Thousands of steelworkers rally across nation for fair treatment

Thousands of members of the United Steelworkers (USW) union from across the U.S., along with labor, political, religious, and community allies, held a series of rallies and marches on Aug. 30 to call for fair contracts with steelmakers ArcelorMittal and U. S. Steel.

Those contracts, which cover a total of 31,000 workers, were set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 1. The union has been negotiating with the two companies since July.

"These workers have gone three years without a wage increase," said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. "In that time, they've seen the cost of everything go up; they've seen their employers report millions of dollars in profits; they've seen management pay themselves millions of dollars in bonuses. And today, they stood up and said they'd seen enough."

The union's negotiations with ArcelorMittal cover about 15,000 members of 13 local unions, while the USW's master agreement with U. S. Steel covers more than 16,000 workers at 24 local unions.

For bargaining updates and other information on the current negotiations, visit www.usw.org/steel.