[Peace-discuss] Lock outs

Mon Nov 23 22:27:36 EST 2015

That is union busting. It's disgusting.

And it sounds very much like what is happening (at nearly the same time) at
the local Clifford-Jacobs forge plant (owned not by ATI Flat Rolled
products but by IMT Forge). At least Clifford-Jacobs unions are all locked
out, not just one of them.

On Fri, Nov 20, 2015 at 8:34 PM, Karen Aram via Peace-discuss <
peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:

>
> US: Lockout of 2,200 steelworkers enters fourth month By Evan Winters
> 20 November 2015
>
> As the lockout of 2,200 workers at Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI)
> enters its fourth month, it is becoming increasingly clear to workers that
> the United Steelworkers Union (USW) is isolating and betraying their
> struggle.
>
> ATI began locking its workforce out on August 14th, several days after
> putting forward a contract deemed its “last, best, and final offer.” ATI is
> demanding steep increases in out-of-pocket healthcare payments, which can
> amount to over $10,000 a year per family, factoring in deductibles,
> prescription drug costs and other expenditures. In addition, ATI is calling
> for massive cuts to benefits for new hires, including the replacement of
> pensions with 401(k) plans.
>
> The company also aims to transform its workforce into casual labor,
> demanding the ability to contract out 40 percent of all jobs. Proposed new
> scheduling rules would essentially eliminate time-and-a-half overtime pay
> after eight hours of work, while placing workers’ schedules at the
> day-to-day discretion of employers.
> Pickets at ATI's Bagdad mill in Leechburg, PA. Left to right: John
> Rainelli, Randy Dunmore and Bill Kistler
>
> From day one, ATI made it clear that it is willing to accept losses now as
> a down payment on a cheaper workforce in the future. As it began the
> lockout, ATI mobilized what it termed a “D-Day” deployment headed by Strom
> Engineering that recruited scabs, flanked by a small army of private
> security guards. ATI claims it has largely restored production at many of
> its mills, although workers are generally skeptical of these claims.
>
> In a recent
> <http://triblive.com/business/headlines/9409484-74/ati-workers-mill#axzz3rHxtuIWd>
> article
> <http://triblive.com/business/headlines/9409484-74/ati-workers-mill#axzz3rHxtuIWd>,
> an ATI representative claimed that the company could now operate its new
> $1.2bn hot strip mill with only 32 workers, as opposed to the hundreds
> required in its predecessor. Although this number does not include
> maintenance and non-production work, it demonstrates that ATI only needs to
> train a relatively small number of skilled workers to restore production.
>
> In response to ATI’s aggressive mobilization, the USW has worked
> tirelessly to isolate, demoralize, and betray locked out ATI workers. The
> USW aims to demonstrate that it can be relied upon to boost the industry’s
> profits by slashing labor costs.
>
> Locked out workers currently receive about $500 per week in unemployment
> benefits, and about $100 per week in strike pay. Unemployment benefits are
> set to run out in February. Workers report that the USW is considering
> cutting <https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/11/11/steel-n11.html> their
> <https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/11/11/steel-n11.html> strike
> <https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/11/11/steel-n11.html> pay
> <https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/11/11/steel-n11.html> even as the
> holiday season approaches.
>
> Locked out workers are bracing for the loss of their healthcare coverage
> on November 30. Workers who want to maintain similar health coverage will
> be forced to pay for COBRA insurance, which can costs $1,800 a month for a
> family of three, almost an entire month’s unemployment benefit. An
> alternative “major medical” plan, available through the USW, covers only
> emergency care, leaving workers to pay out of pocket for regular doctor
> visits and prescription medication.
>
> Meanwhile, the USW has ordered 30,000 US Steel and ArcelorMittal workers
> to continue working even though their contract expired on September 1. The
> USW is using its betrayal of the ATI lockout as a warning to blackmail US
> Steel and ArcelorMittal workers into accepting deep concessions.
>
> The WSWS recently spoke with picketing steelworkers and supporters at the
> ATI Bagdad plant in Leechburg, PA.
>
> Bill Kistler, a retired Pittsburgh bus driver, was at the Bagdad picket
> line to deliver food and show his support. “I've been retired 14 years from
> the Port Authority [of Allegheny County], on full benefits. But, I haven’t
> gotten a raise on my pension in years.
>
> “I had to take another job. Just to keep things going. I’m driving a bus
> now. I do weddings, casino trips, stuff like that. It’s not a full-time
> job. I’ve been busy this month, seven days a week. I’m tired! I’m old. I
> can’t do this anymore.”
>
> Randy Dunmore, a worker at ATI Bagdad with 38 years’ experience, explained
> what is at stake in the lockout. “They want to contract out all
> maintenance. They also want us to pay up to $30,000 out of pocket over the
> life of the contract. We have no problem paying $215 a month out of pocket,
> but the deductibles and copays, that’s outrageous. It can be over $10,000 a
> year.
>
> “They’re trying to force a lot of the older people like myself to retire,
> and the younger guys are saying ‘I’ve got to have this job to pay for my
> house.’
>
> “Right now if they put it up to a vote with us older people, it probably
> wouldn’t fly. A few months down the road, there’s a better chance it will.”
>
> Speaking of the concessions, Dunmore continued “There are people that died
> for that years ago. They actually gave their lives. Are we just going to
> put our hands up and give it up, what their predecessors all fought for? It
> was more than just strikes, there was blood.”
>
> John Rainelli expressed his outrage over the lock out. “I’ve worked here
> almost 43 years. I put my heart and soul into this company for 43 years and
> this is how they pay you back. For all these years they would say things
> like, ‘you are the ones that made this company’ and ‘if it wasn’t for you
> we wouldn’t be here.’ But then they just threw us out.
>
> “I ran the overhead crane. It used to be a good place to work, but for the
> last two or three years I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
>
> “Obama is not a person for the workers. He has not helped the working
> class,” Rainelli remarked when asked about the role of the Democratic
> president and other politicians in attacking workers.
>
> “All the local politicians cut deals so that ATI could build that plant in
> Brackenridge. They got tax breaks and all kinds of help. Now they just
> throw everyone out of work and the politicians don’t say anything.
>
> “The whole thing is wrong. If this isn’t settled, I will have to retire on
> Dec 31. I don’t want to but I will have to. Our medical runs out on
> November 30 and the COBRA costs too much. The union has a plan but I call
> it the ‘oh shit’ plan. It will cover you if you break your arm and go to
> the emergency room, but it won’t cover doctor visits and prescriptions.
>
> “I’m in good health, but I need to see the doctor and I take medication
> for maintenance and the doctors need to check that. That won’t be covered
> by the union.
>
> “There are many guys who are going to retire because of that. The ones
> that don’t have 30 years are stuck. They are the ones that are going to be
> hurting. The company wants to be able to schedule you 32 or 30 hours a
> week. All of a sudden they will say you are not full time and you don’t get
> health insurance.”
>
> Rainelli went on to denounce the isolation of the locked out workers by
> the USW and other unions. “We are on a little island over here, and USX (US
> Steel) and the rest of them are over there, and we’ve been separated from
> them. And that pisses me off. The biggest thing that pisses me off is that
> we’ve got other unions coming across this picket line. Boilermakers,
> Siemens, all these union workers are going across here, and they tell us
> ‘We have to go across, because if we don’t, we’re gonna lose our jobs.’
> What the hell?
>
> “What really burns a few of us up, if you go down to the Labor Day march,
> those are the guys marching beside you with the sign saying ‘Solidarity,’
> meanwhile they’re going inside to take our jobs. How do you like that for a
> kick in the nuts?
>
> “And it’s bad enough that USX and the rest of them, there are so many of
> them, they’re still working. And here we are, with about 2000 of us. It’s
> probably down by now. Out here for what?! Are we going to be martyrs? Are
> they gonna crucify us? We’re the sacrificial lambs.”
>
> He concluded by pointing to the lessons of the 1981 PATCO air traffic
> controllers strike and the long string of union betrayals since then,
> “You’re right about getting everybody together, I’ve said that all along.
> This all started back when Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers.
> Every union in this country, I said back then, should have stood up and
> said ‘That’s it, we’re shutting this country down.’ We should have shut
> this country down, and gotten behind them.
>
> “We’ve given up a lot over all these years. We’ve given up a hell of a
> lot. Back in the ‘84 contract, we gave up a week’s vacation. We gave up
> time and half on Sunday for a while, it was time and a quarter, just to
> build them a line that they said would never go off of four crews, and it
> wasn’t long before it went down to one, and then they finally scrapped it.
> They lied to us.”
>
>
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>

-- 
-- karen medina
"The really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." - Mark
Twain
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