Vol. 80/No. 12 March 28, 2016
ATI workers return to work with heads high after lockout
ATI plants reopened March 14 after safety walk-throughs by the union, ending a lockout a day short of seven months. On all three shifts members of Local 7139-05 in Washington, Pennsylvania, came into the mill together.
“On day shift we hired a school bus, but there were a lot of people, so some walked in,” Skip Longdon, local president, told the Militant in a phone interview that night. “We carried signs that read, ‘Solidarity.’”
ATI, a specialty metals manufacturer, locked out 2,200 workers at 12 plants in six states Aug. 15. The bosses hired the scab-herding outfit Strom Engineering to line up hundreds of replacement workers, who started working the day after the lockout began.
“There are no guarantees in this contract, and no specifics regarding contracting out and scheduling. Back at work our solidarity will be put to another test,” Terry Stinson, a member of USW Local 1138 who works at the Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, mill, told the Militant.
ATI President Robert Wetherbee told the media in December the bosses have a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to cut labor costs by imposing a lower tier for new hires, as up to a third of the workers approach retirement. Under the terms of the four-year agreement, workers hired after March 1 will not get pensions or health benefits when they retire.
Some workers say they are scheduled for seven days straight their first week back, while others have not been called yet. Some were told their jobs have been eliminated and they have to bid on other jobs before they can return to work. The future of the 600 Steelworkers at two Pennsylvania plants — the shuttered Midland mill and the soon to be closed Bagdad mill — is up in the air.
“Actually, now there are three tiers,” said Alan Braden, a Local 1138 member in Bagdad, March 11. “Myself and other members get a lower pension than the higher seniority members, and now the company will put money into a 401(k) for new hires. I don’t agree with it. I’m still old school — because we are all one.”
The contract includes a $1 an hour wage increase, at the same time as the company eliminates the $1.50 per hour worked quarterly bonus under the old contract. There are no other wage increases over the life of the contract. Other provisions include increased health costs for active members, and a quarterly profit-sharing plan.
The contract vote reflected the decision by many that they achieved as much as they could in this round of the fight.
The National Labor Relations Board sided with the union on charges that ATI threatened members of the United Steelworkers and violated the previous contract, but its first hearing on this wasn’t scheduled until May 23. The long delay gave the advantage to the company, especially as the locked-out workers’ unemployment benefits ran out in February. ATI made dropping the NLRB complaint a condition for contract ratification.
“The lockout was pretty hard on everybody. But the one thing it has done is make the union stronger,” Leisa Brothers, a janitor with 22 years at Brackenridge, said by phone March 13.
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