USW backs away from strike threats at U.S. Steel
After weeks of threatening to send 16,000 U.S. Steel workers out on strike, the United Steelworkers on Wednesday took a step back from the most serious labor confrontation at the Pittsburgh steelmaker in three decades.
Coming off a week of negotiations in Pittsburgh, the Downtown-based union said the company had “demonstrated a willingness to move off of some of its worst demands, including the term of our agreement and some of the most onerous benefits proposals,” according to a letter updating members published on the union’s website.
Union officials added, “We still have a lot of work to do and still have a number of differences to work out with management” but said that the union’s pressure “seems to have finally gotten through to the company.”
The tone is a dramatic shift from the past several weeks, as the union had reported increasingly tense bargaining with company negotiators.
U.S. Steel has declined to comment on negotiations.
About 16,000 U.S. Steel workers covered by a contract that expired Sept. 1 have continued working under the terms of that agreement while talks continue. Last month, shortly after the contract expired, a vote held at USW locals across the country authorized union leaders to call a strike with a 48-hour notice.
In separate negotiations, about 15,000 USW members who work at the U.S. plants of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel producer, approved strike authorization votes. Their contract also expired Sept. 1.
Tom Conway, the union’s chief negotiator, told the Washington Post last month that there was a “90 percent chance” the USW would call a strike at either company.
The last work stoppage at U.S. Steel occurred in 1986, when union members were locked out by the company for six months.
A USW spokesman cautioned that the strike authorization remains in effect but said that “things are definitely moving in a more positive direction in the past few days.”
He declined to comment on the company’s proposal because he had not seen it yet.
Another round of bargaining in Pittsburgh is scheduled for next week, when the union will discuss counter-proposals, Wednesday’s letter stated.
“Remember, while we’ve made progress, this is not a time for any of us to relax,” the letter read. “We still don’t have the agreement that we all deserve, and it will take your continued support to get us there.”
U.S. Steel is among the domestic steelmakers have benefited from President Donald J. Trump’s tariffs on foreign aluminum and steel.
The company has restarted blast furnaces at its Granite City, Ill., plant this year as the tariffs have pushed up prices for domestically produced steel.