Pittsburgh-based steel manufacturer locks out 2,200 workers
Pittsburgh-based specialty steel manufacturer Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) locked out some 2,200 workers at 12 facilities in six states Saturday evening. ATI announced the lockout Friday, after United Steelworkers (USW) negotiators failed to bring ATI’s August 6 “last, best offer” to the membership for a vote.
About 1,100 of the affected workers are in western Pennsylvania. The remaining 1,100 workers are employed at plants in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oregon and New York. Prior to the lockout, the union had agreed to continue working under the terms of the old contract after it expired June 30.
ATI is demanding increased out-of-pocket health care costs, more permissive subcontracting rules, increased company discretion in scheduling, and a reduction in benefits, including the elimination of defined-benefit pensions for workers hired after June 30, 2015. ATI had previously called for the outright abolition of both the guaranteed 40-hour workweek and overtime pay after eight hours of work, but has since apparently dropped this demand.
With this lockout, the steel industry aims to make an example of the ATI workers in the longtime steel capital of the US and location of the USW’s world headquarters. This is the first steel mill lockout in Western Pennsylvania since 2008, and the first open labor dispute at ATI since a 10-week strike in 1994. The industry aims to establish a precedent for further cuts to wages and living standards, particularly for 30,000 workers at US Steel and ArcelorMittal, whose contract expires September 1.
Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/08/17/stee-a17.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
