http://www.uswa.org/news/steel/statement042799.html
<html> <head> <meta NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Microsoft FrontPage 3.0"> <meta NAME="Template" CONTENT="C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT OFFICE\OFFICE\html.dot"> <title>Statement of Basic Steel Industry Conference</title> </head> <body LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#800080" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> <b><font FACE="Arial Narrow"> <p></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4">STATEMENT OF THE BASIC STEEL INDUSTRY CONFERENCE</p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="6"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA</p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">Adopted at Pittsburgh, PA on April 27, 1999</p> </font><font FACE="Arial Narrow" SIZE="5"> <p> </p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="6"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">I. INTRODUCTION</p> </font></b><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The Basic Steel Industry Conference is vested by the International Convention with the authority to implement the wage policy of the Union and apply it to the Basic Steel Industry. In Canada, bargaining matters have been and will continue to be addressed by the Canadian National Policy Conference. We here address these issues as they affect our members in the United States.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Fulfillment of our charge has always been an imposing task. Today, this body confronts challenges that are in many ways unrivaled since the early days of our Union.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We meet today on the eve of bargaining with the nation’s major integrated steel companies. And while we did bargain with them in 1996, all of our major contracts were resolved through binding arbitration, as provided for in the 1993-94 settlements. Thus for the first time in six years we will be facing the companies with a traditional strike deadline.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Stand Up For Steel</p> </b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The last six years have been nothing if not eventful. For most of this period the steel industry enjoyed a sustained period of substantial prosperity. Between 1993 and 1997 total industry shipments rose by 18%, operating profit rose from $10 per ton to $40 per ton and the industry generated total profits of over $10 billion.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Recently, however, a dark cloud has moved over the horizon. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">For 18 months now the Steelworkers Union has been speaking out about the crisis facing America’s steel industry. Immediately following the first of the currency collapses in Asia, we pointed to the series of events that, if left unchecked, would follow: these countries would face economic collapse and decline in their domestic demand; and, with the application of the IMF’s "medicine," a flood of imports into America of key manufactured products -– particularly steel. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We pointed out that none of this was inevitable, that prompt and decisive Government action could easily avert this crisis. In fact, as we made clear, the longer action was delayed, the more damage would be done, much of it damage that could never be repaired, and the more difficult the problem would be to solve. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Eventually our voice was joined by America’s steel companies in the creation of our extraordinary Stand Up For Steel campaign. That campaign, to put it mildly, has turned the nation’s capital on its head.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">When we began this effort, no one believed that we could do anything to stop the flood of imports. By November of last year imports consumed almost 50% of our market, and there seemed no limit to the damage that would be done.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">But this Union mobilized and organized itself and has forced our nation’s leaders to address the situation. And our efforts are paying off.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">On March 17, the United States House of Representatives, by an overwhelming 289 – 141 margin, passed HR 975 – a bill limiting steel imports into this country to their level prior to the crisis. While the bill still awaits action in the Senate, it is clear that our Union has succeeded in forcefully bringing the issue to the nation’s attention.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Through our efforts we have also taken important steps toward changing the basic terms of the debate in this country about international trade. The purpose and effect of trade must be to help working people, not enrich multinational corporations and Wall Street. Stand Up For Steel has opened up this issue and has laid important groundwork in creating a global economy that works for workers.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The crisis is not over, far from it. While it is true that overall import levels in the first quarter of this year were below the record levels reached in the third and fourth quarters of 1998, imports from a number of key steel producing countries are still dramatically above their pre-crisis level. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Although imports of hot-rolled steel declined in the first quarter of 1999 from their peak in November of 1998, with Japan, Russia and Brazil backing away, numerous other countries have already moved in to take their place. Japan and Brazil, in the meantime, have quickly increased their dumping of other key steel products.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">As we prepare for bargaining we must continue to press for passage of S 395 in the Senate.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">However, one thing has been proven beyond doubt. America’s Steelworkers have a loud and effective voice in Washington and state capitols around the nation. And the entire American steel industry is better off because of it.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Organizing for Security</p> </b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our Union's fundamental mission remains today what it has always been -- to raise the standard of living and improve the working conditions of our members. These are goals from which we will never deviate. But we must recognize that achieving this goal today presents us with extraordinary challenges.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Little has ever come easy for our members. Steel industry employers have always resisted our drive, first for basic recognition and then to create a decent level of wages and benefits. But the last 15 years have witnessed an employer offensive against workers and their unions unseen since the days of our Union’s founding. In today’s environment workers and their unions must make dramatic changes in the way we pursue our goals.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Today, more than ever, the only way to achieve our objectives is through organizing -- reaching out and organizing our existing members -- "Organizing the Organized," as well as organizing those who work in our industries without the protection of a union – "Organizing the Unorganized." </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">"Organizing the Organized" means first educating and then involving our members in every phase of the bargaining process. If we ever permitted ourselves to believe that we could accomplish our goals at the bargaining table without the strength that can only come from an involved and organized membership, those illusions have been cruelly shattered by the union-busters who every day challenge our very existence. It is simply not possible to successfully confront the immensity of corporate power without an informed and mobilized membership. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Nor can we immunize ourselves from the threat of low-wage, non-union competitors. Workers who labor without the protection of a union contract are both hurting themselves as well as directly threatening our hard-won gains. All workers -- union and non-union alike -- suffer when there is non-union competition. Organizing the unorganized will benefit us all.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our challenge here is immense. In the last five years over 15 million tons of new steelmaking capacity has gone online. Virtually all of this capacity is in the form of new mini-mills using thin-slab cast technology.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The most infamous of these projects is TRICO, the venture between LTV Steel, British Steel and Sumitomo, now operating in Decatur, Alabama. However, TRICO is not the only challenge. New capacity has also been added or announced by Nucor, Gallatin Steel, Steel Dynamics, North Star Steel/BHP, Birmingham, IPSCO and others. In fact, all of the large integrated steel companies have to one degree or another used the extended period of labor peace associated with the most recent contracts to build or buy into non-union operations.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Most of these facilities are being constructed at new sites and many in areas hostile to unions, with the intent of depriving their employees of union representation, wages and benefits. While these companies claim that the additional capacity will reclaim business from imports, it will more likely threaten USWA-represented integrated facilities.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the iron ore industry, Cleveland Cliffs has used the period of our latest contract to purchase the reconstituted Reserve Mining Company (once a partnership between LTV and AK Steel) and run it as the only non-union iron ore mine in North America, Like LTV, Cleveland Cliffs has chosen to put its entire relationship with the USWA at risk to maintain Northshore Mining as a non-union competitor. CCI runs partnership mines that include just about all of the North American integrated industry, thus implicating in this endeavor most of those with whom we bargain.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our Union once represented over 90% of all American steelworkers. With that representation came tremendous power to raise wage and benefit levels throughout the industry. While we still have substantial power, we must recognize that unless we regain our representation rights over the overwhelming majority of the industry, we will soon lose our ability to set and raise living standards for our members.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We pledge ourselves to an all-out effort to bring union representation to all those working in the steel industry. This will include a dedicated program to bring the Union to areas of the companies which we have not historically targeted. All employees eligible for union representation need a union, whatever the color of their collar. We do so for the benefit of those workers, but also to protect the hard-won gains of our members at the facilities we represent.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To fulfill our collective bargaining obligations to ourselves, our families and our communities, we simply must ORGANIZE!</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Looking Ahead</p> </b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We stand today at a crossroads. Steel is our Union’s original jurisdiction and still in many ways the heart of our Union. Many of our proudest accomplishments, particularly in the area of collective bargaining, were achieved first and have been advanced the farthest in this industry.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Now, however, with many of our members well into their careers and looking forward to retirement, there is a great temptation to rest on our laurels and ignore the very real threats that we face. This we cannot do.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our fathers and grandfathers, who built this Union, did so for themselves, but they also acted so that their children and grandchildren could enjoy a better life than they did. Now it is our turn. It is our sacred obligation to fight for ourselves, our daughters and sons, and to leave this Union a better place than we found it.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">And so in this round of bargaining we will focus on <b>SECURITY</b>. We will secure ourselves first by securing our Union, so that when we are gone there will still be a Steelworkers Union to do for the next generation what it did for us. We will organize the unorganized; we will stop the erosion of our bargaining units; and we will take back our work from outside contractors. We will fight for fair wage increases. And we will fight for a secure retirement, both for ourselves and for those who came before.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Traditionally, the Statement of the Basic Steel Industry Conference has covered a wide range of issues, reflective of the diversity of employers in this jurisdiction. This year, however, we have decided to sharpen our focus. This document lays out the broad objectives which are applicable in the vast majority of our bargaining situations -- the issues that unite us as members of the Steelworkers Union and define our overall vision of collective bargaining.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">With these considerations in mind, and aware of our heavy responsibility in these difficult times, we adopt the policy outlined below. It will become the task of the individual bargaining committees to further refine and particularize the broad goals we have set and to implement them through collective bargaining.</p> </font><font FACE="Arial"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="6"><b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">II. KEY BARGAINING PRIORITIES</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The objectives spelled out in this section are our top priorities. Every bargaining situation is different, and we must always address the specific needs articulated by our members. Long and often painful experience, however, has taught us that if our contracts do not contain the items described below they are unlikely, over the long run, to secure our future.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We seek to secure ourselves in five ways:</p> <ul> <b> <li>UNION SECURITY</b>, because we understand that a strong union is the only foundation upon which we can build our program;</li> <b> <li>EARNINGS SECURITY</b>, because all of our members have the right to a decent standard of living;</li> <b> <li>JOB SECURITY</b>, because without a secure job none of what we win is meaningful;</li> <b> <li>RETIREMENT SECURITY</b>, because after a lifetime of work we all need to know that we can live out the remainder of our days with dignity; </li> <b> <li>SAFETY,</b> because making a living should not cost us our health or our lives.</li> </ul> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A. Union Security</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">1. Neutrality / Card Check</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our strength in collective bargaining flows directly from our ability to represent all workers in a given industry. We must begin this struggle "at home," by using our collective bargaining strength to gain representation rights at all of our existing employers’ facilities and among all of their employees.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Every USWA contract needs language which commits the employer to a position of absolute neutrality in the event that we attempt to organize their non-union employees. The decision to join the union should be left entirely to the workers, with no involvement whatsoever by the company. In addition, the employer should agree that when we submit cards validly signed by a majority of non-represented workers, we should immediately be recognized as the union. The right to negotiate an initial contract must be protected by binding arbitration, and we need a preference for our members for all hiring at new or existing facilities that do not today have a union.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Finally, it is absolutely vital that the commitments outlined above extend to any operation in which the employer has any meaningful interest. LTV’s exploitation of a loophole in the neutrality provisions of the 1993-94 Agreements allowed them to construct a non-union mini-mill and directly threaten the jobs of thousands of our members. And while no other major employer had quite the audacity of LTV, all did follow their lead to some extent, taking positions in joint ventures just below the level where their commitment to neutrality would apply.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We did not Stand Up For Steel and save the industry so they could turn around and break our Union. We saved it for Steelworkers.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">On these issues there can be no compromise. No company which opposes, in any way, shape or form, our efforts to represent all of its workers will ever enjoy a stable or constructive relationship with this Union.</p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">2. Common Expiration Date</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Most employers in the steel industry with whom we bargain own or control other business units, many of which are also represented by our Union.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our bargaining strength would obviously be maximized if we were to bargain with all of the business units of such an enterprise at the same time; however, often we do not do so. Rather we bargain unit-by-unit at different times throughout the bargaining cycle.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The reason for this is simple: employers, anxious to minimize our bargaining strength and maximize theirs, work hard at staggering the termination dates of their various USWA and other union agreements. Their strategy is to divide and conquer, to play one group of Steelworkers off against another, and frequently, they do it well. Those who fall into this trap will eventually pay a price, and if we allow it to happen, we have only ourselves to blame.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our challenge is clear. We must see to it that all of our labor agreements with a multi-unit enterprise expire at the same time. Common expiration dates are absolutely essential and will be a central focus in our coming round of bargaining.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Accomplishing this will require advance research, planning and coordination. The Basic Steel Industry Conference urges each negotiating committee to take the following steps well in advance of the commencement of their bargaining:</p> <ul> <li>Compile a list of the expiration dates of all labor agreements between our Union and any business entities related to the unit at which our members work. The International Union is available to help in making this compilation.</li> <li>In conjunction with our Union’s bargaining experts at the District and International levels, and in close consultation with the negotiating committees for the related business units, devise a strategy to bring all labor agreements to a common date of expiration.</li> </ul> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">When made a priority, this issue can be won and will pay dividends for a long time.</p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">3. Partnership / Involvement Programs</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In recent years, our workplaces have become places of continuous change. In their drive to increase profitability, companies are constantly introducing new technologies and trying to implement new forms of work organization. These changes are often designed to increase the control that management has over our work. It is critical that the Union has the opportunity to bargain over these changes before they are implemented. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Almost all employers are creating programs that claim to provide "worker voice" or involvement. But without the full involvement of the Union, these programs will not address workers’ needs.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In the last round of bargaining we implemented far-reaching Partnership programs with many companies in the steel industry. The record of these programs is decidedly mixed. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In some places they have been a clear success. The Union has extended its influence, solved problems and allowed workers more say than ever over the design, implementation and impact of new technology. However, we must also face the fact that in many cases the Partnership process is being used by employers to undermine the role of the Union in the workplace. And finally there are cases where the programs have been all but abandoned or never even got off the ground.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It will be our goal in this round of bargaining to negotiate effective Partnership programs where they do not yet exist and substantially strengthen the Partnership programs that we have, increasing our decision-making authority within the Partnership process.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Those implementing a Partnership program for the first time should refer to the Union’s Wage Policy Statement for valuable guidance. In cases where programs do exist our focus will be as follows:</p> <ol TYPE="a"> <ol TYPE="a"> <b> <li>Resources</b> - Continuous bargaining takes significant resources. We cannot prepare ourselves and carry out the analysis and bargaining that is necessary without significantly greater resources under the Union’s exclusive control. We will use this round of bargaining to negotiate significant increases in Company funding of the extensive training that our Union must provide for those who lead and participate in Partnership programs and to fund the research, planning, caucusing and day-to-day efforts of those leaders and members of our Local Unions who administer Partnership programs at the corporate and plant levels. </li> <b> <li>Process and Control</b> - It is necessary to ensure that all discussions regarding change in the workplace take place <u>only</u> in a union-sanctioned forum, and that all Union participants be chosen exclusively by the Union.</li> </ol> </ol> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Finally, it is important to recognize that winning good contract language, while critical, is only a first step. We must also develop strategies for dealing with the issues that arise as the workplace changes and for disseminating a clear sense of union goals and priorities. </p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">4. Duration of Agreements / Timing of Negotiations</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The length of an agreement is often one of the final items to be negotiated and seldom receives the attention it deserves.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our experience in the last round of bargaining has taught us that long-term agreements generally work against the interests of our members. The stability that the companies sought was used to implement plans that weakened our Union. Without a contract expiration to worry about, the employers took the Union for granted when managing their business. In a fast-changing world we need to return to the bargaining table with an expiration facing the employer at least once every three years.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Collective bargaining is good for the union. It provides us with an enhanced opportunity to listen to our members and to bring their concerns to the attention of management. And it does so in a forum where we are most likely to be heard.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Companies are never shy about asking us to re-open our contracts if they get themselves in trouble. Shorter-term contracts simply make it a two-way street.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Similarly, we are deeply concerned about the rash of contracts being bargained long before their expiration. While early bargaining can benefit both sides, it is most often the employer who gains when we give up the leverage that comes from the possibility of a work stoppage. While strikes should always be viewed as an absolute last resort, we fool ourselves if we believe that we do equally well without the discipline on the employer that a possible work stoppage provides.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We will enter into early bargaining in this round only with employers who conclusively demonstrate their interest in our concerns. We set the following pre-conditions for all early bargaining.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">First, the employer must make an irrevocable commitment to the actual language of our pattern neutrality/card check clause and agree that it will be part of any new contract, irrespective of when that contract is finally negotiated. Second, the employer must agree that all USWA-represented locations will be part of the bargaining process, with all contracts expiring at the same time. Individual bargaining committees may want to add (but not substitute) additional conditions as well.</p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">5. Pattern Bargaining</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The creation and maintenance of an industry pattern is absolutely vital. If we allow one employer to deviate from the pattern, we are simply lowering the standard for everyone. Likewise, using an employer’s temporary good circumstances to send them ahead of the pattern will provide short-lived benefits with disastrous consequences in the long run. While the modern world requires innovative and tailored solutions, the principle of a "level-playing field" is needed now more than ever.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Since 1985 when the major integrated steel producers decided to dissolve the Coordinating Committee Steel Companies (CCSC) as a bargaining entity, we have bargained singly with each company. Though the companies decided to fragment their own bargaining structure, that did not oblige the Union to do the same. Instead, the bargaining activities at each company have been closely monitored and coordinated under the overall leadership of our International President.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Despite determined resistance from some companies, we have maintained a level playing field and pattern settlements across the major steel companies who formerly comprised the CCSC. Much of our energy in recent years has been exerted to protect, extend, and defend that pattern well beyond the former boundaries of the CCSC. In the forthcoming round of company-by-company negotiations, we will continue to engage in pattern bargaining.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">B. Earnings Security - Wages</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It is as necessary as ever that we establish and preserve a decent standard of living. To that end, we must negotiate wage and other monetary improvements which restore and maintain purchasing power and compensate our members for improved productivity. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our members need and have earned a raise. The American steel industry is the most productive in the world, yet American Steelworkers are earning the same wages as we did in the early 1970’s (after adjusting for inflation). Since 1983, steel wages have not kept pace with inflation, and a substantial catch-up on the cost of living is now imperative. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We have always insisted on equal pay for equal work, and therefore we adamantly oppose any two-tier wage agreements which pit one set of members against another. We are committed as well to pay equity -- equal pay for work of comparable value -- and will strive to correct historic inequities where they exist.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">With their outrageous levels of executive compensation, it is fraudulent for companies to talk about holding the line on compensation costs and requiring our members to look to profit sharing as the source of higher take home pay. Our emphasis will be on permanent and meaningful increases in the base wage rate.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Signing bonuses and other lump-sum payments, while attractive, should be resisted wherever possible. These payments are soon spent, leaving members no better off for the long term. Good contracts not only provide current improvements, they also position us for the future. Money spent on signing bonuses can only take away from real improvements in our standard of living.</p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">C. Job Security</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">At the core of our job security and protection program are four absolutely essential elements. First is contract language guaranteeing <b>EMPLOYMENT SECURITY</b>. Second is language which eliminates the <b>CONTRACTING OUT</b> of bargaining unit work. Third is a <b>SUCCESSORSHIP</b> clause which guarantees that in the event of a plant sale, the buyer will recognize the Union and adopt either the current agreement or an acceptable substitute. Fourth is a program to <b>REDUCE THE LEVEL OF OVERTIME</b>.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We must stand up and demand that companies create full-time, good-paying Steelworker jobs. </p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p>1. Employment Security </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The recent import crisis has provided all of us with conclusive proof of the value of this protection. And now that it has proved its worth, a number of companies have suggested that they want it back. We will not allow this to happen. We will use this round of bargaining to achieve this protection where we do not yet have it and to strengthen it where it already exists. Employers must simply accept the fact that employees are not a disposable asset, to be discarded at the first sign of trouble.</p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">2. Contracting Out</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">There is no security if the company can escape contractual wages and benefits by shipping out bargaining unit work to outside contractors and no contract clause has done more to build our Union than the contracting out protections that we have won in the steel industry. Most of our contracts now contain these clauses and our experience confirms their value.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In this round of bargaining we must move ahead – closing loopholes involving specific issues in production and maintenance and clerical and technical units, in both steel mills and iron ore mines. We must also look for ways to strengthen the workability of the clause to make sure that it is used for its intended purpose. Permitting the employer to contract our work in exchange for guaranteed levels of overtime is selling the company the rope with which they will one day hang our Union. It must end.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">As is detailed later in this Statement, we must also insist that the companies rebuild and revitalize the trade and craft forces.</p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">3. Successorship</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Absent a successorship clause, the employer can always sell the enterprise to new owners who are then free to reject both the contract and the Union and put our members on the street in favor of a new work force. In the past, the subject of successorship guarantees was often overlooked or assigned a low priority in negotiations because a sale of the plant did not seem imminent. However, bitter experience has taught us that there are many facilities and workers no longer covered by this Statement because of that error in judgment. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">While this protection does exist widely in the steel industry, there remain many employers who continue to resist it. In this round of bargaining we are determined to correct the problem. The jobs of thousands of Steelworkers depend on it.</p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">4. Overtime Reduction</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The achievement of a 40-hour week is one of labor’s proudest accomplishments. Recent events have made a mockery of this heritage. Companies are demanding that our members work longer and longer. And our members, because of wage stagnation, are working increasing amounts of overtime simply to maintain their standard of living.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A vicious cycle has been set in motion:</p> <ul> <li>Wage reductions in the 1980’s and wage stagnation in the 1990’s have driven our members to overtime. These massive levels of overtime have obscured the fact that wages have stagnated despite the unseemly growth of executive compensation.</li> <li>Increased overtime has enabled the industry to avoid their responsibility to hire new employees and train existing workers to move up as older employees depart. As a result, force levels have become depleted, necessitating even more overtime.</li> <li>Inadequate force levels have caused or compounded a host of other problems, including the use of outside contractors, contingent workers, temporary employees and part-time employment.</li> </ul> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">As a Union we are committed to building a world where workers have the time to be with their children, spouses, other loved ones and friends.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The reduction of overtime is one of our foremost objectives. In this round of bargaining we will negotiate provisions which dramatically limit forced overtime, reduce its overall level in our workplace, and mandate the hiring of new employees. We clearly recognize that at the same time, we must negotiate wage and benefit levels sufficient to provide a decent standard of living based on a 40-hour week.</p> </font><font FACE="Courier New"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4">We should build upon the foundation of the Overtime Control Training Funds previously negotiated in many of our steel agreements. Where such Funds exist, we must negotiate language requiring full and regular reports concerning their income and expenditures. We must also take steps to prevent the companies from controlling such Funds through unilateral action.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">D. Retirement Security</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Negotiating increases in, or creating where they do not exist, Defined Benefit Pension Plans, as well as securing improvements for past retirees and their surviving spouses, must be high priorities on our bargaining agenda. </p> </font> <blockquote> <b><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4">1. Defined Benefit Pensions</p> </font></b> </blockquote> <font FACE="Arial" size="3"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4">A Defined Benefit Pension Plan <u>ensures</u> a steady retirement income for the retiree and his/her spouse for the entire period of their retirement and is backed by a guarantee from the federal government. Defined Contribution Plans provide no such assurance or guarantee, and we unequivocally oppose any movement toward them.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In this round of bargaining our central focus will be on substantially improving the basic minimum multiplier. All of our members have the right to enjoy a decent retirement.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In those cases where pension programs have both minimum multipliers as well as pensions based on earnings, we will support the continuation of the earnings formula. The wage increases which we negotiate will improve pensions for those of our members who retire on this basis.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Where employers are unable to sponsor single-employer Defined Benefit Pension Plans because of the employer’s size or other economic circumstances, the Union will insist that the employer join an established multi-employer Defined Benefit plan such as the NIGPP or Steelworker Pension Trust. These plans provide our members with early retirement opportunities and disability benefits as well as having the protections afforded by the PBGC. In addition, these plans have the added benefit of joint control of pension plan investments, thus preventing, consistent with legal requirements, the investment of our deferred wages against our interests.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">As long as the Defined Benefit Pension Plan is properly funded and reasonable benefits are maintained, we are not opposed to 401(k) Plans that allow employees to put away additional money if they are interested and able. Such 401(k)’s should include worker-friendly investment options. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">However, we absolutely oppose "matching employer contributions," where the employer contributes money to a 401(k) Plan based on an employee’s contributions to the plan. Such an arrangement is inherently discriminatory since it favors employees who can afford to put money into the plan. In fact, any employer contributions to a 401(k) diverts money that could be used for other benefits and will eventually undermine a solid Defined Benefit retirement program.</p> </font> <blockquote> <b><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4">2. Improvements for Past Retirees / Surviving Spouses</p> </font></b> </blockquote> <font FACE="Arial" size="3"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4">We have a moral obligation to provide for our retired members and their surviving spouses. When we negotiate our contracts we are standing on the shoulders of those who came before. We should recognize their contribution and take on their fight as they fought for us.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Past retirees and their surviving spouses have had their pension incomes steadily eroded by inflation -- benefit checks that seemed ample years ago have lost significant purchasing power. Past efforts to raise pensions, though helpful, have not been sufficient. Therefore, we must address and remedy this injustice with full understanding that the cost of these gains will be recognized by the employer as part of the overall value of the "economic package" which we bargain. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We should actively consult with and take careful account of the needs of our retirees when we prepare our bargaining demands. Our retired Steelworkers can and should play an important role in supporting the bargaining process. Many companies are prepared to take a lifetime of labor from workers and then leave them behind. As a Union we must never allow this to happen.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="5"><b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">E. Safety</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Making a living should not cost a life. Since January of 1996, 52 USWA members working in the steel industry died in workplace accidents. Thousands more suffered serious injuries, or contracted life-threatening diseases from exposure to toxic substances. Excess overtime; the use of outside contractors; technological change without attention to safety; the lack of proper safety training and orientation, especially when jobs change or new workers enter the workplace; and the blind push for production are making today’s workplaces more hazardous every day. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We must also work to assure that workplace safety and health programs recognize the real causes of workplace injuries, and respect the knowledge and skill of union members. Many corporate programs, like "behavioral safety," assume that worker "misbehavior" is the cause of most safety and health problems. Other programs are based on the insulting belief that union members are too stupid to care about their own safety, so they must be bribed with pizzas, jackets, or the chance to win a vacation if they avoid accidents. Such programs only eliminate accident reporting – not accidents -- and must be actively resisted.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The Union knows better. Workplace injuries and illness are caused by hazards, not misbehavior. A serious safety and health program identifies and corrects those hazards by enlisting the participation of the entire workforce, acting through their union. Our message must always be that our members are not the problem, they are the solution. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Safety and health programs must also explicitly recognize the role of the Union. Most companies pay for full-time union safety representatives, or additional safety and health committee members, but often insist on management having a hand in picking them. We must fight for all the representatives we can get, but management must not be involved in their selection.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Union members understand that safety and health problems in the workplace become environmental problems outside the workplace. We also know that an employer with a poor environmental record will not long survive in business.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Environmental issues must be on the Union’s agenda. We should work for joint union-management environmental committees, and full disclosure to the Union of all corporate environmental information.</p> </font><b><font FACE="Swis721 BlkEx BT,Franklin Gothic Demi Cond" SIZE="6"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="6"> <p ALIGN="CENTER">III. OTHER BARGAINING PRIORITIES</p> </font></b><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In addition to those items described above, the Basic Steel Industry Conference also recognizes the following issues as bargaining priorities.</p> <b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A. Contractual Benefits</p> <blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">1. Health Insurance</p> </blockquote> </b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Our members and their families are entitled to quality health care fully paid for by the employer -- both when they are working and after they retire.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We welcome joint company-union cost containment programs which focus on the sources of health cost escalation -- hospitals, physicians and other health care providers. To that end, we are prepared to consider participation in accredited managed care programs that are in compliance with negotiated protocols and which emphasize access to high quality care and respect for patient rights. However we actively oppose short-sighted efforts by employers to shift their costs onto our members through employee contributions, higher deductibles, coinsurance and other forms of benefit reduction. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We encourage participation in the Steelworkers Health and Welfare Fund, a union-sponsored program which offers a variety of cost-effective health plan options for employees and retirees. By leveraging the combined purchasing power of Steelworker members nationwide, the Fund is able to control costs, maintain broad coverage and assure fair and responsible plan administration.</p> <blockquote> <b><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">2. Paid Time Off</p> </b> </blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We must seek to expand programs which provide our members with time off with pay. The stresses and strains of work life today require that people be given more time to be with their families.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We will seek improved benefits, such as longer vacation periods and vacation bonuses, more liberal eligibility rules, elimination of pay-in-lieu provisions and improved scheduling. </p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Vacations should not only be increased, but there must be greater accommodation to our members in the scheduling of vacations and greater restriction on the company’s right to schedule vacation shutdowns. Our members should have the right to take their vacations during the prime summer and holiday periods. We will seek to restore the vacation bonus keyed to vacations in undesirable months.</p> <blockquote> <b><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">3. Family Leave</p> </b> </blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We need to negotiate employer-paid family leave programs to cover our members when they lose work by reason of the birth of a child, serious illness of a family member, or any other family circumstance that requires the employee's presence. These programs need to be available to both spouses.</p> <blockquote> <b><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">4. Child Care</p> </b> </blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We need programs that assure high quality care for the children of our members.</p> <blockquote> <b><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">5. Disability Programs</p> </b> </blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We must expand and improve upon programs that ensure that those members who are disabled suffer no loss of earnings or benefits while unable to return to their former or equivalent job.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> <b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">B. Building the Union</p> <blockquote> <p>1. Office, Technical and Professional Employees </p> </blockquote> </b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">All steel companies have substantial numbers of employees who are eligible for union representation, but whom we have not yet organized. At the same time our existing office and technical units have been seriously eroded as companies have redefined work which should rightfully be ours. In this round of bargaining we must demand meaningful reviews of the scope of all our existing units and the return of all work which our members can do. We also commit to eliminating any restrictions to the organizing of all non-represented employees.</p> <blockquote> <b><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">2. Hiring Preference</p> </b> </blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">For years our members have sacrificed so that their companies could survive. It is our right to demand, consistent with the company’s equal employment obligations, that the first preference for all bargaining unit hiring go to the sons, daughters and other relatives of our bargaining unit members. We have earned the right to say that these are our jobs.</p> <blockquote> <b><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">3. Employee Orientation</p> </b> </blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">It is necessary to restore, update and make mandatory programs that provide new employees with an orientation prepared and presented by the Union. New employees need to understand that their wages and benefits came through collective struggle, not employer generosity. All of our members would benefit from exposure to such programs.</p> <blockquote> <b><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">4. Paid Union Time</p> </b> </blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Companies must assume a far greater share of the costs associated with the administration and negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement. Union activists should not lose contractual benefits because of time spent on behalf of the Local Union or International.</p> <blockquote> <b><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">5. PAC and SOAR Checkoff</p> </b> </blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We have negotiated PAC and SOAR check-off provisions in most of our contracts. Such provisions should be included in all our contracts in the forthcoming round of negotiations. </p> <blockquote> <b><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">6. Union Leave</p> </b> </blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We need strong language which gives our members the right to take an unpaid leave of absence to work for the Union, without adversely affecting their wages and benefits. Employers who oppose this right oppose our Union.</p> <blockquote> <b><p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">7.</b> <b>Trade and Craft Revitalization / Training</p> </b> </blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">One of our key accomplishments in the 1993-94 round of bargaining was to obligate the companies to undertake with us a joint review of their projected needs for maintenance workers over the following five years. The objective was to determine the size of the maintenance workforce needed to perform all necessary repair of the plant’s equipment without relying on contractors or excessive overtime. The parties were required to reach agreement on a maintenance training plan that would accomplish these ends with "last best offer" arbitration to resolve any disputes. With that five-year period now over we need to once again bargain strong language requiring such a process, including a commitment to far-reaching apprenticeship programs.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The need for training extends to all employees. We must therefore develop programs to provide all our members with the necessary skills and knowledge to do their jobs and advance their careers.</p> <blockquote> <p>8. Institute for Career Development </p> </blockquote> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We will continue to build on the unique achievements of the Institute for Career Development (ICD) in cooperation with steel industry employers. We will push for more employers to join the ICD, participate in its development, and finance its activities through cents-per-hour contributions. We will also seek to expand the role of the ICD to include providing post-secondary school scholarships for our children, with an appropriate increase in funding to defray this cost. </p> </font><font FACE="Courier New"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4">Many employers currently in the ICD are not providing adequate reports to the Union and the ICD with respect to ICD income and expenditures. Moreover, a number of companies use the "power of the purse" to dominate their joint ICD programs by refusing to appropriate funds or issue checks. Our patience has worn thin. It is time for us to insist that ICD funds be deposited in separate accounts, free from the control of the companies.</p> <b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">C. Equal Opportunity</p> </b> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Recent years have seen a concerted assault being waged against hard-won civil rights programs and protections. In this light, we reaffirm our historic commitment to retain and strengthen equal opportunity for all workers and affirmative action for those disadvantaged by historic injustices.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Though we have done much to remove the blight of discrimination from the workplace, the task is far from complete. We must continue to insist that employers halt any discriminatory practices and we must strengthen the joint civil rights committee and upgrade its activities and status.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We stand unequivocally against sexual harassment and other forms of sex-based discrimination. For too long this problem has been swept under the rug. No worker should have to be subjected to harassment in order to earn a living.</p> <p align="center"> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="6"><b>IV. NEW DIRECTIONS ISSUES </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"></p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In our 1993 deliberations, this Conference invited all steel companies to participate in what we called "New Directions Bargaining," a multi-point agenda that pioneered breakthroughs in area after area. Since 1993, our Union has achieved this at many steel companies, including all of the largest.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Not all companies adopted the New Directions approach, to be sure. But most of our important struggles have been long ones. For example, our improvements in contracting out were 25 years in the making.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The years since 1993 have convinced us of the merits of New Directions Bargaining. While we are the first to acknowledge the problems involved with its implementation, we are nonetheless convinced that it is an historically important accomplishment. We therefore urge those bargaining committees which have not yet achieved all elements of the New Directions Bargaining agenda to secure them in their next contracts.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We refer those bargaining committees which still need to achieve New Directions to the 1993 BSIC Statement.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY"> </p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="6"><b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">V. RATIFICATION PROCEDURE</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Consistent with our past practice contract ratification will include the following steps:</p> <ol> <ol> <li>Any proposed settlement must be approved by the union negotiating committee for submission to membership ratification.</li> <li>Any proposed settlement must be determined by the International Executive Board to comply with the BSIC Policy Statement before being submitted to the membership for ratification.</li> <li>Finally, any proposed settlement shall be subject to membership ratification by a majority of those voting in a vote conducted among the USWA members covered by the proposed settlement under procedures determined by the International President.</li> </ol> </ol> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">This round we will add an additional step. As part of our program to revitalize and empower the Basic Steel Industry Conference, the BSIC Advisory Board, comprised of 35 local union leaders from throughout the steel industry, will review the lead and subsequent settlements and make a recommendation to the International Executive Board as to whether they comply with the BSIC Policy Statement.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The lead settlement will serve as the model for all of this round’s steel industry bargaining and it is vital that the views of a broad cross-section of our local union leaders be taken into account.</p> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="6"><b> <p ALIGN="CENTER">VI. CONCLUSION</p> </b></font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4"> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">While the Basic Steel Industry Conference strongly endorses this Statement, we recognize that today it is only words. For this document to be meaningful it must be widely distributed, discussed, debated and put into practice.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">We therefore urge that this Statement</font><font FACE="Swis721 BlkEx BT,Franklin Gothic Demi Cond" SIZE="4"> </font><font FACE="Arial" SIZE="4">receive the widest possible distribution. Local unions should develop specific plans to bring it to the attention of their members. Bargaining committees should immerse themselves in it as they prepare themselves for bargaining.</p> <p ALIGN="JUSTIFY">In short, we urge all of our members to live it. Collective Bargaining, like all aspects of good trade unionism, is not a spectator sport.</p> </font> <hr> <p>Return to <a href="index.html">Steel Bargaining Home Page</a></p> </body> </html>