market is the prime target for steel made with this excess production capacity, estimated by the study at over half a billion metric tons. That’s twice the vol-ume of the excess capacity that existed in the last steel import crisis that followed the Asian financial crisis more than a decade ago.

“This report should be a wake-up call to Congress and the

Obama administration,” said International President Leo W. Gerard. “The U.S. steel sector supports up to half a million U.S. jobs, which are at risk without strong action against ris-ing excess global capacity and a flood of unfairly priced and traded steel imports swamping our market.”

While the jobs at risk are primarily Steelworker jobs, the employment of thousands of other Americans depends on the steel industry, including those who supply materials, ship products and fabricate steel into countless applications.

“Having the industry and so many jobs at risk is unaccept-able at any time, but as our manufacturing sector and econ-omy continues to dig out of the Great Recession, it is now a crisis,” Gerard said.

The excess capacity plaguing the industry largely stems from massive government support and direct government involvement in the steel industry in other countries.

While China accounts for more than a third of global excess capacity, the report notes that there is also significant overcapacity in South Korea, India and elsewhere.

“China is certainly the main culprit in rising capacity and unfairly traded imports, but their approach is being copied by other countries such as India and South Korea,” Gerard said.

Typically, these governments view their steel industries as strategic enterprises, important to grow regardless of whether or not they make a profit. They support them with grants, tax breaks, subsidized loans, debt forgiveness and low-cost mate-rials, among other incentives.

This leads to increases in steelmaking capacity driven not by customer demand but national concerns. The surplus is then exported at below-market costs.

In a victory for U.S. auto parts workers, the World Trade Organi-zation (WTO) ruled against China in a dispute over its imposition of

punitive tariffs on American-made cars and sport utility vehicles.

International President Leo W. Ge-rard applauded the decision on behalf of 350,000 USW members who make prod-ucts used in vehicles, including steel, aluminum, glass, tires and plastics.

“The auto sector and the supply chain that supports it is one of America’s most important job engines,” Gerard said. “It’s time for China to start playing by the rules.”

A WTO dispute resolution panel spent more than a year reviewing argu-ments before ruling in May that China violated international trade rules in 2011 when it imposed anti-dumping and countervailing (anti-subsidy) tariffs on large-engine family vehicles made in the United States.

China has repeatedly violated in-ternational trade rules since joining the WTO in 2001, and, the USW contends, its protectionist policies continue to rob America of export opportunities and jobs while it expects the United States to keep its market open.

“China’s unfair trade practices have left behind too many shattered workers’ dreams, shuttered factories and hollowed out communities,” Gerard said. “China continues to wage war on America’s manufacturing sector and workers.”

The Chinese government’s decision to impose duties of up to 21.5 percent on large American-made cars and sport utility vehicles appeared to be part of a high-stakes game of tit for tat with the United States.

In 2009, the U.S. government, acting on petitions filed by the USW, imposed anti-dumping tariffs of as much as 35 percent on Chinese-made tires that had flooded the American market. China challenged the move with the WTO but lost.

Beijing retaliated with the car tariffs in 2011 a week after the Obama admin-istration announced it would file a WTO case against Chinese restrictions on imports of American chicken products.

China was also irritated by a U.S. Department of Commerce decision a few months earlier to begin a broad anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation of solar panels from China. That investi-gation led to steep tariffs the next year.

The vehicle tariffs were applied for two years to well-known General Mo-tors and Chrysler products including the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Jeep Wran-gler, the Buick Enclave, the Cadillac Escalade and others.

Significant victoryAbout $5.1 billion in exports were

affected, or roughly two thirds of the $8.5 billion worth of U.S. auto exports to China, the second largest foreign mar-ket for U.S. automakers after Canada.

“This is a significant victory,” U.S. Trade Rep. Michael Froman said in an-nouncing the WTO panel’s decision.

“Americans deserve to compete on a fair and level playing field, and we will never stop fighting to ensure that our trading partners live up to the commit-ments they made in our international trade agreements,” he added.

The United States pressed the WTO to declare that China had misapplied anti-dumping and anti-subsidy rules in imposing the tariffs on vehicles. The goal was to limit China’s ability to impose similar duties on other products without following the rules.

China contended that the govern-

ment-managed bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler during the Great Recession had the effect of providing prohibited export subsidies.

In its ruling, the WTO panel of ex-perts agreed that China’s duties violated the trade organization’s rules. They determined China had failed to first prove that the imports caused injury to its domestic manufacturers as required by international trade rules.

Third U.S. WTO winThe ruling was the third time in

recent history where the United States prevailed in a WTO dispute challenging China’s unjustified use of trade rem-edies.

“The message is clear. China must follow the rules, just like other WTO members,” Froman said at a press con-ference with U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and U.S. Rep. Sandy Levin, also a Democrat from Michigan.

Stabenow, co-chair of the Senate Manufacturing Caucus, called the ruling a “major victory” for American workers and said it was another blow to China’s continued illegal trade practices.

“It is long past time China recognizes that its repeated attempts to flout the rules will not be tolerated,” she added. “Strong enforcement actions like this one are essential to the ongoing resur-gence of American manufacturing.”

Worker on job at Chinese auto factory

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Health and safety is an im-portant priority for all USW members, but for Pat Avila, an intensive care unit nurse

for 25 years, it has been a lifelong mis-sion.

At Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJ) in New Brunswick, N.J., Avila works with her fellow Local 4-200 members and hospital manage-ment to make sure workers are employ-ing the most up-to-date safety devices and that members consistently receive the latest training on the best patient care and personal safety practices.

“A lot of it is nurse-driven,” Avila said of the hospital’s focus on safety.

“We are not just taking reports and treating injuries – we’re making sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

That worker-led focus on health and safety is one reason why RWJ is a regular on U.S. News & World Report’s list of “America’s Best Hospitals” and why the facility – and its staff of about 1,400 USW members – has been able to reduce needle-stick injuries by 70 percent since 2010.

The hospital’s director of employee health and wellness, Doris L. Dicristina, shared that success story in a recent article in the Journal of the Association of Occupational Health Professionals in Healthcare.

Needle-stick injuries, one of the most common safety issues for hospital workers, can lead to HIV, hepatitis and other bloodborne diseases. The Occu-pational Safety and Health Administra-tion (OSHA) estimates that 5.6 million American workers are at risk of infec-tion via needle injuries, and 1,000 of them sustain such injuries each day.

Inadequate safety controlsAs they sought to address those

numbers, RWJ hospital management soon realized that inadequate safety controls – not worker errors – were the problem.

“Our first instinct in 2010 was to Republic Steel will work

with the USW to find and fix workplace hazards as part of a $2.4 million settle-

ment with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to abate health and safety violations.

The settlement, signed on April 28, Workers’ Memorial Day, covers more than 100 OSHA citations resulting from inspections at Republic facilities in Canton, Massillon and Lorain, Ohio, and its Lackawanna plant in Blasdell, N.Y.

It also resolves contested OSHA citations related to a dangerous flash of electric current through the air at Lorain last June and a case brought last August alleging numerous fall hazards at Canton. Workers at Canton were exposed to falls of up to 30 feet above a slag pit and 20 feet above an electric arc furnace and molten steel ladle.

“This is a terrific agreement and it clearly shows the value of strong OSHA enforcement,” said David McCall, director of District 1 in Ohio and chair of the USW’s Republic Steel bargaining committee.

The USW was involved in the settle-ment negotiations, which took place over a period of almost seven months. The agreement took effect on May 1, a few days after it was signed.

A comprehensive injury and illness prevention program that goes beyond accepted compliance with OSHA standards is included in the settlement, McCall said.

Republic agreed to hire additional health and safety staff, conduct internal safety and health inspections with USW representatives and implement a pro-gram to identify and correct hazardous working conditions.

“This new program gives us the tools to correct problems and creates a model system for preventing injuries and illnesses,” McCall said. “It will

lead to a safer company and to a stron-ger one.”

The agreement also requires Repub-lic’s management to hire third-party auditors to monitor and ensure that hazards are identified and improve-ments are made. The company must meet quarterly with OSHA to assure the agreement’s implementation.

In addition to the $2.4 million fine, Republic agreed to pay additional penalty amounts in the event there is substantial non-compliance with the agreement.

Inspections expandedOSHA initiated the inspections last

fall in response to a serious injury to an employee who fell through the roof of a building at the Lorain plant.

The agency expanded inspections to all Republic facilities under its Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which focuses on recalcitrant employers that endanger workers by committing will-ful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations.

The company agreed to fix all safety and health hazards identified by OSHA, including willful and serious violations for failure to provide required fall pro-tection, failure to implement lockout/tag out procedures to protect workers who service or maintain machines, and failure to provide protective guards on hazardous machinery.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez said his department looks forward to working with Republic to ensure that it lives up to its commitment to improve workplace safety.

“By agreeing to the terms of this set-tlement, Republic Steel has demonstrat-ed a commitment to change its culture, invest in its employees and work with OSHA and the United Steelworkers to make significant changes at its facilities that will improve the safety and health of its workers,” Perez said.

retrain,” Dicristina wrote. “It became clear that retraining – although impor-tant – was not the solution and that the current engineering control was in fact the problem.”

To address that problem, the RWJ nursing staff worked with Dicristina and other hospital managers to research safety products for every sharp device the nurses might employ, from syringes and lancets to butterfly needles and IV insertion tips.

USW members tested the devices and then voted on which ones they thought worked the best. Retraining also was part of the effort, Avila said.

“The nurses tried everything,” said Avila, Local 4-200’s corresponding sec-retary and safety officer. “We don’t want anybody to get stuck with a needle and exposed to body fluids.”

Nurses at RWJ and elsewhere have worked hard for years to reduce injuries from needle sticks. In 2000, after nation-wide activism from nurses’ unions, Con-gress updated the OSHA standard for needle safety. The same year, the Cen-ters for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that as many as 88 percent of needle injuries could be prevented with the use of better safety devices.

Saving lives saves moneyRWJ has elected to employ the best

possible devices, despite added initial costs, Dicristina said. “Protecting and saving their lives was the focus and RWJ is now beginning to see the cost sav-ings,” she wrote.

Reducing needle injuries cuts the costs for testing and follow-up treatment of injured workers, which can run as much as $5,000 per injury, not to men-tion lost time from work and the mental toll the incidents can have on workers.

A nurse in this 2009 file photo prepares to give a patient a shot from an unprotected hypodermic needle. Photo by David Cheskin/ Press Association via AP images

RWJ nurse safely disposes of a used needle.

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It must be great to be a CEO.A new report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows that

CEOs of America’s largest corporations were paid an average of $15.2 million last year – 296 times more than the typical worker.

On the rise for decades, CEO pay has exploded by 937 percent since 1978 when adjusted for inflation. That’s more than double the gains made by the stock market. It even outpaces what the top 0.1 percent of wage earners made.

While CEO pay reached the stratosphere, the typical worker saw his or her compensation grow by a painfully slow 10.2 percent during the same period since 1978.

Not unexpectedly, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio has widened considerably.

The ratio of CEO pay to that of a typical worker was 20-to-1 back in 1965 and 29.9-to-1 in 1978. It grew to 122.6-to-1 by 1995 and peaked at 383.4-to-1 in 2000.

Last year, the ratio dropped somewhat to 296-to-1, down from the boom years of the 2000s, but up from the 193-to-1 ratio recorded during the depths of the Great Recession. The ratio last year was still far higher than anytime during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s or 1990s.

Tops the topAmong the top 0.1 percent of wage earners – those bringing in more than

99.9 percent of the working population – CEO compensation still looks out-rageous. According to the EPI, average CEO compensation in 2012 was 4.75 times greater than that of the average top 0.1 percent wage earner.

The data covers the 350 publicly owned companies with the largest an-nual revenue in the United States and includes the value of stock options exercised in a given year, up 2.8 percent since 2012 and 21.7 percent since 2010.

Facebook, the social media giant, was excluded from the calculations in 2012 and 2013, the only years the firm has been a public company, because its CEO made so much money the results would have been skewed. Face-book granted its CEO compensation of $2.3 billion in 2012 and $3.3 billion in 2013.

Because CEO pay grew so fast, EPI argued that the higher pay “does not indicate a growth of executives’ individual contribution to rising output.” In other words, higher CEO pay does not reflect greater executive productivity.

Accordingly, EPI said if CEOs earned less or were taxed more, “there would be no adverse impact on output or employment.”

The United States ranks in the bottom half of 139 countries in a workers’ rights comparison compiled by the International

Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), an umbrella group of labor unions around the world.

The ITUC, which has kept a data-base of labor rights violations for 30 years, measured the 139 countries against 97 internationally recognized indictors, including the ability to join unions, access to legal protections and due process, and freedom from violent conditions. It ranked each country on a scale of one to five plus, with one hav-ing the best protections and five plus, the worst.

“The guarantee of the free exercise of workers’ rights is also a guarantee of a more equal and a more prosper-ous society,” ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow, a former president of the Australian Council of Trade, said in the report’s foreword.

“When workers enjoy the freedom of a collective voice, can bargain for

safe workplaces and fair wages and conditions and are free from discrimina-tion, then productivity and economic growth can flourish.”

Collective bargaining rights are generally guaranteed in the 17 coun-tries ranked No. 1, including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Uruguay. Workers in those countries can freely associate, defend their rights against employers and the government and improve their conditions through collective bargaining. There are viola-tions but they don’t occur regularly.

Repeated attacksSecond-ranked countries, including

Japan, Hungary, Russia and Spain, have slightly weaker collective labor rights than those ranked at the top. Certain rights have come under repeated attack by government and employers, under-mining the struggle for better condi-tions, the report said.

Canada and the United Kingdom are among 33 countries that the ITUC

ranked third – a category in which government and/or companies regularly interfere with labor rights or fail to fully guarantee important aspects of these rights. There are regular deficiencies in laws and practice which make possible frequent violations.

The United States scored four, joining countries like El Salvador, Haiti, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Pakistan and Thailand where the ITUC found systematic violations of workers’ rights in the previous year.

The five and five plus rankings include countries where conditions are among the worst in the world. Even when labor legislation exists, workers in those countries have effectively no access to those rights. Libya, Palestine, Somalia, Ukraine and other countries ranked five plus have dysfunctional in-stitutions as a result of internal conflict or military occupation.

Burrow said workers everywhere are struggling for their right to collec-tive representation. “Abuses of rights are getting worse, not better, and too

many countries take no responsibility for protecting workers’ rights in a national context or through corporate supply chains,” she added.

Temporary or precarious work, subcontracting and other informal work arrangements are rapidly expanding in virtually all countries, the report said. Temporary workers are discouraged from joining unions by their unstable employment situation and the high risk of dismissal.

While the right to strike is recognized in most countries, the ITUC said laws and practices in at least 87 countries exclude certain workers from this right. Qatar and Saudi Arabia, for example, exclude migrant workers who make up some 90 percent of their work forces. At least 37 countries impose fines or imprisonment for legitimate and peaceful strikes.

In the 12-month period covered by the report, governments of at least 35 coun-tries arrested or imprisoned workers as a tactic to resist demands for democratic rights, decent wages, safer working con-ditions and secure jobs.

No guarantee of rights due tobreakdown of the rule of law

No guarantee of rights

Systematic violations of rights

Regular violations of rights

Repeated violations of rights

Irregular violations of rights

Source: Economic Policy Institute

Source: International Trade Union Confereration

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The Boston Taxi Drivers Asso-ciation (BTDA), an affiliate of the USW, is honking mad over non-union and unlicensed ride-

sharing services like Uber that connect with customers over smartphones.

BTDA members blowing their horns and chanting “Uber out!” took their complaints to the streets of Boston on May 22 with a rolling rally around Uber’s headquarters near South Station.

The 1,500-member BTDA is demand-ing that Uber and other services like it be banned from Boston until the city figures out how to regulate them like they do traditional cab companies and drivers.

Every day these unlicensed for-hire vehicles and drivers operate in Boston, the BTDA contends it puts at risk resi-dents, tourists and business passengers who assume that Uber drivers and ve-hicles are safe and the rates are fair.

“We can’t wait any longer to demand that Uber be shut down until it is properly regulated, until its drivers are vetted,” said BTDA staff representative Donna Blythe-Shaw. “We can’t wait any longer while they essentially deregulate the industry.”

The BTDA protest was the first major labor action in the United States against Uber, although calls for regulation of new Internet-enabled ride-sharing services have occurred elsewhere over the last few months in other U.S. cities including Pittsburgh, Houston and Austin, Texas, and Madison, Wis. Some states including California and Colorado have passed laws to regulate the services.

Protests in EuropeUber is being protested by cab driv-

ers around the world. On June 11, for example, cabbies walked off the job in several major European cities, snarling traffic in London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Barcelona, among others.

In Paris, drivers slowed to a snail’s pace in what they called “Operation Escargot.” Horns blared around Trafalgar Square in London not far from the Prime Minister’s residence, and in Berlin, taxis massed at Central Station.

In all of those cities, cab drivers argue

About 300 adjunct faculty members at Point Park University in Pittsburgh became

USW members in June when nearly 70 percent voted in favor of joining the Adjunct Faculty Asso-ciation of the USW (AFA-USW).

The Point Park teachers, the second group of adjunct instruc-tors to join the USW, filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in April to hold a mail ballot election. A total of 314 Point Park instructors were eligible to vote. The ballots were counted on June 25.

“The adjunct instructors have spoken very clearly with this vote,” International President Leo W. Gerard said. “Now it’s time for the Point Park administration to work with them to craft a fair collective bargaining agreement that provides the faculty with the benefits and basic protections that all workers deserve.”

Among the issues the instruc-tors hope to address in bargaining are a decade of wage stagnation as well as their lack of benefits, job security, office space and other tools needed to provide the quality education that Point Park students deserve.

Point Park instructor Sharon

Brady said the vote was a victory for the university’s teachers and their students.

“I am looking forward to working with the administration, with the support of the USW, to enhance both the adjuncts’ experience and their effectiveness for the students they serve,” said Brady, who has taught theater arts at the college for 13 years.

The Point Park instructors join adjuncts at Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University, who voted over-whelmingly in the spring of 2012 to join the AFA-USW. Duquesne at first agreed to abide by the election results before quickly reversing that decision, claiming a religious exemption from NLRB rules.

Adam Davis, an adjunct instructor who teaches at both Point Park and Duquesne, said the ultimate goal of the AFA-USW is to organize adjuncts at all colleges and universities across the Steel City and elsewhere.

“It’s really good to see a solid, decisive victory here,” Davis said, adding that low pay and second-rate treatment of adjunct faculty members is the rule – not the exception – in higher education. “It’s a problem everywhere.”

that Uber and similar ride-sharing com-panies like Lyft, Sidecar and eRideShare should be forced to comply with the same rules including licensing, insur-ance, driver training and background checks.

Traditional taxi drivers typically pay for insurance, gas and car rental fees from the taxi company. They go through training and follow laws that dictate where and when they can pick people up and how much they can charge passen-gers.

Uber, which in June completed a round of funding that valued the compa-ny at $18.2 billion, describes itself as a technology firm that makes mobile apps rather than a transportation company.

Regulation overhaul soughtThe customer uses the app to order

the car, track it to the pickup point and rate the drivers’ performance. Because Uber drivers provide their own vehicles, Uber doesn’t have the costs of cars, maintenance or driver insurance. It takes a 20 percent cut of the fare.

In Boston, many drivers would like a comprehensive and modernized over-haul of their regulations, which are now handled by the city police department’s Hackney Carriage Division.

Blythe-Shaw urged Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to bring both taxis and ride-sharing companies under the su-pervision of a civilian commission that would set across-the-board requirements for all. The commission, she suggested, could be composed of taxi drivers, busi-ness leaders, transportation experts and members of the elderly and disabled communities.

Boston driver Ahmed Farah partici-pated in the rally, holding high a sign urging that the current taxi regulators be replaced by a civilian commission.

“I believe that Hackney isn’t doing its job and it is failing the taxi industry,” Farah said. “I am suffering as a taxi driver. I believe by organizing with my Steelworkers union, the BTDA, we are making changes to end the suffering.”

Uber’s unlicensed work force has cut

the legitimate taxi business in Boston by 30 percent, the BTDA estimates. With-out a level playing field, BTDA believes traditional taxis will be driven out of business.

The city must demand more from companies like Uber including com-mercial drivers’ licenses for all drivers, driver vetting by the police department, twice-yearly vehicle inspections, posted pricing policies and the elimination of surge pricing where fares rise in periods of high demand, Blythe-Shaw said.

“People say this is good, old-fash-ioned competition,” Blythe-Shaw said. “But that’s nonsense because it’s not a level playing field.”

Taxi drivers would also like to be able to use a dispatching app like the one Uber developed, but Blythe-Shaw said current city regulations make that idea overly challenging.

The mayor, she said, has agreed to meet with the BTDA to discuss the issues raised by the association and its members.

Point Park University adjunct faculty members celebrate after voting to join the Adjunct Faculty Association of the USW.USW photo

Taxi driver Ahmed Farah carried a sign.Boston Globe photo by Aram Boghosian

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National Oil Bargaining: Save the Date!

The National Oil Bargaining Pro-gram Conference is scheduled for October 27 to 31 in Pitts-

burgh for local unions having member-ship in oil and related industry groups.

The conference will develop and set the agenda for the USW’s National

Oil Bargaining Program (NOBP), an industrywide bargaining pro-

gram that sets standards for improvements to pay, benefits

and health and safety. The next round of talks begins in January 2015.

More than 30,000 USW members work in oil refineries, pipelines and terminals across the country. Most of them participate in the oil bargaining program.

As the bargaining deadline ap-proaches, Steelworkers at oil refineries, pipelines and terminals are mobilizing for support at work, in their communi-ties and online to win a fair agreement.

Conference registration will open on Monday, Oct. 27. The conference starts Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 9 a.m. and will end on Friday, Oct. 31 after ratification of the council’s contract demands.

USW Rallies for Locked-Out Workers

Local union leaders from each of the USW’s 13 districts in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean rallied on June 19 in support of locked-

out workers at the Indspec chemical plant in Petrolia, Pa.Some 150 members of Local 6346-25 were locked

out of their jobs on April 5. They offered to continue working under terms of their expired contract while negotiations proceeded, but Indspec management locked them out instead.

Prior to the lockout, the plant enjoyed 38 years of labor peace. Over those years, workers made sacrifices to keep the plant viable as an employer.

The USW contingent planned the rally with commu-nity activists to take place in conjunction with the Local 6346-25 family day and picnic at the Petrolia Municipal Park.

Speakers at the rally urged Indspec, a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp., to end the lockout and negotiate a fair contract in good faith with the workers in Petrolia. Occidental reported over $6 bil-lion in sales during the 2014 first quarter.

Gerard Receives Degree

Brock University in St. Catha-rines, Ontario, awarded an hon-orary doctor of laws degree to

International President Leo W. Gerard in recognition of his unwavering com-mitment to social justice.

Gerard received the degree during Brock’s convocation ceremonies on June 5. He previously received honor-ary degrees from the University of Guelph and from Laurentian University in his hometown of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

Brock cited Gerard’s significant contributions to the advancement of workers’ interests, his unwavering com-mitment to social justice causes and his commitment to environmental justice, having long championed the transition to a clean and green economy.

In his convocation address, Gerard encouraged graduates to strive to “build a better world” by staying true to their values and remaining idealistic. “We can’t just sit back and let things hap-pen,” he said. “We’ve got to fight for the values that we hold dear.”

More States Restrict Voting

Since Republicans gained control of many state leg-islatures in the 2010 elections, 22 states — nearly all of them in the South and the Midwest — have

rolled out new restrictions on the right to vote. Voters in many of those states were protected by a

key section of the Voting Rights Act that covered parts of 16 states with histories of voter discrimination until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it last year, ac-cording to the Brennan School for Justice at New York University.

The new laws range from photo ID requirements to early voting cutbacks to voter registration restrictions and are aimed at reducing voter turnout.

USW Members Attend White House Summit

A delegation of 50 USW-represented workers joined other AFL-CIO union members at the White House Summit on Working Families with President Barack Obama, First Lady

Michelle Obama, Vice President Biden and Second Lady Jill Biden.The June summit brought together a coalition of more than 250

activists, particularly women, to focus on challenges facing working families and to raise awareness and mobilize support for collective action to address problems including equal pay, sick leave and fair workplace scheduling.

International President Leo W. Gerard said collective action is the best way for workers to advocate for change. “Through collec-tive advocacy, we’ve helped enact policies that give women equal opportunities as breadwinners and low-wage workers a better deal with a higher minimum wage, but collective action with a union contract is the best way to help all working families,” he said.

USW members who attended cited the value of strong union contracts with family benefits and workplace standards that are not guaranteed to those who work non-union jobs.

“Being in a union means that I can walk into my plant every day and know that as a woman, I will earn equal pay,” said Tiffaney Lewis, a clerical worker and Local 3267 member at Evraz Steel in Pueblo, Colo.

NLRB Says Novelis Broke Law in Oswego

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) charged alu-minum producer Novelis with violating labor laws in its response to worker efforts to organize 600 employees in

Oswego, N.Y.Novelis was charged with illegally threatening job loss, plant

closure and wage reductions and with providing benefits to em-ployees in order to dissuade them from voting to join the USW. The company is also accused of manipulating documents to make it ap-pear that the union was behind a plan to rescind those benefits.

The USW also represents workers at Novelis plants in Indiana, West Virginia and Ontario, Canada.

Billionaire Chooses Fines over Health Care

The USW criticized the management of PSC Metals, a subsidiary of Icahn En-terprises, for billionaire owner Carl Icahn’s refusal to negotiate a fair contract with the union or comply with the employer mandate provision of the Afford-

able Care Act (ACA).PSC Metals locked out more than 60 members of Local 3610-02 in Canton,

Ohio, on Feb. 1 in an attempt to force workers to accept deep economic concessions, including the elimination of all employee medical insurance benefits.

Under the ACA, employers that do not provide health insurance will be subject to a fine of $2,000 per worker starting in 2015.

“The ACA was never intended to be used by employers as an excuse to deprive workers of insurance,” said District 1 Director David McCall. “Yet Carl Icahn would rather pay the fine than negotiate a contract in Canton that includes fair pay and benefits.”

McCall called Icahn’s scheme to force PSC Metals employees into looking for subsidized benefits on the health care exchange an unnecessary burden on taxpayers and said that the union filed unlawful bargaining charges with the NLRB’s Region 8 over the company’s take-it-or-leave-it contract proposals.

McCall urged PSC Metals to end its lockout, return USW members to their jobs and reciprocate the union’s good faith while contract negotiations proceed.

USW members, their friends and families on June 7 held a food drive for Local 3610-02 members. Food, household supplies and money were donated.

Vista Metals Honored

Vista Metals Corp. of Fontana, Calif., whose workers are represented by Local 5632,

was named a California Manufac-turing Champion by the California Manufacturers & Technology As-sociation.

Local 5632 member and vet-eran employee Ignazio Ruiz was on hand June 18 when the award was presented to the specialty aluminum products company at the Sacramento Convention Center.

The award was given to Vista and six other companies who are growing in California and work to improve the state’s business climate. Local 5632 represents about 150 Vista Metals employees.

Photo by Steve Dietz

Photo by Ike Gittlen

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Huhtamaki Workers Stand Together

Union members around the world who work for Finnish packaging and paper giant Huhtamaki are standing up for their brothers and sisters in Commerce, Calif., where workers are attempting to raise concerns with

management about poor working conditions.Huhtamaki has 3,500 workers at 21 plants in the United States, including

five locations represented by the USW.Workers at the Commerce facility asked management to engage in a “good

faith dialogue” about issues including working conditions and discipline.Huhtamaki employees from the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil,

New Zealand and elsewhere presented letters to Huhtamaki plant managers calling on the company to respect the Commerce workers.

The USW and the AFL-CIO in June issued a report detailing how the com-pany’s expansion strategy in the United States is creating low-wage, temporary employment while threatening the job security and living standards of union-ized employees.

Student Loan Help

One of the biggest issues facing American students today is debt. Union Plus is offering help through a grant program called Student Debt Eraser.

Student Debt Eraser offers grants of $500 to help union members pay down student loan debts. Applicants must have a Union Plus credit card, mortgage or insurance policy, and at least $10,000 in outstanding debt from federal or private student loans.

The grants are paid directly to the applicant’s student loan financial institution. For information on eligibility re-quirements and how to apply for the grants, visit UnionPlus.org/Education.

Union plus scholarships

Five children of USW members were among 116 stu-dents representing 39 unions who received a total of $150,000 in scholarships from Union Plus, the AFL-

CIO’s benefits program for union members. More than 5,300 applications were received from union members and families in all 50 states. USW winners are:

• Cha’Leah Bennett, West Carrollton, Ohio, $500. Her father, Robert Bennett, is a member of Local 1193.

• Marcena Briles, Bernie, Mo., $500. Her father, Dan-iel Briles, is a member of Local 7686.

• John Ertl, Hartford, Conn., a member of Local 134-L, $2,000. His father, John Ertl, is a member of Local 2-0445.

• Kaden Littrell, Canton, Kan., $4000. His father, Jarod Littrell, is a member of Local 558.

• Jessica Vaillancourt, Anson, Maine, $1,000. Her parents, Rino and Pamela Vaillancourt, are both members of Local 4-9.

Texarkana Women of Steel Honored

The Central Oklahoma Labor Federation has presented its Whitey Sneed/Bob Spinks Education & Humanitarian Volunteer Award to the Women of Steel (WOS) in Texar-

kana, Texas.The award recognizes union activists who display their

passion for educating the public about organized labor and/or volunteer to assist fellow union members and the community in times of need.

After a series of devastating tornadoes in Oklahoma on May 19 and 30, 2013, the WOS in Texarkana contacted the labor federation to see how they could help. On May 31, seven WOS members drove to Oklahoma City and were greeted by more tornadoes. Undaunted, they worked to help clear storm debris.

On June 17 and 18, the Texarkana WOS returned to Oklaho-ma City in another show of solidarity. This time they delivered donated purses filled with toiletry items to union sisters, union halls and to the Multi-Agency Resource Center in Moore, Okla.

Buy America Campaigns Advance in N.Y., N.J.

The USW’s campaign to make sure state agencies use American-made products in public projects is making headway in New

York and New Jersey.The USW in June launched a campaign to

pass Buy America legislation that would require all New York Port Authority and Transit Author-ity projects to use American-made products.

New York officials recently cost Americans good-paying jobs by skirting these regulations. Legislation currently pending in the New York Assembly would require state agencies, regard-less of the source of their funding, to abide by Buy America standards spelled out in the Ameri-can Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

In the past year, New York authorities have approved a $235 million bid to two Chinese steel facilities for local projects, including rebuilding the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

Meanwhile, the USW worked with the Alli-ance for American Manufacturing and the AFL-CIO to push the New Jersey State Senate to pass a series of bills requiring products used in certain contracts to be made in America.

The primary bill requires that vendors receiv-ing contracts, including public works contracts, with state and local governments, as well as public colleges, purchase goods manufactured in the United States.

Foster Joins Energy Department

BlueGreen Alliance Director David Foster has left the labor-environ-mental partnership to serve as a senior adviser to U.S. Energy Secre-tary Ernest Moniz on industrial and economic policy.

Foster, who served as director of District 11 from 1989 to 2006, joined the Energy Department on June 27. Moniz praised him for finding common ground between energy, environmental issues and job creation.

BASF Council Plans Ahead

The USW’s BASF Council, representing a dozen local unions at facilities in eight states, held its annual meeting in Pittsburgh this June to share information and prepare

for the future.The council heard reports from each participating local.

Members discussed contracts, health and safety issues, organiz-ing and improving participation among new members.

“Knowledge is power. The connections we make through this council give us more power to handle everything from bargain-ing to safety issues and everyday grievances,” said International Vice President Carol Landry, who attended the meeting.

The BASF Council was formed at the end of 2007. It includes locals in McIntosh, Ala., Quincy, Fla.; Attapulgus, Gordon, McIntyre and Oconee, Ga.; Kankanee, Ill.; Geismar and Vidalia, La.; Jackson, Miss.; Streetsboro, Ohio, and Monaca, Pa.

District 9 Director Dan Flippo, who chairs the council, said its work is especially important during the time between contract expirations.

“These are the times when we can build our strength and solidarity for the fights that we will need to win in the future,” Flippo said. “This council understands that and has grown stron-ger and more connected over the years. Continuing on this path is our best bet for success.”

Unfair Labor Practices Alleged

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is seeking a federal court injunc-tion in Tennessee against a logistics com-

pany that allegedly violated federal labor law by threatening and firing USW members.

Kathleen McKinney, a regional director for the NLRB, filed suit in Memphis on June 13 against Ozburn-Hessey Logistics LLC alleging unfair labor practice violations of the National Labor Relations Act.

The lawsuit seeks a stop to the company’s labor law violations and to reinstate the nine employees who were fired for alleged union activities.

The suit alleges Ozburn-Hessey monitored employees engaged in union activities, ordered union employees to leave the premises, confis-cated pro-union materials from an employee break room and threatened employees for engag-ing in union activities.

In 2013, the USW was certified as the collec-tive bargaining agent for more than 300 workers at six Ozburn-Hessey facilities in the Memphis area.

McKinney is regional director for NLRB Re-gion 15, based in New Orleans, which serves all of Mississippi and Louisiana and parts of Arkan-sas, Alabama, Florida, Missouri and Tennessee.

Steelworkers End Allied Tube Strike

Local 9777-18 ratified a new four-year contract with Allied Tube and Conduit in Harvey, Ill., after a week-long strike over the company’s demand for conces-

sions.About 460 workers had struck the firm, which makes

mechanical and electrical tubing for commercial buildings, after working without a contract for about a year.

The local’s members at first voted to reject a proposed deal containing more than 150 contract changes, but ratified a new agreement with improvements a week later on May 4.

The company dropped plans to freeze pensions, deprive workers of the ability to choose which jobs they will work and to require 10- to 12-hour workdays.

TMK IPSCO Pacts Ratified

Members of Local 9305 at TMK IPSCO’s pipe production facilities in Koppel and Ambridge, Pa., have approved a new

labor agreement that runs until Nov. 1, 2018.The agreement, ratified on June 20, includes

annual wage increases of 60 cents per hour and increased contributions from the company to-ward pension and sickness and accident benefits. Health care coverage was maintained.

TMK IPSCO is the U.S. division of global pipe manufacturer OAO TMK, headquartered in Moscow, Russia.

Have You Moved?Notify your local union financial secretary, or clip out this form

with your old address label and send your new address to: USW@Work

USW Membership Department, 3340 Perimeter Hill Drive, Nashville, TN 37211

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International President Leo W. Gerard

“Lynn served as a life-long mentor to me. Lynn taught me the value of patience, of keeping a clear head in the midst of

chaos. We owe him much more than we can say.”

Lynn R. Williams addresses 1990 Constitutional Convention in Toronto, Canada. See page 4.