ATI issues lockout notice to USW workers

Allegheny Technologies Inc. Friday said it was locking out more than 2,000 unionized workers at various facilities, including more than 200 working in Washington County.

The company said in a news release the lockout was effective today, but a worker at the Allegheny Ludlum plate mill in Canton Township said unionized workers there were sent home by the company around 8:30 a.m. Friday.

ATI said it will continue to operate the affected plants with ATI salaried and nonunion employees and temporary professional staffing until a new contract can be finalized with the United Steelworkers union.

USW International President Leo Gerrard condemned the lockout.

“It’s outrageous that the company has chosen this destructive path, but it is clear that ATI intended to lock these workers out since day one,” Gerard said in a statement Friday afternoon. “From the beginning, the company has bargained in bad faith to dictate the terms of an agreement.”

The two sides have been in contract talks since before the previous agreement expired June 30.

Marc Scott, a member of USW Local 7139-5 and a storeroom clerk at the Canton Township plate mill, said workers left the plant Friday morning.

“They sent everybody at the plant home at 8:30 a.m.,” Scott said.

He said some union members were waiting at the USW hall on Jefferson Avenue to hear from the international union what its strategy would be during the lockout.

ATI and the USW began formal negotiations in May for contracts that expired June 30 for about 2,200 employees of ATI flat rolled products division. The count includes about 220 people at the Allegheny Ludlum plant just off the Jessop Place exit of Interstate 70.

Until Friday’s lockout announcement, the union was working under the terms of the previous contract.

On Aug. 6, ATI said it made its “last, best and final” contract proposal for the workers. It gave the union an Aug. 10 deadline to consider the proposal and take it its membership for a vote.

The union said in a statement following ATI’s offer that it would review the proposal with its local unions, after which it would determine its next step, including whether it would present the offer to membership for a vote.

Along with its lockout Friday, ATI said the USW negotiating committee had neither accepted its offer nor allowed ATI employees to vote on it.

Gerrard said Friday that the USW bargaining committee voted on Aug. 10 to return to their plants and hold confidential consultations with their members to determine whether to hold ratification votes on management’s offer.

“That democratic process has been needlessly interrupted by the company’s actions,” he said.

“The lockout is the culmination of a monthslong campaign by ATI management to force workers to accept draconian and unnecessary concessions,” Gerrard continued. “It is spending millions of dollars on bringing outsiders to replace skilled and experienced union members even though the union has never threatened to strike or even conducted a strike authorization vote.”

He added that as recently as Aug. 4, the union presented ATI with a proposal “that made substantial movement in the company’s direction” and included “tens of millions of dollars in savings on benefits costs.”

ATI said Friday there remains much ground between the two sides.

“While progress has been made during contract negotiations on some issues, significant differences remain in critical areas including: health care benefits for current employees, the structure of benefits for employees hired after June 30, 2015, and updates to subcontracting and scheduling rules,” said Bob Wetherbee, executive vice president of the flat rolled products division.

“These differences have remained since formal negotiations began more than three months ago. ATI has made substantial good faith moves throughout the negotiations, with little movement on these issues by the USW,” Wetherbee stated.

“It is disappointing that the company has been placed in this position, but this step allows us to continue to meet customer demands while we continue our efforts to finalize a new contract with the USW.”

The company’s last proposal included $4,500 in lump-sum payments over the four-year agreement and continued incentive programs for flat rolled products employees, whom it says averaged $94,000 in earnings in 2014. It said its proposal also included “affordable solutions” for continued family health care, which it said would be about half of the cost that the average American worker pays.

Scott took issue Friday with the lockout and the health care offer.

“This is typical Allegheny arrogance,” he said of the lockout announcement.

As for health care and the company’s estimate on average wages, Scott said, “I made $66,000 last year. (The proposed) health care could cost me 10 percent of my gross.”

Referencing a famous radio newsman who always told the remainder of a story following a commercial break, Scott said, “Weatherbee’s never going to be Paul Harvey, because he never tells the rest of the story.”

The negotiations have taken place at a time of low global prices for stainless steel, one of ATI flat rolled division’s main products.

While the union has said it is sensitive to the current market conditions, it has said the company is using the situation to gut the contract.

USW International Vice President Tom Conway, who chairs the ATI bargaining committee, said Friday the union remains committed to continuing contract talks.

“We remain ready and willing to bargain toward an agreement that is fair to both sides, and today we informed the company that our June 30 offer to remain at work while negotiations continue still stands,” Conway said.

Source: Observer Reporter