BY BRIAN WILLIAMS AND SUSAN LAMONT
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - United Steelworkers of America
(USWA) members who work at U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel
Corp. mills and mines are currently voting, by mail, on
proposed new five-year contracts. At the end of July, similar
tentative agreements were also announced at Ispat Inland Inc.
and National Steel Corp.; steelworkers at those companies
will be meeting soon and voting as well. The outcome will
affect contract talks still under way at LTV Corp., and
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. Altogether some 55,000 USWA members in
basic steel are involved. The current six-year contracts
expire July 31.
Some details of the agreements have been presented to steelworkers in the form of a written summary at recent union meetings. The facts speak for themselves. Steelworkers should vote "no."
The length of the agreements - five years - is way too long, as we know from bitter experiences under the current six-year agreement.
The proposed agreement at Bethlehem Steel contains a measly $2 an hour wage increase over the life of the contract - $.50 in February 2000; another $.50 in August 2001; and the final dollar in February 2003 - the fourth year of the pact. Taken on top of inflation, the paltry raise in the last contract, and the massive give-backs of the 1980s, wages of workers in basic steel have yet to catch up to where they were 15 years ago. The new contract won't change that. In five years we will be making even less in real dollar terms.
This is especially hard to swallow because union members know the new lean-and-mean steel industry has been raking in substantial profits for the last few years - built on massive layoffs and speedup. According to the USWA, operating profits between 1993 and 1997 rose from $10 per ton to $40 per ton. At the same time the steel bosses' rate of profit continues its long term decline, so they try to squeeze even more out of us.
Under the proposed contract, probation for new hires is nearly doubled, from 520 hours to 1,000. This means new workers will have to wait six months before getting full union protection, a change that can only weaken the union. In addition, a worker will have to labor three years, instead of the current one, before getting some protection from layoffs. Transfer rights to another mill at Bethlehem are further restricted. Those taking such bids will now have to wait one year - six months longer than the current contract - before being eligible to bid on other jobs.
There is a substantial gain in pensions for workers retiring during the next five years. The minimum monthly pension for a worker retiring after 30 years would increase from $817.50 to $1,687.50 a month by Aug. 1, 2002.
Workers who are already retired or their surviving spouses do not get much help from the new contract, beyond small, lump-sum annual payments. There are 172,000 retirees at both companies. For some retirees and especially for surviving spouses, little is left of their pensions after medical insurance premiums are taken out.
The contracts pit gains for those getting ready to retire against newer workers with less time and retirees who are already out of the mills. They set the stage for further inroads against new hires, who will be coming into the mills by the thousands over the next few years.
The companies backed off for now from their demand for some further concessions - such as a two-tier wage structure, eliminating overtime pay after eight hours, random drug testing, and further cuts in union jobs. But the bosses haven't abandoned the fight to impose these things. At the US Steel/Kobe mill in Lorain, Ohio, workers are covered under a separate agreement because it is a "joint venture" with a Japanese steel company. There, the company is asking workers to agree to work up to 12 hours a day at straight-time pay.
In addition, the contracts maintain and deepen the class- collaborationist partnership perspective. The reactionary "Stand up for Steel" campaign is codified as a permanent organization - co-chaired by USWA president George Becker and a CEO selected by the companies. It is to be funded by a contribution of $.075 per ton shipped.
The companies' cries to "save our steel industry" is essentially aimed at pressing steelworkers to accept contracts weaker than we could win by mobilizing union power on our own behalf. This nationalistic "America first" campaign launched by the steel bosses last fall pits U.S. steelworkers against workers in other countries, where the effects of the worldwide capitalist economic crisis are bearing down hardest.
Although many workers at Fairfield Works in Alabama felt relief when the proposed contract was announced, some of this relief turned to anger when the contract summary appeared. A petition protesting the contract was signed by hundreds of workers at the pipe mill at Fairfield Works and a demonstration of about 100 members took place outside USWA District 9 director's office.
Some 3,000 USWA Local 1010 members at Ispat Inland's Indiana Harbor Works in East Chicago, Indiana, recently voted virtually unanimously for strike authorization, in response to company stonewalling during negotiations. This is just one indication of steelworkers' willingness to fight. The other USWA strikes going on, from Titan Tire to Newport News to Kaiser Aluminum, are another indication of the growing mood of resistance among workers.
A strong "no" vote will show that many steelworkers don't accept that these contracts were the best that could be won right now, with no mobilization of union power. It will demonstrate that we want our interests put first, not those of the superrich stockholders whose only concern is maximizing their profits. And a "no" vote will also be a step toward rejecting the companies' anti-imports drive, which is remains a deadly trap for steelworkers.
Susan LaMont is a member of USWA Local 2122 at U.S. Steel's Fairfield Works in Alabama. Brian Williams is a member of USWA Local 2609 at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point mill in Maryland.