Unions request strike for Ryerson workers
Unions representing 500 workers at Ryerson Inc.'s Burns Harbor coil processing plant and two Ryerson facilities in Chicago will request an authorization for a worker strike February 12.
The United Steelworkers District 7, representing Burns Harbor employees, along with the USW Amalgamated Local 9777, representing the union workers at Ryerson's coil prickling and processing center, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 714, representing employees at a Chicago service center, are asking for a strike since their joint labor agreement negotiations with the company, following the Jan. 31 expiration of the workers' last contract, have not yet been resolved.
"We haven't talked time or economic issues," said Mike Mezo, bargaining coordinator for District 7. "Our dispute's on seniority rules, equalized overtime, all the work rules, which are very important to our members. How you're treated at work is often more important than money."
The USW believes its members will vote to authorize the strike.
Two more bargaining sessions are scheduled for later this month, and both the USW and the company have expressed they will keep bargaining, hoping to reach a resolution without a strike or a lockout.
Of the strike authorization, Mr. Mezo said, "We'll have it in our pocket just in case we need it, but I hope we won't."
Ryerson Tull is a leading North American distributor and processor of metals, with a network of service centers across
North America and
India.