U.S. Steel Hamilton Workers Win Another Victory

John Packard 7:51AM, January 15, 2011

On Friday, USW Local 1005 advised Steel Market Update the Canadian government had ruled the locked out union members were eligible to collect Employment Insurance (EI) benefits retroactive to November 7, 2010 – the day the union was locked out of the U.S. Steel Hamilton mill.

According to local media reports, the decision means the union members will be able to collect up to $400 a week in EI benefits on top of the strike payments from the United Steelworkers. The combination of EI benefits and strike pay will garner most workers about two-thirds of their normal $800-$900 weekly pay.

USW union management was very pleased with the latest victory by the union which worked hard to present their case to Service Canada which did an extensive legislative review.

According to a theSpec.com article shared with SMU on Saturday morning, “Normally, workers involved in a labour dispute are denied EI benefits, but the union argued the Hamilton situation is different because the workers aren’t on strike, they’ve been locked out by a company that has also broken employment and production promises made to the government. (The federal government is suing the company over those broken promises, seeking penalties that now total about $15 million. The case could go to trial in the spring.)”

Even with the latest victory by the union the USW told SMU in their press release, “…this certainly does not take away from the fact that our members would much rather be working producing Steel.”

The union believes this decision will help put pressure on U.S. Steel to negotiate with the union and bring the Hamilton plant back into production.

U.S. Steel locked out the workers insisting Local 1005 members agree to changes closing the existing defined benefit plan to new hires which would be directed instead to a defined contribution plan. The mill is also insisting on an end to pension indexing for the approximately 9,000 existing retirees. The union position is to work under the contract agreed to by U.S. Steel when they purchased the former Stelco facility in 2007. (Source: USW Local 1005, theSpec.com)

For more information about the subject you can visit the SMU Blog where we have a number of blog postings and comments from both pro-union and non-union positions.

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Comments

Only the strong will survive, the weak, as always, will fall by the wayside. If you want to sell steel, you MUST be compe****ive worldwide. Here is US Steel SHOWING us how they intend to be compe****ive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l7JqonyoKA&feature The steelmaking business used to be “labour” intense; it required a lot of people. But that’s not true anymore! It has now become “capital” intense, which is to say, it needs a lot of (money) capital. And why is that? Because automation has overtaken man, and steel laboratories, that keep changing formulas, don’t give a damn. Money, money, money, for brand-new automated equipment and money, money, money, for new processes. Does US Steel have the best processes and the best equipment? Do they have the best labs and the best mines? Do they have the best people – 42,000 strong? Let’s hope so. And let’s hope US Steel’s laboratories are working hand-in-hand with Uncle Sam, nudge-nudge, wink-wink, you know, like General Electric does – good old GE and the US Military. Let’s get Hamilton up and running again, and let’s hope somebody wants to buy our steel. Don’t reduce Hamilton to just coke, iron ore, some s**** medal, molten lava, and slabs! Let’s get our share of Coils and Finishing as well. We don’t want to be reduced to just making and shipping slabs. And Labs – maybe US Steel could team-up with McMaster University and partner with their labs. A new, and better steel, discovered under the microscope right here at US Steel – Hamilton, in our Labs. Let’s get this contract issue settled, you guys, you owe it to Hamilton. THIS VIDEO IS WORTH 13 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME. YOUR TIME IS PRECIOUS AND SO IS THIS… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYyrqSmhals&feature And US Steel, let’s get some more formulas, newer and better than ever before. Let’s blow the completion out of the water and leave them lying in the dirt. Those are fighting words. We’ll kill the opposition. We’ll annihilate them. We’ll destroy them. Those are more fighting words. And where do you hear those fighting words actually spoken out loud? You mostly hear them on two fronts. You hear those fighting words spoken, in all military establishments, in every corner of the globe, and even including our own little corner. And you hear those fighting words spoken in corporate boardrooms scanning the very same globe. They both speak the same language. So why not team up? LOL

Tommy D____ January 18, 2011 at 2:09PM

USWA Local 1005 Gets Employment Insurance Benefits The extremely bizarre decision of the federal government’s Service Canada to allow employment insurance benefits defies all logic and has the potential to cost Canadian taxpayers many millions especially if it precedent setting. This decision will be quoted by unions at EI claims appeals for years to come. Does this decision encourage unions to deny their members the freedom and right to vote on contract final offers? If so this is a Labour Relations game changer. If Local 1005 allowed their members the freedom to vote on the final offer and the membership voted to accept the companies offer then the stoppage would be over and there would be no EI discussion. If the membership voted to reject the last offer then the legislation is clear that there would be no entitlement to employment insurance benefits. The union membership voted for their President and the other members of the negotiating committee. These are now same the elected officials that are denying the membership the right to vote on the companies last offer. The membership is therefore the authors of their own fate and consequently should not be entitled to employment insurance benefits. What happens if US Steel now exercises their right to have a government supervised vote on their last offer and the employees vote to reject the offer? Does that mean eligibility for EI payments would suddenly end? If US Steel had of asked for this vote in Nov. and the offer was rejected, Service Canada would of denied the employees EI benefits because they voted. It makes absolutely no sense that the only reason EI benefits were granted was because the company did not request a vote. Using the published numbers ($400 per week for 900 employees) this decision will cost the Canadian taxpayers $360,000 per week. Because the decision is retroactive the current cost is already $3,600,000. The cost to taxpayers on April 30 (the last day for filing your individual income tax) will be $8,640,000 and the total cost if the payments continue the full 45 weeks will be $16,200,000. Service Canada and hence the Federal Government has in effect given the Local 1005 strike/lockout fund the equivalent of a $360,000 per week donation that has/will cost Canadian taxpayers millions. The millions of working Canadian taxpayers not earning $25.00 per hour and the millions of Canadian taxpayers working with minimal or no benefits and the millions of retired Canadian taxpayers that have no pension at all and the additional millions of retired Canadian taxpayers that have a non-indexed pension should see this decision by Service Canada to be unjust in the extreme. Service Canada and hence the Federal Government has in effect given the Local 1005 strike/lockout fund the equivalent of a $360,00 per week donation worth millions of Canadian tax dollars. Furthermore this decision has the real possibility to extend this stoppage for many additional months. If this is the case and stoppage is extended by an extra six months then who benefits? The mayor and city councilors need realize everything they do that promotes a longer stoppage is a grave disservice to all the citizens of The City of Hamilton. Brian Hatch Ancaster, Ontario

Brian Hatch January 20, 2011 at 1:16PM

The reason for ei was not because the company did not allow us to vote. We are getting ei because they shutdown weeks before the lockout because of market uncertainty.