The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that its members have overwhelmingly ratified new, four-year labor agreements with ArcelorMittal USA that will increase wages, bolster retirement provisions, improve benefits and strengthen contract language for roughly 15,000 hourly production, maintenance, office and technical workers who belong to 13 local unions at 14 facilities in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
"After years of hard work and tremendous sacrifice to keep these facilities running and the company viable while the domestic steel industry languished through wave after wave of unfairly traded imports, it is right and just for ArcelorMittal steelworkers to share in the company's success now that the market has rebounded," said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. "The men and women we are privileged to represent earned these contracts by being the most efficient and productive steel making workforce in the world."
USW District 7 Director Mike Millsap, who serves as secretary of the USW committee, said that the union is proud that the newly ratified contracts provide meaningful economic improvements without compromising job security or unfairly burdening current and future retirees by increasing the amount they already contribute toward their benefits.