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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

Carol LandryVice President at Large

Jon GeenenInt’l. Vice President

Gary BeeversInt’l. Vice President

James H. DunnAssociate Secretary-Treasurer

Lewis PeacockVice President (Organizing)

James K. Phillips, Jr.Vice 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

William J. Pienta, District 4

Daniel Roy, District 5

Wayne Fraser, District 6

Jim Robinson, District 7

Ernest R. “Billy” Thompson, District 8

Daniel Flippo, District 9

John DeFazio, District 10

Robert Bratulich, District 11

Robert LaVenture, District 12

J.M. “Mickey” Breaux, District 13

C O - D I R E C T O R S

Gerald P. Johnston, District 1

Lloyd Walters, District 9

Kenneth O. Test

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 Lynne Baker, Kelly Barr, Jim Coleman, Deb Davidek, Gerald Dickey, Connie Mabin, Tony Montana, Scott Weaver, Barbara White Stack

Official publication of the United Steelworkers

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

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Volume 05/No.1 Winter 2010

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.

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Copyright 2010 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 OutCAPITOL LETTERSNews BytesUnion Security Notice

O N T H E C O V E R

Now that the biggest strike in the union has passed the six-month mark, 3,500 nickel miners in Canada are more committed than ever to win fair contracts. See page 14. USW photo.

031833 35

I N S I D EU S W @ W O R KAs a country and a movement, our challenge is to build a new economy that can restore working people’s expectations and hope … A dead end job with no benefits is not the best our

country can do for its citizens.

“”Richard L. Trumka

AFL-CIO president, Jan. 11, 2010

USW Flight AttendantsAdding to the wide diversity of our union, two USW locals represent 800 flight attendants at Pinnacle Airlines Inc. and Colgan Air Inc.

Trade Victory in Pipe CaseIn a victory for the domestic steel industry and its workers, the U.S. government has levied duties on Chinese pipe used in the oil and natural gas industries.

Working Class RevoltWorking people are sending politicians of both major parties the message that inaction is not acceptable. We want jobs, health care and an economy that works.

Civil Rights ConferenceCreating and protecting jobs, communities, quality health care and a healthy environ-ment are among the civil and human rights issues of our time, and they require action.

08 20

22 26

U S W @ Wo r k • W i n t e r 2 0 1 0 32 U S W @ Wo r k • W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

Great Lakes Shipping StrikeRegarding Randall Nigra’s letter last issue

concerning President Obama’s campaign promise to stop companies from hiring replacement work-ers while union workers are on strike: Our Great Lakes Seamen’s Local 5000 contract with Liberty Steamship Co. expired Aug. 1, 2009.

We worked without a contract until Sept. 22 and then walked off. Since then they have operated three ships (while three others lay idle) with scab sailors from the Gulf and cadets from maritime academies. We have picketed ports from Duluth to Buffalo, yet these vessels continue to operate. If this is allowed to continue other Great Lakes ship-ping companies will treat their USW employees the same.

As it is/was, virtually all shipments of vital iron ore, limestone, coal and grain shipped on the Great Lakes is done with union labor. Didn’t we in part support President Obama to end this practice?

Bob Pedersen, Local 5000Superior, Wis.

Get Tough with ChinaIt’s obviously time to get tough with China.

What we need is fair trade and not free trade. How long has trade with China been “free?” The trade deficit is hundreds of billions in their favor.

The tariff on imported Chinese tires is a good start, but we have to expand protection for our workers. Let’s provide tax incentives for good jobs. We don’t need new taxes, increased inflation and the abandonment of senior citizens. Good-paying jobs for our legal citizens would be an excellent first step.

Joe Kretschmer, Local 12775, retiredFort Wayne, Ind.

Oppose Right to WorkI retired from Local 12775 and am a SOAR

member who was elected to the (LaPorte, Ind.) county council three years ago. I work with elected officials from the local to the national level.

Indiana could be considering “right-to-work” legislation. I am alarmed legislators do not know the evils of such a move. I am also concerned that many of our young union members are also igno-rant of how devastating this would be to them and the entire organized-labor community.

Our local unions need to do a better job of teaching our membership about our history and all we have been through to get where we are today.

We also need to lobby elected officials … to improve the lives of union members everywhere. It is time for us to get … back to hard-nosed union-ism. You will be amazed at how powerful your voice can be.

Rich Mrozinski Jr., Local 12775, retiredLaPorte Ind.

It Pays to be UnionI am retired from the Bethlehem Steel plant in

Bethlehem, Pa. My family and I still have a good life because of the union. I’m thankful for those who came before me and fought for better pay, benefits and safer work places. I was involved with safety. I hope America’s present work force, especially those who are non-union, wake up and realize it pays to be union, working or retired.

John P. Tihansky, Local 2599, retiredClearfield, Pa.

Angry Over Jobs to ChinaI am 82 and I hate to see our good jobs go to

China. As far as I’m concerned, anything made in China is junk. I am also angry that foreign car makers got taxpayers’ money from the “Cash for Clunkers” program. Go figure!

Jane Nargelovic, Associate MemberSebring, Fla.

Standing Up for JusticeI am proud to say I was one of the many USW

members who walked the picket line at Vermont Hand Wash in Los Angeles, Calif.

Reading the article “Clean up with USW: Car Wash Workers Win Big Victory” made me feel there can be justice when we all work together.

Everyone should have the right to earn a living wage without feeling the need to compromise and put themselves in danger.

Patty Mengler, Local 8599Fontana, Calif.

Support the Middle ClassAs a proud member of Local 1324 I under-

stand the need for working people to band together around important issues such as health care. Health care is consistently a major issue in contract negotiations and workers often give up raises just to keep their medical coverage. While I support reform that provides coverage for more Ameri-cans, an unfair tax on our benefits is not the way to fix the problem. During the election campaign, candidate Obama promised to reform this system. Please join me in supporting the middle class and rejecting this tax.

Lauren Sukal, Local 1324 Mt. Lebanon, Pa.

No to Excise TaxI am opposed to the proposed excise tax on my

health insurance. This tax would be passed on to workers (through) higher deductibles and more out-of-pocket expenses. We can’t afford to have more taken from our pay checks.

Ken PoweskiCleveland, Ohio


Three U.S. paper mills – owned by three differ-

ent companies in Montana, Michigan and Wisconsin and

employing more than 1,100 United Steelworker brothers

and sisters – closed in the past 18 months while the USW awaited

action on its second unfair trade case against Chinese paper manufacturers.

These laid-off USW members are among 2.1 million manufacturing work-ers of all kinds who have lost their jobs since the Bush Recession began in December of 2007.

Few occupations were spared, not even those servicing the death indus-try. Workers at a small casket parts company from northern Indiana lost their jobs in January when the fac-tory closed, citing a decision by one of its major customers to buy cheaper Chinese handles.

While unemployment in the United States climbed in the last quarter of 2009 to 10 percent, India’s top three outsourcing companies hired 16,700 workers, then in January ramped up to add more as global corporations, mainly from the United States, sent more work offshore.

Also in January, GE announced it

would buy a stake in China’s

Shenyang Turbo Machinery Corp., which designs and manufactures turbo-machinery equipment like com-pressors. Again, a foreign country will get the jobs.

Of the 7.6 million total jobs lost during the recession, 28 percent of them have been in manufacturing.

Political ramificationsThe obstructionist Republicans, who

have opposed every attempt the Obama administration has made to aid the mid-dle class, contended that Massachusetts voters sent a signal to Washington that

they had rejected Democratic ideals when they elected a Republican in January to fill the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat.

The fact is that polls show the opposite is true. Voters felt Democrats had not gone far enough – especially on health insurance reform. The polls also show the most pressing concern of voters was jobs.

Far from neglecting this is-sue, President Obama insisted at

the outset of his administration on passage of the $787 billion stimu-

lus bill designed to save or create 3.5 million jobs. In December, he

conducted a jobs summit at the White House.

Obama also sought help in preserv-ing and reviving American manufactur-ing from Ron Bloom, a former special assistant to International President Leo W. Gerard. First Obama appointed Bloom to the team assigned to save the U.S. auto companies. Then, on Labor Day, Obama chose Bloom to lead the effort to renew manufacturing.

In December, Bloom issued a report, A Framework for Revitalizing American Manufacturing. Immediately implementing the recommendations contained in that report – from enforc-ing international trade law to creating a National Infrastructure Bank – would move the country back toward a stable and job-creating economy based on manufacturing.

To prevent further Democratic losses in the fall elections, Obama

must not only accomplish that, he must also re-connect with the apprehensive unemployed and persuade them that revitalizing American manufacturing is the correct path to economic security, for them and the United States.

AFL-CIO Political Director Karen Ackerman put it this way: “A massive reinvestment in creating jobs will be the decisive factor in the 2010 elections.”

In recessions past, as Americans cracked open their wallets and began buying again, unemployment decreased. The cycle is simple: People buy, store shelves and warehouses empty, orders are placed and factories recall workers to meet those demands. Those workers, earning paychecks once again, resume spending. So supplies diminish once more and must be replenished with new factory orders.

It could be different this time, though. That’s because when those or-ders are placed, the workers filling them are more likely to be overseas, in places like China or India – not in the United States. So U.S. spending stimulates foreign economies.

Richard McCormack, editor and publisher of Manufacturing and Tech-nology News, described this phenom-enon in a chapter of the book, Manufac-turing A Better Future for America.

“Even more alarming is the fact that without an industrial base, an increase in consumer demand, which historically pulled the country out of recession, will not put Americans back to work. Any additional consumer spending will only help workers making products

overseas,” he wrote in the chapter entitled The Plight of American Manu-facturing.

McCormack notes that 40,000 U.S. manufacturing plants closed during the seven years ending in 2008. And there’s

no outlook for revival on the horizon, not in high-tech or tradition-al manufacturing.

McCormack cites two examples. World-wide in 2008, 80 major chemical plants costing more than $1 billion were under construction or in planning. None was in the United States. The year before, in 2007, only two percent of new semiconductor fabrication plants were built in the United States.

The very week the Democrats lost the Massachusetts Senate seat, the Obama administration renewed its focus on jobs and the economy – taking a cue from former President Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 campaign mantra: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Just three days after the loss, Obama conducted a town hall meeting on the economy in recession-battered Ohio. The economy and jobs were also a ma-jor theme in the President’s State of the Union address the following week.

Obama’s proposals for jobs creation, including providing additional capi-tal for small business and increasing exports, are all addressed in Bloom’s report.

The report acknowledges the recent downturn “has been particularly pain-ful for manufacturing companies, their workers and the communities that rely on them.”

It is essentially an upbeat, forward-looking document that says, “Many sectors of American manufacturing have the potential to enjoy significant growth and success. With the right policies, America can foster successful industries like biotechnology, wind power, nano-technology, aerospace, next-generation automobiles, and perhaps more impor-tantly the industries of the future that we do not even know about today.

“Although the talent and hard work of America’s entrepreneurs, innovators and workers will drive these businesses, there is a critical role for sound govern-ment policy.”

Do what it takesThe government must do what it

takes to promote a vibrant and thriv-ing manufacturing sector by creating a competitive business climate, the report says. And it specifies ways the Obama administration has begun to do that and plans to do more, with programs it placed in the 2010 budget and policies it intends to implement.

Among the goals it specifies that are crucial to Steelworkers is this one: “Improve the business climate, espe-cially for manufacturing. . . We need legal, tax and regulatory regimes that promote American manufacturing and do not place an undue burden on those who wish to manufacture products in America.”

Achieving another of the goals would be greatly appreciated by Steel-workers whose factories – like those paper plants that closed in Montana, Michigan and Wisconsin – are threat-ened by unfair foreign competition:

“Ensure market access and a level playing field. We must be sure that those who wish to sell the goods that they make in the U.S. into other countries have the market access they need and that those who sell domestically do not face unfair competition from advan-taged foreign producers.”

Democrats now must ensure the reports’ goals are implemented.

THE U.S.-CHINATRADE RELATIONSHIP

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis

U.S. IMPORTS

U.S. EXPORTS

$350

325

300

275

250

225

200

175

150

125

100

75

50

25

0

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

U.S.-China trade in goods(in billions), 2000-2008

THE GAP IN THE LABOR MARKET

Payr

oll

em

plo

yme

nt (

tho

usa

nds)

Oct-04

To fill the gap in two years,we need 583,000 jobs every month between now and then.

Oct-05Source: EPI

Oct-06 Oct-07 Oct-08 Oct-09

10.9 million2.8 million

8.1 million

Oct-10 Oct-11

143000

141000

139000

137000

135000

133000

131000

129000

127000

125000

Payroll employment

Jobs needed to keep upwith population growth

PRODUCTION JOBSPAY BETTER THAN SERVICE JOBS

Source: Institute for America’s Future

Service-providing: $610Goods-producing: $810Service jobs pay on average 75 cents forevery dollar paid by a production job.

Retail jobs pay 50 cents.

Average weekly wage of private sector jobs, 2009


With the global economy collapsing and steel prices dropping in late 2008, ArcelorMit-tal started laying off workers at its Cleveland plant, and nobody knew how long the fur-

loughs would last or how long it would take for the market to recover.

“We’ve survived the hard times before,” said Local 979 President Mark Granakis. “Out of the lean years grew our Institute for Career Develop-ment, our supplemental unemployment ben-efits and a number of other benefits designed to minimize the financial impact on each individual member.”

Hundreds of Cleveland workers spent most of 2009 laid off from the mill, as both blast furnaces at the plant were idled for por-tions of the year.

Finally, demand for durable goods, new cars and other products that use steel from Cleveland slowly began to creep back toward normal levels.

Restarting blast furnacesBetween early September and late Oc-

tober, the company followed through with plans to restart both of the facility’s blast furnaces and recall hundreds of workers. Granakis said that many members of Local 979 were relieved to be back to work during that time.

“With the holidays approaching, I know a lot of people with families were anxious,” he said, “but thankfully, most of our members were back to work and collecting paychecks before the end of the year.”

While progress has been slow, the market for steel in the United States is showing signs of recovery. As more federal stimulus money becomes available for infrastructure invest-ment and rebuilding, demand for certain steel products should continue to rise.

That means that after 16 months of uncertainty, many more steelworkers will be returning to work. By March, with the restart of ArcelorMittal’s Indiana Harbor plant, the company will have a majority of its blast furnaces in North

America back in operation.

Others slowly ramping upOther integrated steel producers, including U.S. Steel and

Severstal North America, are also slowly ramping up produc-tion in line with market demand, even if sales are not yet back to pre-recession levels.

“American steelworkers are the best-trained, safest and

most efficient work force in the world,” said USW District 1 Director Dave McCall, who chairs the union’s negotiations with ArcelorMittal, Severstal and several other steel produc-ers. “The heartbeat of the steel industry is strong in the men and women we represent from the Iron Range to Texas and everywhere in-between.”

McCall said that USW members’ loyalty, solidarity and resilience can make the difference between an employer succeeding or failing and stressed that the USW wants its employers to be profitable.

“Stockholders invest their money and expect a return for their investment,” McCall said. “Our members invest their time, blood, sweat and tears, and they want a fair share in the profits as well.”USW Local 979 members at work lining the trough of

one of the two operating blast furnaces at Arcelor-Mittal’s Cleveland operations. Both of the Cleveland furnaces spent significant portions of 2009 idle. Photos by Steve Dietz


In a victory for the domestic steel industry and its workers, the U.S. government has levied duties of up to 16 percent on imported Chinese

pipe used in the oil and natural gas industries.

Duties ranging from 10.5 percent to 16 percent were imposed in mid-January to offset government subsidies that U.S. trade agencies maintain China illegally provides to its steelmakers.

The case brought by the USW and domestic pipe producers was the largest so-called countervailing duty case filed to date against any Chinese products.

The action should improve job pros-pects for USW-represented pipe workers once massive inventories of Chinese product already in the United States are depleted, allowing the

domestic industry to ramp up produc-tion, said International Vice President Tom Conway, who leads the union’s steel industry contract negotiations.

Great victory for workers“This is a great victory for the

industry and its workers,’’ said Roger Schagrin, legal counsel to the USW and the domestic producers. “Nothing can create jobs faster in the United States than making China trade fairly.”

The United States imported $2.8 bil-lion worth of oil country tubular goods from China in 2008, up from $632 mil-lion just two years earlier in 2006.

Measured in tons, U.S. imports of oil country tubular goods from China soared from 725,000 tons in 2006 to almost 2.2 million tons in 2008. Another 740,000 tons entered the United States during the first five months of 2009.

This enormous surge of unfairly traded goods resulted in an overhang

of inventory that crippled the domes-tic industry, lowered prices and led to dramatic job losses. Nearly half of the domestic industry’s 6,000 workers were on layoff as the ITC made its decision.

“China’s dumped and subsidized OCTG pipe imports are a threat to work-ing families and the future of a critical product used in our nation’s energy extraction industry,” said International President Leo W. Gerard

The six-member U.S. International Trade Commission paved the way for the duties by voting unanimously on Dec. 30 that the domestic industry was harmed by Chinese steel pipe products that the Commerce Department had ear-lier determined were illegally subsidized by the Chinese government. The agen-cies acted on trade complaints brought by the USW and its industry allies.

Gerard lauded the decision, which he said demonstrates the U.S. commit-ment under the Obama administration to enforcing trade rules when domestic job losses and industry injury are clearly evident.

“We are fed up with China’s constant cheating and false claims of U.S. protec-tionism, when it is China that practices illegal state subsidization and dumping that seeks to destroy good jobs and fair competition under WTO (World Trade Organization) standards their leaders agreed to abide,” Gerard said.

It is not protectionism when countries like China are held accountable for the agreements and obligations they freely entered into to have access to the U.S. and world markets.

The ITC is an independent, quasi-judicial federal agency that investigates the effects of dumped and subsidized imports on domestic industries and conducts global safeguard investigations. Its six commissioners are evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.

Inquiry began in AprilThe inquiry got its start last April

when the USW and domestic producers filed anti-dumping and countervailing duty trade cases against China with the ITC and the Commerce Department.

Joining the USW in filing the trade cases were U.S. Steel Corp., Maverick

Tube Corp., TMK IMPSCO, V&M Star LP, V&M Tubular Corp., Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel and Wheatland Tube Corp.

Gerard testified before the trade commission on Dec. 1 at the final injury hearing, saying domestic producers lost 2,421 workers between the end of 2008 and September 2009.

The final injury hearing featured nine members of the U.S. House, three U.S. Senators, the governors from Ohio and Pennsylvania, plus the mayor of Youngstown, Ohio. They joined Gerard and executives from the steel companies in calling for trade law enforcement.

Members of both congressional houses, including 47 members of the House and 13 senators, signed onto letters sent to ITC Chairman Shara L. Aranoff supporting the petitioners.

“This unfair and illegal trade already has cost thou-sands of jobs, and thousands more are at stake,” the USW’s Conway said. “It’s little wonder so many elected legislative and executive

officials made their voices heard on this important matter.”

China, as was expected, decried the decision saying the global financial crisis and the fall in demand for oil are to blame for the industry’s hardships, not China’s policies.

First of two penaltiesThe anti-subsidy decision could be

the first of two penalties imposed by the U.S. government against unfairly traded pipe produced in China.

In the spring, the ITC will decide whether to penalize the Chinese steel-makers with tariffs of up to 96 percent for dumping, or selling their products in the U.S. market at predatory prices.

The Department of Commerce last November confirmed China’s practice of dumping oil country tubular goods into the U.S. market and proposed the anti-dumping tariffs.

“Consistent and swift U.S. trade law enforcement must be the standard with our trading partners if we are to retain good jobs and rebuild our economic manufacturing capacity,” Gerard said.

The U.S. Department of Com-merce announced on Jan. 21 that it intends to investigate whether to impose countervail-

ing and anti-dumping duties against Chinese imports of drill pipe.

The case, filed by the USW and domestic steel producers, claims that the pipe from China is being sold at less than normal value and thus warrants anti-dumping duties ranging from 429 percent to 496 percent.

Additional countervailing duties are being sought to offset the negative ef-fects of alleged government subsidies.

U.S. imports of the Chinese pipe used in oil drilling doubled between 2006 and 2008 in volume, and were valued at $195 million in 2008.

Before it can proceed with the investigation, Commerce must await a decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on whether there is a reasonable chance that U.S. producers are being hurt by the imports.

The ITC is scheduled to rule on Feb. 16, and Commerce plans to make a preliminary decision on countervailing duties in March and on anti-dumping duties in June.

A Chinese man walks on steel pipes last year in Xiangfan city in China’s Hubei province.(Imaginechina via AP Images)

U S W @ Wo r k • W i n t e r 2 0 1 0 1 11 0 U S W @ Wo r k • W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

A decade after participating in the spectacular protests that shut down the World Trade Organization in Seattle, U.S.

Sen. Sherrod Brown is still trying to radically shift America’s approach to international trade.

The Ohio democrat is promoting legislation that would require reviews of existing trade agreements and renegotia-tion of those agreements that fail work-ers, farmers, consumers and citizens.

“We want trade and plenty of it, but we want trade under new rules,’’ Brown said in announcing plans to reintroduce the proposed Trade Reform, Account-ability, Development and Employment Act that he first proposed in 2008.

“For too long our nation’s trade policy has exploited workers, betrayed middle-class families, and destroyed communities,” Brown said. “It is time for a trade policy that works for every-one, not just a few.”

The Trade Act seeks to revamp American trade policy by mandating trade pact reviews, establishing higher standards, protecting workers in developing nations and restoring Congressional oversight of future trade agreements.

Brown announced the reintroduction in late November on the anniversary of

“The Battle in Seattle” with co-sponsor U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), In-ternational President Leo W. Gerard and Andy Gusert, director of the Citizens Trade Campaign.

Fair trade vital Fair trade is vital to our nation’s

economic future, Brown argued. But trade can destroy jobs when imports replace the output of domestic firms, as happened in the manufacturing sector, which has lost more than 3 million jobs since 2000.

“Because current trade policy has accelerated the trade deficit, eliminated manufacturing jobs, and stagnated wages, more jobs have been displaced by imports than created by exports,’’ Brown said.

Gerard, noting that manufacturing activity in the United States is at its low-est level ever as a percentage of gross domestic product, said the union would work hard for passage of the legislation.

“If we don’t do that, there is no future,’’ Gerard told news reporters. “We can’t continue down the same path we are on.”

If America fails to change its

trading policies, Gerard predicted that the United States would hit a $1 trillion per year trade deficit in the next four to five years.

“Somebody needs to tell me what happens to our economy when that hap-pens, especially now that the Chinese are our bankers and are telling us how to run the economy.”

U.S. jobs at stakeThe USW’s interest in revamp-

ing trade laws is saving and protecting American jobs.

“The Steelworkers aren’t protec-tionist,’’ Gerard said. “We’re trying to enforce the weak trade laws that we already have. We’re trying to protect and grow jobs at home by telling our government it ought to treat manufactur-ing in America the same way France, Germany, Korea and China does.”

Gussert, director of the Citizens Trade Campaign, said the USW is not alone in pressing for trade-law revisions.

“Faith, community, farm and environmental groups, labor organiza-tions, consumer protection groups are all united in the belief that trade can be this very powerful force to change

The Trade Act seeks to revamp American trade policy by mandating trade pact reviews, establishing higher standards, protecting workers in developing nations and restoring Congressional oversight of future trade agreements.

It would:• Require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a comprehensive

review of existing trade agreements with an emphasis on economic results, enforcement and compliance, and an analysis of non-tariff provisions in trade agreements;

• Spell out standards for labor and environmental protections, food and prod-uct safety, national security exceptions, and remedies that must be included in new trade pacts;

• Set requirements with respect to public services, farm policy, investment, government procurement, and affordable medicines that have been incorpo-rated in trade agreements;

• Require the president to submit renegotiation plans for current trade pacts prior to negotiating new agreements and prior to congressional consider-ation of pending agreements; and

• Restore Congressional oversight of trade agreements.

The United Steelworkers be-lieves the World Trade Orga-nization (WTO) will uphold tariffs imposed by the United

States against Chinese tires that illegally flooded the U.S. market, closing facto-ries and eliminating thousands of jobs.

The WTO Dispute Settlement Body decided Jan. 19 to investigate the U.S. decision to impose tariffs on imported passenger car and light truck tires from China, which complained and sought the panel proceeding.

President Obama ordered the tariffs last September over a trade case filed by the USW the previous April to protect its 15,000 tire worker members at 13 plants in nine states from the effects of surging imports of Chinese tires.

The union filed under a special pro-vision of U.S. trade law called Section 421 that implements terms of a bilateral negotiated agreement accepted by China to gain U.S. support for its entry into the WTO in 2000.

A three-member panel to be selected will look into whether the United States’ actions in imposing the tariffs were con-sistent with U.S. rights and obligations under the WTO.

Nine-month probe The panel is expected to publish a

decision after nine months of investiga-tion. If the case goes against the United

States, it will have the option to bring itself into compliance, compensate China by lowering tariffs on other items or face retaliation by China through tariffs on other goods. In the latter situa-tions, procedural steps can take years to complete.

Trade consultants speculated that the decision will hinge on how much Chinese tire imports increased, whether U.S. tire makers were hurt by the im-ports and whether the tariffs exceeded what is necessary as a remedy.

The panel’s decision can be appealed.

International President Leo W. Gerard said the USW “has complete faith” that President Obama’s decision will be found to be consistent with U.S. rights under the special safeguard agree-ment.

While trading nations have the right to challenge any action of their trading partners, Gerard said it is “unfortunate” that China has challenged a provision in the protocol of its WTO accession that was critical to the willingness of the United States to accept China’s mem-bership into the international organiza-tion.

“We expect the U.S. will defend its decision vigorously and that U.S. action will be affirmed as fully consistent with U.S. rights and obligations,’’ Gerard said.

the world,” he said. “They want to see more trade, but the past model hasn’t worked.”

Brown was a junior representative when he marched in Seattle in 1999 with union allies to protest the WTO’s plans to restrict the United States and other countries of their ability to protect workers, farmers and the environment.

Now a U.S. senator who sits on the powerful Banking, Agriculture and Health, Education, Labor and Pension committees, Brown is still battling the WTO and the unbalanced and irrespon-sible trade policies it promotes.

“Given the economic challenges that we face, there is very public demand for changing the way we do trade policy,’’ Brown said. “The Trade Act is a blue-print for the re-evaluation.”

Agreements pendingThe United States has free trade

agreements in force with Canada, Mexico, Australia, Singapore, Chile, Peru, and 11 other countries. There are agreements pending with South Korea, Panama and Colombia.

“It is important to say that our trade policies have been an abysmal failure,” Dorgan said. “We are shipping jobs out of this country with trade agreements that stand logic on its head.”

Mexico is a good example, Dorgan said. When the United States started trade negotiations that culminated in the North American Free Trade Agree-ment (NAFTA), the trade surplus with Mexico was $1.6 billion, Dorgan said. By the end of 2008, that surplus had turned into a deficit of $64 billion.

“If this was a great success, I’d like to see their definition of failure,” the senator added. “At a time when we are hemorrhaging jobs, we need to care about jobs in this country.”

The Senate bill had seven sponsors in the Senate at press time. A similar bill introduced in the U.S. House last year had 127 co-sponsors, more than a quarter of the voting membership.


Trade cases brought by the USW and three paper com-panies against unfairly traded Chinese and Indonesian coated

paper are slowly moving forward with some positive results.

The cases, filed last September, in-volve a two-track investigation into pe-titions alleging Chinese and Indonesian paper mills profited from both illegal government subsidies and dumping.

The cases were filed simultaneously with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Com-mission (ITC) by the USW and three domestic paper producers - Appleton Coated LLC, NewPage Corp., and Sappi Fine Paper North America. The two agencies work in tandem.

“We cannot stand by and let imports unfairly take away our good jobs and shut down factories,’’ said International President Leo W. Gerard, who cited closed plants and paper-making ma-chines in Maine, Wisconsin and other states.

“Trade laws between nations must

be enforced with government fact find-ing and the power to defend jobs and industries with strong tariff penalties for import violations.”

Imports skyrocketThe petitions involve imports of

coated paper used in high-quality printing and other graphic applications including catalogs and magazines.

Total imports of the coated paper covered in the petitions skyrocketed by nearly 40 percent during the first six months of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008. At the same time, domestic shipments of applicable coated paper declined by about 38 percent.

During this time frame, China and Indonesia doubled their share of the U.S. market and are believed to account for nearly 30 percent of sales.

International Vice President Jon Geenen, who is in charge of paper bargaining for the USW, said 30 percent may be the tipping point to losing the rest of the coated paper market.

It is extremely important, Geenen

said, to ultimately win this trade case because of the impact it would have on other paper industry trade cases that may be filed in the future.

The first major step forward in the process came Oct. 14 when the Com-merce Department announced its deci-sion to initiate both anti-dumping and countervailing (subsidy) duty investi-gations on coated paper from the two countries.

Then, on Nov. 2, the ITC determined by unanimous vote that the imports materially harmed the U.S. coated paper industry enough to warrant a complete investigation.

John Cappy, president and chief ex-ecutive of Appleton Coated, called the ITC decision an important step forward toward restoring a competitive market.

“That’s all we’re seeking, and it’s what our employees deserve,’’ Cappy said. “The domestic paper industry cannot afford to continue to lose more market share, more profits and more jobs to unfair competition.”

Dumping involves selling below

The global race for low wages is sinking living standards around the world and is so relentless that even $24-a-day gui-tar makers in South Korea are not immune from the pressure.

After decades of using its workers in South Korea to build a global guitar-making empire, Cort Guitars & Basses illegally fired them all and moved production to non-union facilities in China and Indonesia.

Cort, one of the world’s largest guitar makers, produces budget models for brand-name guitar companies including Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, G&L, and Parkwood.

Until recently, the guitars were produced at Cort and Cor-tek factories in Incheon and Daejon, South Korea, by workers who toiled without breaks in unventilated and windowless factories with little or no safety equipment.

normal prices to drive competitors out of the market. Illegal government subsidies can involve a wide range of activities.

The petitions allege China subsi-dizes its paper producers in violation of

trade laws with low-interest loans, tax subsidies, input subsidies, land, grants and export tax subsidies.

Similarly, the petitions allege that Indonesian paper companies are benefiting from timber provided from

government-owned land at below-market prices, a ban on log exports, government loans, debt forgiveness, and tax incentives for certain encouraged businesses.

Several decisions dueThere are several determinations yet

to be made by both agencies before the case concludes this summer, probably in July. Scheduled dates are subject to change.

The next step may come at the end of February when the Commerce Department is scheduled to make a preliminary determination on the imposition of countervailing, or anti-subsidy, tariffs. In March, Commerce should make a preliminary decision on dumping tariffs and a final decision on anti-subsidy measures.

If the current schedule is followed, the ITC will make a final determination on the anti-subsidy tariffs in April.

The dumping portion of the case should wrap up by July with final deter-minations from Commerce due in May and from the ITC in June.

Wanting better conditions, Cor-tek workers formed a union in 2006. Shortly afterwards, Cort and Cort-tek dismissed all 123 of their workers in April and July of 2007.

As their entire operations were being shipped to China and Indonesia, the company’s only communication with its work-ers in Incheon and Daejon was to chain the factory gates, nail down the union’s door and post a notice. Afterwards, they used intimidation and lies to force workers to sign resignation papers.

At home in South Korea, the workers tried everything they could to resolve the struggle including court challenges, hunger strikes, street rallies and sit-ins on electricity power lines. One worker even set himself on fire, hoping that his death would help his co-workers regain their jobs.

Illegal and unjustBoth the Seoul Administrative Court and the Korea’s National Labor Re-

lations Commission ruled that the mass dismissals were illegal and unjust. The case is now before Korea’s Supreme Court. Still Cort has not budged.

Cort workers seeking the return of their jobs came to Los Angeles in January to protest at a trade show held by NAAM, the trade association of the international music products industry. The USW was among the labor organizations that showed support at a rally and press confer-ence.

To learn more about the Cort workers and sign a petition, visit http://cortaction.wordpress.com/

Cort guitar workers protest in Los Angeles

A Chinese worker walks past a paper machine at the Shandong Chemming Paper Holdings Limited factory in Shouguang city, China. (Imaginechina via AP Images)


The local unions figured it out early – passive picket-ing would not be enough. The locals formed new committees. A Families Supporting the Strikers committee holds fund raisers, bake sales, and spon-

sors an indoor flea market and activities for children. The local also manages a food bank.

Donations made to the locals help sustain the member-ship’s basic needs. Unite the Union, the USW’s partner in forming the first global union, contributed $100,000. Other large donations came from the Canadian Labour Congress, $100,000; Communications Workers of America, $25,000; Canadian Auto Workers, $20,000 and many local unions con-tributed $1,000 to $5,000.

The membership knows they are in it for the long haul so they are encouraged to take other jobs. Some go north to work in the gold mines. Others find work locally, not at the same wages but enough to get by.

Membership mobilization is important in keeping spirits up. Major events bring strikers and their supporters together, showing Vale that the community is standing alongside the union against the company’s despicable behavior.

When anti-scab legislation was introduced in the Ontario legislature, the locals held a rally in Toronto’s Queen Park. Loud and boisterous, their chants were heard in the legislative chamber. It did not take long before the strikers and their sup-porters were kicked out of the chamber. They left with their

heads held high – mission accomplished.Vale got a court injunction regarding picketing but the

union was not intimidated by it. Under its protocols, Vale is required to provide strike essentials, including water, wash-rooms, cell phones, trailers and firewood. The pickets may stop busses carrying non-union employees, office and techni-cal employees and replacement workers for up to 12 minutes. During this time one picketer is allowed to board each bus while other strikers are permitted to pass information to the people on the bus through the windows in accordance with the protocol. Third-party security personnel must stand at least 30 feet away from strikers. It also allows for some pick-eting at pick-up and drop-off locations,.

“Hey, Vale, Trick or Treat,” was the battle cry during a Halloween rally on a roadway alongside Vale Inco property. Vale security, seeing the costumed activists and perhaps fear-ful of what trick might be coming, overreacted and called the cops. When the police arrived, the masqueraders kept their cool and talked with the police. Peace prevailed and, as ex-pected, union supporters left without a treat. They were not, however, disappointed.

On International Human Rights Day, the Sudbury District Labour Council sponsored a candlelight vigil, attended by a large gathering of community supporters.

The children’s Christmas party entertained some 1,600 children of striking families and gave out presents.

Students and faculty from nearby Laurentian University held a class on the picket line to educate the public about the issues leading to the strike.

Retired veterans of the 1978 strike and other struggles held sessions with community members to tell of the lessons learned during past strikes.

A neighbor complained one day, to both the picket captain and Vale security, about the safety of her daughter and small children when traffic was backing up near her home by the Garson Mine. The picket captain treated her with respect and tried to be helpful. But the security guard made a disparaging remark about children. The neighbor was outraged. Word of the incident spread and the guard’s slur served as a lightening rod for local activists. More than 100 citizens gathered at the mine entrance and held up traffic to protest the guard’s insult. If a union member had behaved in such a crass manner, he would have been discharged. Vale, however, defends the guard and he remains on duty.

By far the biggest and most successful event took place in Sudbury on Jan. 13, the six-monthly anniversary of the strike, when more that 2,000 miners and community support-ers, including Sudbury’s mayor, took to the streets, marching and chanting in solidarity. The miners were thrilled by the turnout at what was an historic event. It was a day people will remember for a very long time. During the 1978 strike when 11,500 miners worked there, they never had a rally that compared with the magnitude of this one. The march started at the union hall and culminated downtown where Interna-tional President Leo W. Gerard addressed the gathering and presented additional pledges of more than $100,000 in dona-tions boosting the total to exceed $400,000.

Now that the biggest ongoing strike in the Steel-workers union has passed the six-month mark, 3,500 nickel miners in Sudbury, Port Colborne in Ontario and Voisey’s Bay, Labrador are more com-

mitted than ever to winning a fair contract before returning to their jobs underground.

The union heritage is strong in these mining towns, going back to days of the old Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union. Several gen-erations have endured decades of labor struggles and work stoppages against the company known as Inco, which had always been owned and operated by hard-nosed Canadians. If visiting there, you will hear many interesting stories. Like the customs officer who recalls, “One time when my grandpa was on strike and grandma went down to support the picket line . . . she was gassed.”

Sticking with the union resulted in steady social progress and improving the community’s quality of life. Through col-lective bargaining, workers raised

themselves up from a meager existence in company housing to a middle-class standard of living. As the miners prospered, the communities prospered. When labor agreements expired, often they were settled peacefully. But sometimes there were strikes. Through the years, however, negotiators on both sides formed a mutual respect because they knew they needed each other.

Continued on next page.

USW members on the picket lineUSW Photos

USW members and supporters march against Vale Inco

Striking Voisey’s Bay workers burn proposed contracts at rallyUSW Photos


The campaign to win a fair deal with Vale is being taken to every corner of the globe – Australia, South Korea, Spain, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Brazil and most of Latin America, Germany, Swe-

den, Great Britain, and throughout Africa.Canadian National Director Ken Neumann explains

the strategy, “This battle is important to Canada and goes beyond Canada.

“It’s about winning fairness and justice for hard-work-ing Canadians, their families and communities, from an international company that can do business anywhere in the world and wants to take our natural resources without any obligation to the people who risk their lives extracting and preparing those resources for market,” Neumann said.

Here are a few examples:When Vale’s CEO, Roger Agnelli, was in New York

City in December to receive a “Good Citizen” award, a bus load of striking miners traveled there to confront him with an anti-award, naming him as the winner of the 2009 Glob-al Bad Citizen Award. Adding to the delight and surprise of the strikers, hundreds of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Boston trade unionists and supporters joined the

Everything changed in 2006. A Brazilian-headquartered global mining company acquired Inco. Following the $17 bil-lion takeover, the company was renamed Vale Inco. Unfortu-nately, Vale failed to respect the culture and traditions of doing business in Canada.

In Brazil, wages are established by industry and/or on a geographical basis. Workers, however, are often expendable. They may be fired for no reason or jobs may be replaced by outside contractors. Under these circumstances, even with strong unions like CUT, companies easily become very auto-cratic.

Canada ain’t BrazilWhen contract negotiations got underway during the spring

of 2009, Vale wasted no time in its attacks on workers’ wages, benefits and working conditions. The company de-manded a wide range of concessions. The union listened politely but rejected them. Belligerent and showing no signs of flexibility, the company stuck to its demands. The union presented many thoughtful counterproposals. Com-pany negotiators behaved as though they had ears of stone.

Following several months of bargaining, it was clear that Vale would not back off its concessionary demands. The union went to the membership for strike authoriza-tion. With an overwhelming approval and support of the 3,500 miners at all three locations, the strike began July 13, 2009 and August 1 in Voisey’s Bay.

During previous strikes against Inco, negotiators stayed at the table to resolve differences while the membership main-tained the picket lines. This time, it was different. Vale has walked away from the table and refuses to return unless the union is ready to agree to Vale’s “concepts and principles,” meaning concessions. That is not bargaining but rather it is dictating a settlement.

The union is ready and willing to return to the table at any

Canadians on the streets of New York, making for a grand demonstration that got Vale’s attention, all the way in Brazil.

In Spain, labor activists confronted Vale CFO Fabio Barbosa during a high-level conference in Madrid.

A USW delegation, including striking miners from Ontario, visited Australia and New Caledonia in October, successfully forging ties with Vale’s workers, unions and government officials.

During an earlier visit to the New York Stock Exchange last fall when Vale executives were scheduled to meet with investors, striking miners were dispatched from Ontario to hold a demonstration on a nearby sidewalk. Apparently tipped off about the protest, Vale cancelled its day in the limelight. Meanwhile, a demonstration in support of the Ontario miners on the same day by USW’s Brazilian allies at Vale’s headquarters in Rio de Janeiro went on as planned.

Neumann had a freighter carrying Voisey’s Bay cop-per tracked overseas. When learning of its destination, he quickly put a delegation of strikers together and went to Europe. Joined by Sweden’s IF Metall and Germany’s IG-BCE unions, they boarded the ship in Brunsbütte, Germany and confronted the captain. The delegation used the trip to

educate European unions and our allies about the Canadian strike.

During the Toronto Film Festival in September, striking miners received the red-carpet treatment from filmmaker Michael Moore. A strong supporter of unions everywhere and a good friend of the Steelworkers, Moore has repeatedly spoken out in support of the striking miners.

Several trips to Brazil by striking miners paid divi-dends, beginning in August when 3,000 delegates to a CUT (a major Brazilian union) convention pledged support for the strike. Additional meetings with union members there built solidarity and exchanged much useful information. In December, a USW delegation was invited to a hearing at the Brazilian Senate where some senators publicly spoke out in support of the Canadian strikers.

When a big union rally was held at the Sudbury arena, strikers and their families were heartened to see and hear several union leaders from outside North America make commitments to support the strike. That’s when it became clear to most families that it would take a global strategy to achieve victory over a global corporation.

time and at any place, without pre-conditions, to work out an agreement. The membership is unwilling to have their ne-gotiators go to the table after making commitments that only serve Vale’s desires. Vale must return to the table without pre-conditions. That is the only way to a settlement.

Picket lines are strong while local activism soarsIn the long history of labor relations at Inco, the company

had never tried to operate the mine without its union work force.

Vale Inco ignores history, tradition and Northeast Ontario culture. Today reluctant clerks, secretaries and foremen are being forced to cross the line in a foolhardy at-tempt to operate the mine.

It’s winter. In northern Ontario, it’s cold. It’s very cold. Mining equipment is frozen. Pipes are breaking everywhere. Striking miners fear that millions in dam-age may have to be repaired before the

mines and smelters are operable. Money will be wasted that could have gone to pay for the contract.

It’s cold on the picket line too, but people who live there are used to it. After being on the line for a few weeks, it became clear that just holding the line would not be enough to win a fair contract. New tactics would have to be used. So they turned up the heat on Vale.

Activists moved from the picket lines to open new fronts in a global campaign to bring Vale back into bargaining. The membership would confront Vale wherever it conducted busi-ness in the world.

Challenging Vale’s “Bad Faith” BargainingIn the most recent attempt to get Vale back to the table,

the union filed a complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board, January 13, charging the company with Bad Faith bargaining. Similar to Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges in the U.S., the complaint seeks to force Vale to play by Canadian rules and drop its insistence to the union accepting pre-conditions before bargaining resumes.

The complaint also seeks to have Vale compensate the workers for lost wages and to reimburse the union for the $200 a week strike pay per member and other expenses that it has incurred during the strike.

While the union has a long history of negotiating fair deals for its members, Vale is using its demands to avoid negotia-tions. The longer Vale holds out, the membership becomes more and more certain that the tactic is being used to bust the union and not to reach a fair settlement.

History, tradition and the culture of the communities of northern Ontario are on the side of the union. When Vale comes to understand this, there will be a settlement.

Continued from previous page.

Filing the complaint.USW Photo

1 8 U S W @ Wo r k • W i n t e r 2 0 1 0 U S W @ Wo r k • W i n t e r 2 0 1 0 1 9

Unemployment, foreclosures upIt’s dire on Main Street. Two years into the

recession induced by recklessness on Wall Street and the Bush administration’s failed economic policies, unemployment continues to rise. It was up to 10 percent by year’s end with 6.1 million people out of work for longer than six months.

As unemployment and health insurance costs rose, so did foreclosures and food bank withdrawals. Last year, 46 percent more people got groceries from a food pantry than in 2005. Record high foreclosure rates are predicted to continue because 20 million people owe more on their mortgages than the value of their homes.

While Wall Street profits and bonuses suggest happy days are here again, the gauge of the real economy – gross domestic product (GDP) – says otherwise. In the 10 recessions since 1948, GDP grew by the seventh quarter every time – except this one.

The Obama administration reported that the $787 billion stimulus bill signed in February 2009 saved or created as many as 2 million jobs in the first year. It was a two-year plan, designed to preserve or generate more than 3 million jobs, so more help will arrive this year. But because 8 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007, the stimulus bill alone will not solve the problem.

Obama declares jobs new focusThe Obama administration acknowledged

that in January. In the State of the Union ad-dress, President Barack Obama said jobs would be the focus of 2010 and called for a collection of actions to improve the economy and increase employment.

The measures Obama outlined include a new stimulus bill, tax breaks and loans to help busi-ness create jobs, and strengthened enforcement of trade laws.

Obama told Congress, “I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay.” He proposed spending $100 billion for programs like a tax credit for small businesses that hire new workers or raise wages; eliminating capital gains taxes on small business; creating a tax incentive for all busi-ness to invest in new plants and equipment, and taking $30 billion of the money repaid by bailed out Wall Street banks and giving it to commu-nity banks to lend to small business. Obama also said a new stimulus bill should provide funds to invest in clean energy projects and rebuild decay-ing infrastructure such as roads and bridges.

Pledge to enforce trade agreementsThe president also addressed an issue crucial

to Steelworkers who have seen their jobs disap-pear as employers moved production overseas or closed U.S. plants because of unfair competition

from foreign manufacturers. Obama pledged to enforce trade agreements so that foreign coun-tries “play by the rules.” This is significant be-cause his predecessor, George W. Bush, refused to impose sanctions against offenders, even when trade enforcement agencies, like the U.S. Interna-tional Trade Commission, recommended it.

Obama set the goal of doubling the nation’s exports over the next five years, an accomplish-ment that would help reduce the massive U.S. trade deficit. In 2008, the total U.S. trade defi-cit was $695.9 billion, which is $1.8 trillion in exports minus $2.5 trillion in imports. To reduce that gap, Obama said he’d create a National Export Initiative to help farmers and small busi-nesses increase exports. Also, enforcing trade laws would prevent foreign countries like China from dumping products on the U.S. market at predatory prices below what is charged in home markets or below the cost of production. Some countries support industries in that way to keep their citizens employed.

To support U.S. jobs, Obama demanded that Congress slash the tax breaks given to companies that ship jobs overseas. The president proposed changes that would cost such corporations $122 billion over a decade. Obama followed that up by including in his 2011 budget a limit to deductions those companies now take for interest expenses.

Seeking Republican cooperationObama conceded that his proposals won’t

make up for the millions of jobs lost over the past two years, but he said they would begin to create solid, long-term economic health for the country.

A jobs bill already had passed the House at the time of his speech, but not the Senate. And it’s the Senate that will be the problem for imple-menting any of the President’s plans to create jobs and revive the economy.

That is because in January, Massachusetts, a heavily Democratic state, elected Republi-can Scott Brown to fill the seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Many commentators have interpreted that as a sign working people want Washington to focus on resolving unemployment and economic problems.

Brown’s victory, however, gave Republi-cans 41 votes in the Senate, enough to stop any legislation with a filibuster. And so far, Repub-licans have opposed all of Obama’s initiatives, including health insurance reform, virtually unanimously.

President Obama met with the Republican caucus late in January to seek their cooperation. Though many GOP Senators brought their chil-dren to shake Obama’s hand, it’s not clear they will actually work with the President to enact legislation to relieve the dire situation on Main Street.

International President Leo W. Gerard will take the oath of office for a third four-year term on March 1 in Toronto, Canada.

Gerard, the second Canadian to occupy the USW’s highest office, will be sworn in by retired International President Lynn R. Williams, the first Canadian to hold the office.

International officers and executive board members will also take the oath of office as they begin new four-year terms.

Video, photos and other coverage from the installation will be available on the USW Web site, www.usw.org.

The union’s leadership begins new terms as the U.S. and Canadian economies struggle from recession and economic col-lapse that led to deep job losses, particularly in manufacturing.

In Canada, the USW is enduring a number of important strikes, including one by 3,500 members against mining giant Vale Inco in Sudbury, Ontario.

Gerard said he takes on a new term strengthened by the

unending spirit and resilience of USW members who have sur-vived crisis after crisis.

“We always come back fighting,’’ he said. “The true secret of trade union success is our members’ undying spirit.”

Ken Neumann, National Director for Canada, said he is proud of being acclaimed for another term and sees the ceremo-ny as a celebration of the union’s Democratic tradition.

Gerard and Neumann said the USW will continue to reach out to greater numbers of workers to offer them collective repre-sentation and strengthen our efforts for economic and labor law reform to improve our members’ lives.

“We want to continue to lead the North American labor movement in working towards an economy that offers its citi-zens both a clean environment and good jobs,” Neumann said. “And by further developing our international alliances, we will more effectively advance the interests of our members who are increasingly challenged by the mobility of global capital.”

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 Director for Canada

Carol LandryVice President at Large

Jon GeenenInt’l Vice President

Gary BeeversInt’l Vice President

Top row, l to r: Directors Michael Bolton, D-2;Wayne Fraser, D-6; Mickey Breaux, D-13; Jim Robinson, D-8; Leo W. Gerard, Int’l President; Ken Neumann, National Dir. for Canada; Directors John DeFazio, D-10; Robert Bratulich, D-11; David McCall, D-1

Front row, l to r: Directors William Pienta, D-4; Daniel Flippo, D-9; Robert LaVenture, D-12; Stephen Hunt, D-3; Billy Thompson, D-8; Daniel Roy, D-5.

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When Marsha Smith was 19 and starting out as a flight attendant flying was a luxury and her job was

sought after as a glamorous and carefree career.

Back then, in the early 1970s, there were 13 flight attendants – then called stewardesses - working a single flight on a National Airlines Boeing 747 jumbo jet with an upper deck. White gloves were part of the uniform.

“People considered it a luxury to fly and it seemed like they really enjoyed it. They dressed up. The women wore hats and gloves and the flight attendants did too,’’ she recalled.

Now 58 and an active USW member, Smith continues to work the aisles of an aircraft, this time as a solo flight attendant on a Memphis-based com-muter airline, Colgan Air Inc.

“We are the face of the airline,’’ Smith said of flight attendants. “We can’t mess up. We’ve got to be on top of things all the time. The pas-sengers depend on us, no matter what.”

Adding to the wide diversity of our union, the USW represents about 800 flight attendants at Pinnacle Airlines Inc. and Colgan, both owned by Pin-nacle Airlines Corp., a holding company. A third local, 736, represents baggage handlers and gate agents.

Pinnacle operates a fleet of regional jets that fly under Delta brands in the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Its flight atten-dants are represented by Local 9-0772.

Colgan operates a fleet of 48 regional

turboprops flying as Continental Con-nection, United Express and US Airways Express. Its flight attendants are repre-sented by Local 9535.

Having a voiceIn an industry where the days can be

long and stressful and the work sched-ules are subject to change at a moment’s notice, it helps to belong to a strong union like the USW.

“We have a voice and they listen to us,’’ Smith said.

In today’s post 9/11 world, the job of a flight attendant is decidedly less glam-orous than it was nearly four decades ago when Smith got her start. But safety and service remain key concerns.

“A flight attendant provides a safe and secure environment for passengers without letting on how they are do-ing it,’’ said flight attendant Meredith Ruther, a former local union officer at Pinnacle.

Flight attendants started joining unions in the 1940s to negotiate im-provements in pay, benefits and work-ing conditions. Unions later challenged unfair work practices such as age limits, size limits, limits on marriage and prohi-bition of pregnancy.

The USW does not stand alone in

the airline industry. We participate in a coalition of flight attendant unions that works to improve conditions overall. Our partners include the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), the International Association of Machinists (IAM), the American Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU).

The coalition was instrumental in persuading the U.S. Senate to extend the Family and Medical Leave Act to tens of thousands of flight attendants previously excluded from coverage because of their irregular schedules.

District 9 Co-Director Lloyd Wal-ters said the coalition’s future agenda includes tacking the important issue of

fatigue and pushing for a living wage for flight attendants, particularly those who work for regional airlines and are paid less than those at main-line carriers.

In regional carriers, flight at-tendants can be required to fly many multiple trips, or legs, in a single

workday that can extend to 14 or 15 hours. Often, they must run from gate to gate to make assignments.

Fighting fatigue“We are determined to fight fatigue.

It is a major safety issue for flight at-tendants because of their long work days and frequently short layovers,’’ said In-ternational Vice President at Large Carol Landry. “Flight attendants shouldn’t be forced to work to the point of exhaus-tion. It’s just not safe.”

Working schedules can change and often do when weather and mechanical

events intervene. An unexpected delay can extend a workday, ruin preset plans and set up potential conflict with man-agement.

“A lot of them don’t know our con-tract and what our work rules really are so they will try to work you harder than they should,’’ said Kaela Berg, a Pin-nacle flight attendant and USW member. “That’s when it’s really nice to have the union there to say this is in the contract for a reason and you need to follow it.”

Unions also play a role in making sure federal statutes and state employ-ment laws are upheld for airline employ-ees whose jobs and bargaining rela-tionships are governed by the Railway Labor Act rather than the National Labor Relations Act familiar to most industrial workers.

In the airline industry, seniority generally rules. Mechanics, pilots, flight attendants, customer service agents all enjoy pay rates, schedules and benefits based on length of service.

Flight attendants seniority determines status as a line holder or a reserve. Line holders have a flying schedule set in advance. Reserves are used to fill open flying time and to cover positions va-cated by line holders who call in sick or off on holiday.

Trips are paid by the flight hour generally from the time the aircraft door is shut to the time it is opened at the destination. Flight attendants are also paid a modest per diem for hours away from base.

Multi-tasking a mustBesides routine tasks like making

sure each passenger is properly buckled, luggage is stowed and snacks and drinks are delivered, flight attendants calm pas-sengers when planes pass through turbu-lence or experience other difficulties.

Flight attendants are expected to ush-er passengers off the plane in the event of emergency evacua-tions and be a composed leader in the cabin when unthinkable tragedies occur.

“And, of course, in the event of a medical emer-gency, we attend to it immediately without disrupting or frightening the passengers nearby,’’ Ruther added.

Medical skills have been required since the early days of commercial avia-tion when passengers frequently got sick in unpressurized cabins.

The stereotype of flight attendants as waitresses or waiters in the sky came later in the 1960s when airlines empha-sized service as a marketing tool.

“People look at you and think you’re just fluff. That’s not us. ’’ Ruther said. “I waited tables for years and nobody expected me to save the life of someone having a heart attack.”

The way Ruther looks at it, flight attendants have more than one boss: the

passengers, in-flight captains and first officers on board the plane,

as well as base managers and the Federal Aviation Admin-

istration.“That’s a lot of people

to please and anyone of them can change your career,” she said. “It’s impossible without a union to create a fair standard for discipline. You need someone who understands you, some-

one to help establish fair rules of the game.”

In a snapshot from the 1970s, flight attendant Marsha Smith (above) models her National Airlines uniform. The coat was part of the official uniform. At right, Smith is shown in her current Colgan Air uniform. Photo by Jeff Baughan


Creating and protecting good jobs, strong communities, qual-ity health care, and a healthy environment are among the civil

and human rights issues of our time, and they require action from our union.

That was the message at the USW’s fifteenth Civil and Human Rights Confer-ence held Dec. 9-13 in Pittsburgh.

In his keynote address, International Vice President for Human Affairs Fred Redmond called on the more than 500 conference attendees from the United States and Canada to become activists in the union, joining the likes of Rapid Re-sponse and Women of Steel in taking on tough issues affecting working families around the world.

Local civil and human rights commit-tees must be revamped to focus on this work along with traditional duties such as handling discrimination claims and conducting training, Redmond said.

“It is time for us to address the mount-ing needs of our nations, get active and strengthen the relationship between our union and our communities,” Redmond told delegates. “Our civil and human rights committees are the instruments for this mission.

“We want you to be the guiding lights that will help us rebuild these committees to not only help our union do what we do, but to work with allies and other lead-ers to help our communities survive and thrive,” he said. “We want our communi-ties to be able to count on us, and we want to be able to count on our communities.”

Building strength and powerInternational President Leo W. Gerard

also spoke at the conference, themed “Building Strength and Power through Action,” saying every member of our union has an obligation to fight for a bet-ter future for the next generations.

“I’m talking about talking to your friends, your neighbors, your sisters and brothers – taking the information and knowledge you’ll gain here and go educate them,” he said. “Get involved.

Get people that weren’t involved before involved. Tell them a story, inspire them. Get them to stand up. Give them the cour-age to go do something because we can make a difference.”

At the conference, Steelworkers at-tended workshops and heard speakers on a variety of civil and human rights issues, including bargaining for equity, work-place harassment, health insurance reform and how to be a force in the emerging blue-green economy.

Members also wasted no time getting involved. They packed and shelved items at a local food bank, donated books and videos to Children’s Hospital of Pitts-burgh, and went door-to-door in a hous-ing project, bringing backpacks of gifts to residents. Housing Authority children were guests at a Steelworkers holiday party, received gifts from our members, and went ice-skating after the party.

Time of struggle“We’ve got good jobs and we want to

get out there and help people anyway we can help them, especially in this time of struggle,” said Vince Leonard, president of Local 1097 in Westport, Ore., while he helped pack bags of cereal at a commu-nity food bank.

Local 2695’s Jackie Holmes of Gary, Ind., agreed.

“This is what it’s all about, helping the community and getting people out to vol-unteer. I enjoy doing this because I have seen people hungry and not have anything to eat,” she said.

David O’Hearn from Local 7072 in the Boston area said he was inspired to go back to his local after the conference and spearhead volunteer efforts there.

“I’ve been at the other end when I’ve gotten food from a food bank. So I know what it’s like. When you’re doing some-thing for the community it always feels good,” O’Hearn said.

More information, including videos, photos and articles, from the conference is available on our Web site at www.usw.org/civilrights.

Left: Conference attendees volunteer at a Pittsburgh food bank.

Top right: International Vice President Fred Redmond

Bottom right: Michele Laghetto Erwin leads a seminarPhotos by Steve Dietz

Fred RedmondInternational Vice President


The release several times last year of hydrogen fluoride (HF), a corrosive chemical used in the oil refining process, has

prompted the USW to call for its re-placement with a safer substitute.

“This is not a campaign against hydrofluoric acid across the board,” said International Vice President Gary Beev-ers, who oversees the union’s oil sector.

“We represent workers who make the industrial chemical and it’s useful in many applications. But the releases that occurred last year have shown that it’s much too dangerous a chemical to use in huge quantities in the refinery alkylation process, especially when safer substi-tutes are available.”

Beevers said it is not a matter of han-dling the chemical more safely. He said refiners do not always maintain their equipment and this has led to HF being released.

Series of accidentsThirteen workers were rushed to

the hospital on March 11, 2009 after a 22-pound release of HF at the Sunoco refinery in South Philadelphia, Pa.

Some 5,000 residents were evacuated for over 12 hours on March 22, 2009 when a truck carrying 33,000 pounds of HF overturned in Wind Gap, Pa., caus-ing a small spill.

A fire on July 19, 2009 at Citgo’s east refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, critically injured a USW member and released HF. There was also a leak of propane and HF at ExxonMobil’s Joliet, Ill., refinery on Aug. 6, 2009.

HF is used as a catalyst in the alkyla-tion process to make high-octane gaso-line and is a corrosive poison. Inhalation of the chemical can cause damage to the nose, throat, lungs, heart, liver and kidneys. It readily penetrates the skin and destroys soft tissues and decalcifies bone. It also can cause death.

Three years ago in January 2007, a 37-year old technician at an Alcoa plant in Port Comfort, Texas, inhaled no more than a thimbleful of hydrofluoric acid and died despite medical treatment.

One of the major risks of using HF is that it can clump together as a dense vapor cloud when released and travel for miles downwind, putting the community at risk.

The USW held a community fo-rum Nov. 11 in Corpus Christi on HF with the Sierra Club and a local group, Citizens for Environmental Justice. Jim Lefton, sub-director of USW District 13, said the city has the second highest concentration of HF use in the country.

The union plans a series of commu-nity forums this year in areas where HF is used at local refineries. Fifty-two re-fineries use HF in the alkylation process and 26 of them have USW-represented workers.

Safer alternativeSolid-acid catalysts are non-toxic and

should be the alternative of choice, Dr. Fred Millar, a consultant on chemical accident prevention, told a press confer-ence convened by the USW in Corpus Christi.

“Pilot testing has shown it works fine and produces alkylate that is just as good as HF alkylate,” he said.

Refiners, however, have been reluc-tant to try the solid-acid catalysts. To en-courage one to do so, the USW recently wrote to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan requesting she use her author-ity to compel ExxonMobil to initiate a pilot-scale project using a solid-acid catalyst for its Joliet, Ill., refinery.

The state is suing ExxonMobil and part of the company’s settlement agree-ment with the state could include doing the project, the USW contends.

Twenty years later, survivors clearly recall the October 1989 day when a series of devastat-ing explosions and fire killed

23 workers and injured 314 others at Phillips Petroleum’s Houston Chemical Complex in Pasadena, Texas.

“There are many for whom that day will live forever, vivid in their night-mares and waking hours,’’ said Interna-tional Vice President Gary Beevers, who is in charge of the union’s National Oil Bargaining Program.

“Many were affected as they lost a family member or friend that day, while many others who work at other petro-chemical facilities thought: ‘That could have been us.’”

The Phillips Disaster is a clear reminder of why the USW is currently engaged in a campaign to improve the

safety conditions for workers at the na-tion’s refineries.

As part of the campaign, rank-and-file workers are documenting fires, explosions, leaks, releases, flaring, process upsets, equipment failures, near misses and other safety problems where they work. The information will give the union a true picture of safety condi-tions at different facilities and will help to press employers to properly maintain facilities and equipment.

Still happening today “It’s 20 years later and we’re still

seeing the same types of things hap-pening – fires, explosions and members being killed,’’ said Kim Nibarger, of the

USW Health, Safety and Environment Department. “Something has got to change.”

The alarm sounded at 1:05 p.m. on Oct. 23, 1989. The initial blast, the biggest in a series, was equivalent to an earthquake register-ing 3.5 on the Rich-ter Scale. Sheets of aluminum that peeled away from the plant’s pressure vessels landed on Interstate 10 some five miles away.

Some workers tried to get away by swimming. The U.S. Coast Guard and City of Houston fire boats evacuated to safety more than 100 people trapped across the Houston Ship Chan-nel. Others scram-bled over walls and fences to escape the huge fireball.

At the time of the blast, the facil-ity employed ap-proximately 1,500

including 900 direct employees and 600 daily contractors. It produced 1.5 billion pounds per year of high-density poly-ethylene, a plastic material used in milk bottles and other containers.

Will I live?Roby Plemons, Local 13-227’s health

and safety representative, was working about 100 yards from the blast that day, and remembers wondering whether or not he would live.

Local Secretary-Treasurer Jimmy Easter was working as a contractor at the plant in 1989. He recalls lying awake at night wishing he could help search for those who were lost.

What he remembers most are “the nights and days that families stayed awake, waiting for word that perhaps by some miracle their loved one was still alive and as time passed and hope faded, the dread of hearing the body of their loved one was found; the seemingly endless funerals; the necessity of closed casket funerals.”

Before the accident, Easter said it was his impression that management pushed production over safety. He said the work that led to the incident had been repeatedly refused by union maintenance workers “who knew the equipment was not in a safe state.”

“Phillips employees refused to work on the “leg” (piece of equipment) because it was leaking hydrocarbons, so (management) gave it to contractors who couldn’t say no,” Plemons said.

Primary factorsBob Wages, then vice president of the

Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers union, told Congress that the three primary factors causing the uncontrolled release of gas were inadequate lockout; an un-skilled, untrained subcontractor main-tenance crew; and an inherently flawed reactor design.

The accident involved a release of extremely flammable process gases that occurred during regular maintenance on one of the plant’s polyethylene reactors.

More than 85,000 pounds of

highly flammable gases were rap-idly released through an open valve, creating a vapor cloud that traveled through the plant until it was ignited.

The 1989 incident led to passage in 1992 of the OSHA Process Safety Management standard. It seeks to eliminate or mitigate the consequenc-es of such releases by emphasizing the use of management controls to ad-dress the risks of handling or working near hazardous chemicals.

“Some things changed by regu-lation, but we still had to fight for safety,” Plemons said. “Production was still in the way of safety; it was always a struggle for the company even after so many died.”

Two more explosionsFor a while the union was in-

volved in health and safety, but plant management changed and the union was shut out of the process, Easter said. Then there were two more explosions and fires in June 1999 and February 2000. Plemons was burned over 43 percent of his body in the 2000 explosion.

“You never forget it could happen today,” he said. “My family suffered greatly.”

The facility is now operated by the Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, a joint venture of ChevronTexa-co Corp. and ConocoPhillips.

Over the last 15 months or so, a new plant manager has invited, en-couraged and insisted on the union’s involvement in safety and other mat-ters, Easter said.

Pasadena Plastics Complex Man-ager Scott Sharp called the facility among the safest in the world. He cited technology and process safety improvements made over the past 20 years, and an improved work culture that aims for zero injuries.

“It’s like day and night since the new manager has come,” Plemons said. “We are now putting more effort and focus on keeping people safe and production is way down the list.”

USW poster commemorating Phillips Disaster Citgo’s refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas


Put this on your shopping list. Buy some Sylvania Super Saver energy-efficient halogen light bulbs, help save an endangered American industry and some Steelworker jobs.

The incandescent light bulbs in use for more than a century since the days of Thomas Alva Edison will begin to fade away in 2012 under new federal regulations designed to increase energy efficiency.

The Energy Independence and Security Act, signed into law by former President Bush on Dec. 19, 2007, requires that light bulbs sold in the United States use 25 to 30 percent less energy.

As a result, the familiar incandescent light bulbs, which fail to meet efficiency requirements in the law, will be phased out over a few years. You can expect 100-watt bulbs to disap-pear from markets in 2012. The 75-watt bulb will be gone by 2013. The smaller 40- and 60-watt bulbs will phase out by 2014.

As the technology changes, major manufacturers are relo-cating production from the United States to China and other countries.

Osram Sylvania, however, has decided to introduce a new product, the Sylvania Super Saver halogen bulb, into the United States and manufacture it at existing facilities, includ-ing a USW-represented glass plant in Wellsboro, Pa.

Wellsboro currently produces the envelope or outer glass portion of incandes-cent light bulbs that are assembled at Osram-Sylvania’s plant in Saint Mary’s, Pa. It also makes bulbs for Christmas orna-ments.

USW Local 1001, which represents about 110 Wellsboro employees, had been warned that the new efficiency standards will jeopardize its main product, the incandescent bulb.

But the new halogen bulb could, if it takes off in the mar-ket, help to maintain employment at Wellsboro as the incan-descent bulbs are removed from sale.

“It will at least help us maintain the status quo,’’ said Barry Mortimer, a member of Local 1001 and the local’s Rapid Response coordinator.

No health hazardsThe new Super Saver halogen bulbs can be produced on

existing equipment and do not have some of the potential health hazards of its main competition, compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs that are largely made in China with toxic mercury as a key ingredient.

Workers handle mercury in either solid or liquid form because a small amount of the metal is put into each CFL bulb to start the chemical reaction that creates light. Break-ing a CFL bulb at home requires an EPA-approved clean up procedure.

Mercury is recognized as a health hazard by authorities worldwide because its accumulation in the body can damage the nervous system, lungs and kidneys. It poses a particular threat to babies in the womb and young children.

American madeThe American-made Super Saver halogen bulb has no

mercury, meets the government’s energy savings standards and supports USW members. If you break one at home, clean up the broken glass and throw it into the trash.

“Osram Sylvania is encasing halogen inside a glass cap-sule and then putting that in a traditional-looking glass bulb made at Wellsboro,” said Mickey Bolt, a field coordinator with the Alliance for American Manufacturing, an organiza-tion supported by the USW.

The bulbs are currently in production. So far, they can be purchased in Menards and many BJ’s Wholesale Club stores in the midwest. Lowe’s home improvement stores will carry them starting this summer.

Until more retailers get on board, Mortimer said they can be purchased on line at: http://www.sylvaniaonlinestore.com.

As of press time, the status of health insurance reform legislation was in limbo. But what is clearer than ever is the message working people across the nation are sending politicians on both sides of the

aisle: inaction is not acceptable.In January, Massachusetts voters chose Republican Scott

Brown as their next U.S. senator, filling the vacancy created when longtime Sen. Ted Kennedy died last year.

“It was a working-class revolt – a signal that in this economic crisis, the American people demand jobs, health care and an economy that works for them now – not political business as usual,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said. “It was a loud and clear message that our elected leaders and our labor movement must do more for working people, do it fast and do it smarter.”

International President Leo W. Gerard expressed similar thoughts and said it’s important for USW members and others to keep fighting and to know that their union is working for them and their families.

Frustrated with status quo“Working families are growing increasingly frustrated

with the status quo,” Gerard said. “It’s not about the right or left, it’s about what’s right and what’s wrong. What’s right for this country is action – not just talk – to create and sustain good jobs, to fix our economy for Main Street, not just Wall Street, and to approve health insurance reform that cuts costs, covers every American and doesn’t do it by taxing our ben-efits.”

Proposed health insurance reform had not passed as USW@Work went to print. The White House had listened

to some of our concerns regarding a proposed excise tax on high-cost insurance plans.

Here’s where things stood at press time: An agreement was reached in principle to exclude collectively bargained plans from the tax until 2018 and to help in various other ways that would reduce the impact of the tax on all middle-class workers.

Essential reform componentsThe USW supports the progress that would help lessen the

impact on members, but prefers health insurance reform that does not tax benefits at all. The union has been clear that we support a plan with these essential components:

• Affordable options and reform of insurance practices that will result in health care for all Americans.

• A public option that will lower costs by competing with the private sector and offer coverage for Ameri-cans who cannot afford alternatives.

• No taxation for employer-provided insurance and rules to ensure big employers retain coverage.

• Shared responsibility by requiring all employers to provide coverage, also known as “pay to play.”

• Significant cost containment to help families, retirees, businesses and our governments.

• A federally funded catastrophic reinsurance program to help employers and Voluntary Employees’ Benefi-ciary Associations (VEBAs) that provide benefits for pre-Medicare retirees aged 55 to 64.

Visit www.usw.org for the latest.

U S W @ Wo r k • W i n t e r 2 0 1 0 2 9

The killing continues in the ship-breaking industry in Bangladesh, one of the most dangerous places in the world to work.

Eight workers were burned to death on Dec. 26, 2009, when the huge ship they were dismantling on a beach in the Bay of Bengal exploded.

They were among 25 ship breakers who were killed last year in Bangladesh, where the dismantling of ships is such a large industry that it can be seen by astronauts from space.

Until the late 20th century, ship breaking took place in port cities of industrialized countries including the United Kingdom and the United States.

Today, most ship-breaking yards are in Pakistan, Bangla-desh, and India, due to lower labor costs and less stringent environmental regulations dealing with the disposal of lead paint and other toxic substances.

The fall issue of USW@Work outlined an investigation into the industrial atrocities of ship breaking by the non-profit National Labor Committee (NLC), which is supported by the USW.

The NLC documented worker abuses in its report, Where Ships and Workers Go to Die, that was published last Septem-ber to coincide with the G-20 Economic Summit in Pittsburgh.

In an update published in January, NLC Director Charles Kernaghan said the workers at the Rahim Steel and Ship-Breaking yard died after being ordered to cut apart the main gas tank and a nearby oil waste tank on the Agate, an enormous oil tanker they had been breaking apart for the previous month.

Management assured the workers that the tanks were clean and free of dangerous gas, gas vapors and oil residue. That turned out to be a dangerous lie.

When the workers started cutting into the tank using blow torches, the sparks set off a massive explosion that engulfed them in flames. The fire burned out of control for several hours, killing at least seven men with an eighth worker missing and presumed dead. More than a dozen others were injured.

“We had no idea that flammable gas and oil were still inside the tanks. We thought the tanks had been cleaned,” said Noor Alam, an experienced metal cutter whose face was badly burned in the accident. He had worked at the yard for seven years.

“It was the main gas tank in the ship. Its size was huge. I was to cut one side of the tank. Other workers also started cutting the tank,” he said. “After some time, the tank exploded with a tremendous bang and the tank burst into flames.”

A lack of ambulances and immediate medical care may have contributed to the loss of life. The company used two vans to transport the most seriously injured of the workers to a

local hospital. The transport took over an hour.The approximately 350 workers at the Rahim Steel yard

were paid the equivalent of 22 cents to 32 ½ cents an hour, or $2.26 to $3.63 a day, working 11-to12-hour shifts.

“We work 30 days a month,” one worker told the NLC. “We aren’t millionaires. We have to pay house rent, to spend money purchasing food, to send money home to our families.”

The workers have no work contracts, are paid no overtime premium, have no health or safety protections, no medical care and no holidays. They have no rights whatsoever.

There is no hope among workers at the Rahim Steel yard that there will be any improvements. “Workers will continue to be abused, cheated, injured and killed,’’ Kernaghan said.

After the explosion, yard manager Abus Selim claimed that the Agate’s tanks had been cleared of dangerous materials before the ship dismantling began.

But given the magnitude of the explosion, Kernaghan said it appears that the tanks were not cleaned, and if they were, the work was shoddy and incomplete.

At least two months before the blast, the company was warned by the Bangladeshi government’s chief explosives inspector that at least six tanks on the Agate were “not free of dangerous gas vapors,’’ according to newspaper accounts of the blast.

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, apparently emotionally moved by the needless loss of life, an-nounced in January that her government will finally formulate a policy to regulate the ship-break-ing industry.

Kernaghan, however, said labor leaders and labor rights activists in Bangladesh feel it will be many years, if ever, before powerful yard owners are held accountable under Bangladesh law.

“The only certainty, without labor law enforcement, is that Bangladesh’s ship-breaking workers will be maimed, killed, denied their basic legal rights and cheated of their wages for many years to come,’’ he said.

2 8 U S W @ Wo r k • W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

How do we rebuild America? Steelworkers and students sought answers to

that question from a panel of experts including leading American industrialists, U.S. Labor Sec-

retary Hilda Solis and International President Leo W. Gerard.The occasion was the taping of a CNBC program, “Meet-

ing of the Minds: Rebuilding America,” at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh before an audience of 600 students, business executives and trade unionists.

The panel included Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co.; Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric; Dan DiMicco, president and CEO of Nucor Corp; John Engler, president of the National Association of Manu-facturers; Solis and Gerard.

Instead of confrontation, there was general agreement that rebuilding manufacturing capacity and restoring America as an export powerhouse and jobs generator should be a top national priority.

Describing the official U.S. unemployment rate of 10 percent as “unacceptable,” Immelt called for a repurposing of the economy to grow exports and create jobs.

Trend has to be stopped“This 25-year trend has to be stopped,” Immelt said.Even though GE has been a leader in outsourcing manu-

facturing and research to China, India and elsewhere, Immelt acknowledged it was wrong to expect that the American economy could go from being an exporter of manufactured goods to a service economy in one generation.

The idea that we could “put factories on a barge and ship them wherever the hell we wanted to, wherever had the lowest wage, and we would still be beloved by our populace turned out not to be such a great idea,’’ Immelt said.

The United States needs a national strategy to return

manufacturing back to its formerly pre-eminent position in the economy. Trade laws must be enforced and improved.

The lack of a manufacturing strategy handicaps the United States when it attempts to compete with virtually every other industrialized nation. Other countries emphasize and support manufacturing sectors with taxes, tariffs, loans, grants and even higher education guidelines.

“We need a balanced trade agenda that’s going to start refocus on exports,’’ Gerard said. “We need to have a national strategy to rebuild manufacturing up to its traditional 20 per-cent plus of (Gross Domestic Product) and we need to find a way to pay for that and we need to do it soon.”

Government cooperation urgedFord urged government cooperation with industry and

called on the students to value engineering and manufacturing careers over get-rich-quick jobs in finance.

“We need a national policy on manufacturing, and we need the government to be our ally and not our adversary,’’ Ford said.

Warren, Ohio, steelworker Ernest Galgozy told the panel he had been off work for 13 months, and has a young son with medical needs.

“Quite frankly I’m a little ticked off that we’re in the con-dition we’re in. Manufacturing is in a tailspin and it bothers me,’’ Galgozy said.

“Ernest, you shouldn’t be a little ticked off, you should be a lot ticked off,’’ DiMicco responded. “Business leaders and our policy makers in Washington for the last 20 years have had failed trading policies, negative manufacturing policies.

“They have not been doing what’s necessary to have a strong and thriving middle class in this country. Instead, what we have done and allowed to happen has destroyed the middle class in this country.”

National Labor Committee photo

Cover of National Labor Committee report

Left to right: John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis; Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric; USW International President Leo W. Gerard; Bill Ford, executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., and Dan DiMicco, president and CEO of Nucor Corp. CNBC Photo/Phil Long


The United Steelworkers responded immediately to the horrific earthquake in Haiti by offering support and solidarity.

Within 24 hours of the Jan. 12 tragedy, International President Leo W. Gerard and Canadian National Director Ken Neumann announced a $20,000 donation from the Steelworkers Humanity Fund to assist with emergency aid efforts in the Caribbean country.

“Many of our sisters and brothers who live and work in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean have friends and relatives from Haiti. Our hearts and thoughts are with them during these trying moments,” Gerard said.

“It’s times like these that we are reminded that regardless of the bloodline that runs through our veins, or the address of the place we call home, we are all family connected by our common humanity.”

Neumann said the USW pledged continued support, solidarity and prayers to the people of Haiti and their family and friends around the world. “We will be with them as they work to overcome this terrible tragedy,” he added.

Founded by the United Steelworkers in 1985 in Canada, the Steelworkers Human-ity Fund is a registered charitable organization. USW members contribute to the fund through clauses negotiated into collective agreements. In a number of agreements, matching contributions have been negotiated from employers.

The mandate of the fund is to address issues of hunger and poverty, primarily in the developing world, through development assistance and emergency aid. The fund has made numerous donations, including assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina in the United States and over $900,000 to Canadian food banks.

For USW members or locals wishing to donate, please send checks made out to Steelworkers Charitable and Educational Organization to: United Steelworkers, c/o Vice President (Human Affairs) Fred Redmond, Five Gateway Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

The United Steelworkers Charitable and Education Organization is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and contributions are tax deductible.

Steelworkers wishing to donate to the Humanity Fund in Canada can send checks to: Steelworkers Humanity Fund, 234 Eglinton Ave., East Suite 800, Toronto, Ontario M4P 1K7. Please note that U.S. donations to the Humanity Fund are accepted but are not tax deductible.

The TransAfrica Forum, a longtime ally of the union movement, also suggested donations to two organizations already providing aid on the ground: Partners in Health (http://www.pih.org/inforesources/news/Haiti_Earthquake.html) and Doctors Without Borders (http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/).

In 2008, the U.S. Congress passed the world’s first ban on trade in illegal wood by amending a 100-year-old statute named the

Lacey Act.The reform was welcomed by the

USW and the Sierra Club because of the belief it would increase environmental protection worldwide and allow USW

employers in the forest and paper indus-try to operate on a level playing field with their international competitors.

Now, the USW and its environ-mental ally are gravely concerned over decisions by federal regulators to grant special enforcement exemptions for pulp and paper from the Lacey Act reforms.

Those exemptions in declaration requirements threaten to undo the environmental and economic benefits to workers and their communities that were expected to flow from the reform legislation.

The Lacey Act has long been a powerful tool for U.S. agencies fighting wildlife crime but its potential to com-bat illegal logging remains untapped. The ground-breaking changes to the act ban commerce in illegally sourced plants and their products, including timber and items made from wood.

Progress threatened“Illegal logging threatens a quarter

of century of progress toward sustain-able and responsible harvest of our natural resources, while exploiting workers and the environment in foreign countries,” said International Vice Presi-dent Jon Geenen, who is in charge of national paper industry bargaining for the USW.

“Our work on the Lacey Act and our continuing efforts to ensure en-forcement represent yet another step in safeguarding paperworker jobs in North America.”

Under the Lacey Act reforms, importers must declare the country of origin and the plant species harvested for their products, an important step in creating transparency in a previously unregulated market where consumer demand has driven deforestation around the world.

Pulp and paper were included in the initial drafts of an explicit enforcement schedule developed by the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service, the federal agency in charge of enforcing the Lacey Act.

But pulp and paper were pushed out of the enforcement schedule in subse-quent agency drafts and are now labeled “under consideration” for inclusion. Politics seems to be the culprit.

“Fully incorporating all wood prod-ucts, including pulp and paper, into the declaration requirement is essential if the Lacey Act’s potential is to be fully realized and global trade in illegally-sourced wood products is to decrease,’’ said Margrete Strand Rangnes, direc-tor of the Sierra Club’s labor, workers’ rights and trade program.

Illegal logging costsIn the United States, illegal logging

makes it impossible for workers and their employers to successfully compete. Legitimate timber companies are under-cut on price by illegal loggers who do not pay fees to their governments or pay the true market price for the trees they cut.

Many hundreds of workers, includ-ing a significant fraction of the workers remaining in the coated paper sector, face harm from plant closings and production curtailments. The economic effects will ripple through local economies where plants are located.

“The USW has seen true devastation among our members as multiple plants have closed or reduced production, in large part because of imports from na-tions where illegal logging is a large part of the timber supply,’’ said Holly Hart, the USW’s legislative director in Wash-ington, D.C.

Leaving pulp and paper out of the enforcement schedule for the declara-tion requirement will allow the economic devastation in the United States caused by illegal logging to continue without check, Hart and Strand Rangnes wrote in a protest letter to the agency.

Environmental damageBeyond the obvious economic prob-

lems, exempting pulp and paper from enforcement will fail to help curb the environmental damage caused by illegal logging in the countries of origin. An es-timated 30 percent of the global warming pollutants released into the atmosphere each year are blamed on deforestation.

If imports of illegal logs are to be curtailed, importers must be held fully responsible for the materials they import and for accurately completing the re-quired declarations.

If the bar of responsibility is set any lower, less than scrupulous importers will have a significant window of opportunity by which to evade compliance.

The USW and the Sierra Club call for a strong enforcement program with a predictable schedule for covering imports of pulp and paper, wood and products made from wood.

We also support creation of an elec-tronic filing system for declarations and an electronic database of covered plants, including tools to track wood and assess the risk of illegal wood sourcing within a supply chain.

Left: Aid worker helps earthquake victim. Right: Damage to buildings was widespread in Haiti.

U S W @ Wo r k • W i n t e r 2 0 1 0 3 3

Hall Dedicated to Memorial Day Massacre Victims

USW Local 1010 in East Chicago, Ind., has renamed its union hall “Memorial Hall” in honor of those who fought and died at the Memorial Day Massacre during the 1937 Little Steel Strike.

The massacre occurred on May 30, 1937 as members of the Steel Workers Organiz- ing Committee were protesting Republic Steel’s refusal to sign a union contract.

More than 200 Chicago police officers opened fire on strikers who were marching to plant gates after a picnic. Ten were killed and more than 100 were wounded.

The hall was dedicated last Dec. 4. The ceremony included an address by International President Leo W. Gerard and the unveil-ing of a 300-pound black granite memo-rial.

Tom Hargrove, president of Local 1010, credits the union’s history as one of the reasons the local has a reputation for being active and progressive.

“Like the mine workers, from whom the steelworkers evolved, our history is based on blood, sweat and tears,’’ Hargrove told members. “The benefits we have today were earned with the blood of those who came before us.”

Local 1899’s Dennis Barker Honored for Political Action

USW Local 1899, which represents members at U.S. Steel Corp.’s Granite City Works and four other locations, is heir to a long history of political activism.

The Granite City, Ill. local was formed with the merger of Locals 16, 30 and 67, all of which can trace political activism to the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers, predecessor to the Steel Workers Organizing Committee.

Dennis Barker, chairman of the local’s Political Action Committee, works hard to keep that proud tradition alive. For his efforts, he has been named the PAC Member of the Quarter.

Barker was nominated by District 7 Director Jim Robinson and Sub-District Director Dave Dowling after Local 1899 raised more than $23,000 in volun-tary PAC contributions.

Federal Election Commission rules prohibit the use of union dues money for political purposes, making it imperative that members voluntarily support local PAC efforts.

Barker said success is a group effort made possible by sup-port from the officers and membership of the local.

“It is our members who deserve all the credit for what we are able to do raising voluntary contributions and engaging in political action,’’ he added. “They understand that what happens in the political arena affects their work life and their families’ standard of living. They always come through when the union sends out a call for action.”

USW Posts Resource Guide for Laid-off Members

The upheaval in the economy is causing major distress throughout our union and in the lives of thousands of our members.The USW has put together resources that may be used as a starting point for locals and in-

dividuals facing a layoff, including the latest information about extended health insurance benefits available through a federal COBRA subsidy program.The COBRA subsidy, authorized as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2008, has been extended into 2010.

A resource guide for laid-off members has been updated for 2010. The guide includes infor-mation about what to do when you lose your job, where you can turn for help and who you can lean on in your union.

Visit www.usw.org/laidoff to download the guides and find other helpful information. You can also get to the page by visiting the USW homepage at www.usw.org and clicking on the rotating “laid-off” graphic.

3 2 U S W @ Wo r k • W i n t e r 2 0 1 0

The USW’s coordinated work with community groups to im-prove conditions for thousands of exploited car wash workers

in Los Angeles continues to make waves.In January, a National Workers’

Rights Board, whose members include Roman Catholic Archbishop Roger Mahony, heard testimony describing widespread worker and environmental abuses in the industry.

A month earlier, California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles car wash Auto Spa Express, seeking $630,000 in unpaid wages for workers and over $2 million in penalties for violations of the state’s Unfair Competition Law.

Alleged violations include failure to pay minimum wage and overtime, failure to report on-the-job injuries and failure to pay state payroll taxes.

The attorney general was alerted to the violations by the CLEAN Carwash Campaign, a joint effort of the USW and the Community-Labor-Environmental Action Network (CLEAN).

“We applaud the attorney general for taking such strong action to right these injustices and recover monies owed to workers and the state of California,” campaign director Henry Huerta said.

There are as many as 10,000 car wash workers in Los Angeles, many of whom work for less than minimum wage and without other basic protections.

At the January hearing, former ca-shier Maria Hernandez said co-workers at Auto Spa Express were paid less than minimum wage with no overtime pay for working 50 to 60 hours a week.

“I saw workers have accidents because they were not provided basic safety equipment and I saw the owners fire or reduce the hours of workers who they suspected of supporting a union,” she testified.

Although the car wash was subject to local legislation mandating a living wage of $11.55 an hour, workers reported be-ing paid from $50 to $60 for a 10-hour day. Some claimed health problems from exposure to hazardous chemicals.

“The conditions at Auto Spa were awful,’’ said Custodio Camacho, a former worker. “We had no place to eat lunch except the chemical storage room and we often worked in the hot sun all day without drinking water or time to take breaks. Several co-workers got hands or legs caught in the conveyor because the owners refused to fix it.”

With the help of the CLEAN cam-paign, Custodio and others filed a

complaint with California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) detailing serious health and safe-ty hazards. Cal/OSHA issued $18,890 in citations for health and safety violations.

CLEAN supports the right of car wash workers to organize a union and bargain collectively. It also seeks to improve working conditions and ensure that employers meet labor standards and abide by fair workplace practices.

At the hearing, International Presi-dent Leo W. Gerard said: “Industry-wide standards will remain nothing but a dream” without union contracts.

“It is painful but very important for us to hear the personal experiences of workers facing coercion, intimidation by their bosses and the impact this has had on them, as well as their families and the community,” Gerard said.

“My union has a long and proud history of fighting for the rights of low-wage and immigrant workers. Be assured the United Steelworkers will stand with all car wash workers in Los Angeles for as long as it takes to organize a local union where they can act collectively to better their lives.”

Separate from the lawsuit, the USW Carwash Organizing Committee is pursuing unfair labor practice allegations against Auto Spa Express with the Na-tional Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The committee last year filed charges alleging unfair labor practices including the firing of workers who supported the union. The NLRB’s General Council investigated and filed a complaint, which is pending before the board in Washing-ton, D.C.

Back pay distributionA similar NLRB complaint against

another Los Angeles car wash, Vermont Hand Wash, led to a back-pay distribu-tion last October and offers of reinstate-ment for fired workers.

Four workers who were fired or saw their hours reduced at Vermont because of union involvement received $45,517 in back-pay awards through a formal settlement to NLRB complaints brought by the USW. Another $8,925 was set aside to reimburse a larger group of em-ployees for time lost when the employer unplugged a time clock during union demonstrations.

International President Leo W. Gerard stands with members of the Carwash Workers Organizing Committee (CWOC-USW) in Los Angeles after testifying at a National Workers’ Rights Board on conditions in the industry. Photo by Jose Barrera/ CLEAN Carwash Campaign


Energy Efficiency Training Grant

The U.S. Labor Department has awarded a $4.7 million grant to the Institute for Career Development and its part-ners to provide energy efficiency training.

ICD, a joint labor management training program for eligible USW members, will provide “certificate-driven” energy efficien-cy training to dislocated workers in northwest Indiana, north-eastern Ohio, western New York and southeastern Pennsylvania.

Training topics include solar panel installation, green manu-facturing processes, wind turbine technician and home energy auditing. The ICD said it will work with work force investment boards, career development programs, training providers and civic groups.

Solidarity Beats Concession Demands

When Local 8411 opened negotiations last year with Truseal Technologies in Barbourville, Ky., the company sought major changes and concessions

in the contract.The give-backs, said negotiating committee member

Earl Farris, included eliminating seniority consideration from job assignments, ending an attendance bonus and 401 (k) match and eliminating premium pay for overtime and weekend work.

“Basically, they wanted to gut the contract,’’ Farris said.Local 8411 members voted unanimously against the

contract proposal and struck on Dec. 16. No full dues- paying member crossed the picket line during the strike.

After negotiations resumed in January, the union beat back the concession demands and ended up with a new three-year agreement that kept the disputed benefits and included a signing bonus and wage increases. The new pro-posal was accepted by a vote of 110-39.

“Our membership stood strong, and due to their efforts we did not get run over,’’ Farris said. “Our contract looks a little bit different but we didn’t lose a single thing. We got everything back.”

Local Helps National Guard

Members of Local 12 in Gadsden, Ala., helped to fund a Christmas party and spring homecoming cel-

ebration for families of soldiers deployed with the 151st National Guard Chemical Battalion.

Local 12 volunteers stood at the Good-year gate in Gadsden for two days at shift change and collected about $2,000 for the unit’s Family Readiness Group. Gifts ranged from pocket change to $100 bills.

“Knowing that we have this National Guard group from Gadsden deployed, we wanted to be able to do something to help them out,” said Bren Riley, Local 12 vice president.USW Seeks Toxic Substances Reform

The USW has joined forces with the Learning Disabili-ties Association, the Cancer Institute and the Pennsyl-vania Nurses Association in calling for reforms to the

federal Toxic Substances Control Act. The 34-year-old law is inadequate. It has led to testing of

only 200 of 80,000 chemicals used in the United States, only five of which have been regulated.

Being proactive about testing chemicals and for chemical exposure would save lives and money, the group told a press conference at the USW’s headquarters in Pittsburgh.

If chronic diseases caused by chemical exposure were reduced by only one-tenth of a percentage point, that would lower health care costs by $5 billion a year, according to a new report, “The Health Case for Reforming Toxic Substanc-es Control Act.”

“It’s not a matter of whether we test toxic chemicals. It’s a matter of how we test them,” USW Health, Safety and Envi-ronment Director Mike Wright said. “Right now we test them in the bodies of our children, our consumers, our workers, ourselves. It’s time to start testing chemicals in the lab, and to take action before anyone is harmed.”

Weirton Local Aids Toys for Tots

Members of Local 8-995 in Weirton, W.Va., do-nated $1,600 to the Toys for Tots drive this past Christmas. The local, which represents employ-

ees of Ball Corp. and Nestle Purina in Weirton and Graham Packaging in Newell, W.Va., has participated in the fund drive for 13 years.

Miner Wins Book Award

Jackie Alley supports her family by driving a 40-ton dump truck at the underground Carmeuse Black River mine in Butler, Ky., hauling limestone to a crusher.

When not in the driver’s seat of an imposing truck, Alley, 53, works on her literary pursuits. The Local 162 member started a business, Nana’s Book Builders, with two daughters and has published her first book, “Nana’s Tomato Patch,” to positive reviews and a publishing award.

Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards named the book a bronze winner in the “young adult fiction – religion/spirituality” category of its annual contest.

In the book, main characters Tyneisha and Trevor shrink to bug size in their Nana’s garden, where they meet Mattey, a praying mantis, and Walley, a walking stick. They work together to get the children home.

“Nana’s Tomato Patch” is available through major book sellers and on Alley’s web site, nanasbookbuild-ers.com.

The Procedure is available to any USW represented em-ployee who is subject to a union security clause but who is a non-member and who objects to his or her union security fees being expended on nonrepresentational activities. Paragraph 1 of the Procedure states:

“1. Any individual, who is not a member of the United Steel-workers and who is required as a condition of employment to pay dues to the United Steelworkers pursuant to a union security arrangement but objects to supporting ... political or ideological expenditures by the United Steelworkers which are not neces-sarily or reasonably incurred for the purpose of performing the duties of an exclusive collective bargaining representative shall have the right upon perfecting a notice of objection to obtain an advance reduction of a portion of such individual’s dues obliga-tion commensurate with expenditures unrelated to collective bargaining as required by law.”

An eligible employee who objects to the USW expending monies for non-representational activities such as charitable or political activities may choose to perfect a notice of objection under Paragraph 2 of the Procedure, which states:

“2. To perfect a notice of objection, the individual must send an individually signed notice to the International Secre-tary-Treasurer during the first thirty days following either the individual’s initial date of hire into the USW represented unit or an anniversary date of such hiring: provided, however, that if the individual lacked knowledge of this Procedure, the individual shall have a 30 day period commencing on the date the individu-al became aware of the Procedure to perfect a notice of objec-tion; and, provided, further, that a member who resigns member-ship shall have the opportunity to object within the 30 day period following resignation.1 Any objection thus perfected shall expire on the next appropriate hiring anniversary date unless renewed by a notice of objection perfected as specified above.

Objectors are not USW members and have no right to vote in union elections or to be a candidate, no right to participate in union meetings or activities, and no right to vote on contract ratification.

Upon perfecting properly a notice of objection, the objec-tor is entitled to an advance reduction of a portion of his or her union security obligation commensurate with expenditures un-related to collective bargaining, as required by law. International Secretary-Treasurer Stanley W. Johnson has determined, based upon expenditures for the calendar year 2008, that the reduction percentage under the Procedure is 11.69% (24.66% if organizing expenditures were to be included).

There are court decisions holding that organizing activities are non-representational activities. The USW does not agree with those rulings. However, without intending to waive its position that its organizing expenditures are not subject to objection and without intending to waive its right to assert its position if there is a challenge to the reduction percentage, the USW has deemed it expedient to apply the 24.66% figure to most current and fu-ture objectors. Therefore, an objector will be charged 75.34% of the regular dues amount. Each objector will be given a detailed breakdown between representational and non-representational activities with a report by an independent auditor.

The Procedure contains an appeals system under which challenges to the reduction percentage determination must be filed within 30 days of the Notice of Determination and are to be decided by an impartial arbitrator appointed by the American Arbitration Association. Disputed amounts are escrowed pend-ing appeal.

While a notice must be individually signed and timely mailed, there is no form for a notice. Processing is faster, how-ever, when the notice contains the objector’s name, address, local union number, and employer.

1 Any right of a resignee to pay a reduced amount under this Procedure may or may not be superceded by the resignee’s check-off authorization.

All USW represented employees covered by a union security clause have the right, under NLRB v. General Motors, 373 U.S. 734 (1963), to be and remain a nonmember subject only to the duty to pay the equivalent of union initiation fees and periodic dues. Further, only such non-member employees have the right, under Communications Workers v. Beck, 487 U.S. 735 (1988), to limit payment of union-security dues and initiation fees to certain moneys spent on activities germane to a union’s role as collective bar-gaining representative. This latter statutory right is embodied in the USW’s Nonmember Objection Procedure.

NOTICE TO ALL EMPLOYEES COVERED BY A UNION SECURITY CLAUSE

PAC Supported New Congressman

USW Locals 420-A and 450-A held a meet-and-greet event in Massena, N.Y., for U.S. Rep. Bill Owens before he took the oath of office last Nov. 6

after winning a special election.The USW Political Action Committee donated $5,000

to the Owens campaign, according to District 4 Director Bill Pienta.

In the photo (from left to right) are Dallas Robinson, 450-A guard; Todd Mullin, 450-A guide; Dave Laclair, 450-A financial secretary; Jason Chilton, 450-A vice president; Tim Hanna, 450-A PAC chair; Owens; Richard Orton, 450-A president; Chris Baldwin, 420-A president, and Tom Bartmess, 450-A recording secretary.

Rapid Response Conference

The National Rapid Response Conference will be held on May 5-6 at the Hilton Washington in Washington, D.C. A simultaneous “Good Jobs, Green Jobs” con-

ference will begin on May 4. All locals are urged to send representatives. For registration and other information visit the Rapid Response Web site at www.uswrr.org.

Mike WrightUSW Photo

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

Name ______________________________________

New Address ________________________________

City ________________________________________

State _________________________ Zip _________

Rebuilding manufacturing capacity and restoring North America as an export powerhouse and jobs generator should be a top priority.

See pages 4, 6 and 28 inside USW@Work.

photo by Steve Dietz

Leo W. Gerard - USW | United Steelworkers

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