Who We Are � Milestones in USW History

2000s

January 11, 2000 - More than 4,000 administrative and technical support staff at the University of Toronto ratifies their first collective agreement as members of United Steelworkers Local 1998, expanding the benefits of Steelworker representation to workers in higher education with the largest single organizing victory in years. Two years later, on February 12, 2002, Local 4120 is chartered at the University of Guelph, bringing the number of university employees represented by the Steelworkers to more than 5,000.

February 1, 2000 - Charter issued to Local 1976, a 5,000-member national local, following the merger of the Canadian section of the former Transportation Communications Union with the USWA.

June 2000 - Steelworker activists hit Parliament Hill with the first two weeks of intensive lobbying and meeting as part of a long-term campaign to gain changes to Canada's Criminal Code that would hold corporate executives and directors accountable for workplace deaths.

September 21, 2000 - Overwhelming ratification of new agreements at nine Bridgestone/Firestone plants consolidates the restoration of pattern bargaining in the U.S. tire industry.

September 29, 2000 - USWA members at the Southwire aluminum smelter in Hawesville, Ky., overwhelmingly approve their first contract following a 27-month unfair labor practice strike.

October 15, 2000 - Steelworkers make up the largest delegation of 5,000 women from across Canada who gather in Ottawa for the culmination of the World March of Women that began on International Women's Day in March, 2000.

January 23, 2001 - USWA Basic Steel Industry Conference unanimously calls for federal action to prevent the collapse of the U.S. steel industry as illegal imports push steel prices to record lows.

February 28, 2001 - George Becker retires. International Executive Board appoints Leo W. Gerard the union's seventh International President. Jim English appointed Secretary-Treasurer.

April 19, 2001 - Canadian Steelworkers hold a Commission of Inquiry into Corporate Conduct in the Americas as part of the Second People's Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, as citizens protest secret negotiations to establish the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

September 12, 2001 - President Leo W. Gerard condemns "the armies of the intolerant" and demands "justice for the victims, their families and humanity" following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

September 2001 - Following the attacks against the U.S., which many blamed on gaps in airport security, 25,000 Steelworkers in Canada's private security industry - including airport security personnel - launch a reform campaign for better regulation, licensing, training and employment standards.

December 9, 2001 - Ratification of a new labor agreement at Titan Tire of Natchez ends the longest strike in the history of the U.S. tire industry, which began at the company's Des Moines, Iowa, plant May 1, 1998.

December 12, 2001 - USWA Basic Steel Industry Conference sets firm principles for protecting Steelworkers' jobs and preserving domestic steelmaking capacity in any negotiations necessitated by proposed consolidations among major integrated steelmakers.

December 18, 2001 - Canadian National Director Lawrence McBrearty calls on the federal government to make needed changes to trade law and to take stronger action to protect the Canadian steel industry by introducing a safeguard action to prevent a further flood of imports, part of the union's nationwide campaign to protect steel jobs in Canada.

February 28, 2002 - More than 30,000 Steelworkers and supporters march and rally in the shadow of the White House demanding decisive federal action to end unfair trade.

April 10, 2002 - Leaders from 21 unions who represent workers at International Paper Co. facilities throughout the world meet in Nashville for two days to establish a global union network to advance and protect the interests of IP employees worldwide.

February 18, 2003 - Rank-and-file Steelworkers overwhelmingly ratify a six-year agreement with International Steel Group, Inc. (ISG), providing wage increases and benefit improvements for workers at five steelmaking facilities which had been shut down by bankruptcies at LTV and Acme Steel, establishing a new pattern in basic steel, and facilitating consolidation of the steel industry in the United States.

June 3, 2003 - Delegates representing the 12,000 members of the American Flint Glass Workers Union vote by an overwhelming 80 percent to merge with the USWA.

August 2003 - The end of a three-month strike at Inco Ltd. in Port Colborne and Sudbury, Ontario, where the key issue was protecting retiree benefits. With the solidarity of the community, the union won on that issue and many more, including wage and pension increases.

September 15, 2003 - Steelworkers at 14 Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company plants in the United States ratify a new agreement that provides workers with an unprecedented network of job security measures, restricts both imports and the company's right to transfer production, and guarantees capital investment to keep USWA plants globally competitive.

October 6, 2003 - Delegates to the International Metalworkers' Federation World Aluminum Conference in Montreal create a global network of unions committed to global solidarity to strengthen workers' rights in the aluminum industry. The conference, co-chaired by International President Leo W. Gerard, puts global aluminum producing corporations on notice that continuing attempts to undermine unions at their organized facilities will be con­fronted by coordinated, international actions.

October 2003 - In response to a moving speech by Stephen Lewis, the UN Secretary ­General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, delegates to the District 6 conference spon­taneously pledge $47,000 to the Stephen Lewis Foundation to help in the fight against AIDS in Africa.

November 2003 - After a decade-long campaign led by Steelworkers in Canada, the Westray Bill is finally passed into law, changing Canada's Criminal Code to make corporations, their directors and executives criminally accountable for putting workers' lives at risk.

November 17, 2003 - Steelworkers mobilize the largest labor contingent - nearly 2,000 strong - to protest unfair trade at the ministerial meetings of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Nearly 2,000 Steelworkers from across North America join a massive turnout of union, environmental, social and religious activists in Miami to denounce "NAFTA on steroids."

March 12, 2004 - Rank-and-file Steelworkers decisively approve a comprehensive settle­ment with Oregon Steel Mills, Inc. and its CF&I Steel subsidiary, ending the longest labor dispute in the union's history and resulting in more than $100 million in back pay for our members.

March 29-April 2, 2004 - Paper workers at the first National Paper Bargaining conference outline long-term strategy to restore pattern bargaining in the industry and approve the National Paper Bargaining program to centralize and unify the union's bargaining agenda and processes.

April 23, 2004 - Lawrence McBrearty retires. International Executive Board appoints Ken Neumann the union's National Director for Canada.

June 5, 2004 - The USWA and IG Metall, the German metalworkers' union, sign an understanding "to strengthen the international solidarity and cooperation between our unions" and "support new and innovative strategies in order to steer globalization in a more human direc­tion."

August 23, 2004 - After more than 10 weeks on strike, and with the solidarity and support of BF Goodrich Tire bargaining committees in the U.S., 1,100 members of Local 677 win a settlement from the Michelin-owned tire maker in Kitchener, Ontario.

August 31, 2004 - Workers at Armstrong World Industries in Macon, Ga., vote overwhelm­ingly to merge their Directly Affiliated Local Union with the USWA.

September 1, 2004 - Members of the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers (IWA Canada) vote to merge their 50,000-member organization with the USWA, creating the largest private­ sector union in Canada.

November 26, 2004 - After a year-long campaign to win Steelworker representation, 3,000 former members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees on Canadian National Railway are certified as Steelworkers by the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

January 2005 - In Canada, the Steelworkers Humanity Fund donates $100,000 towards Tsunami relief in Southeast Asia.

February 7, 2005 - The USWA signs a strategic alliance with the Australian Workers' Union (AWU) to develop joint strategies, including "cross-national bargaining and organizing support" and "coordination of bargaining across national borders."

February 11, 2005 - The USWA and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union of Australia (CFMEU) form a strategic alliance and "commit to building power by increasing communication, collaboration and coordination across our national borders," responding to corporate globalization with global solidarity.

March 1, 2005 - Andrew "Lefty" Palm retires. International Executive Board appoints Thomas M. Conway the union's International Vice President (Administration).

March 28, 2005 - Three-year extension of the National Oil Bargaining pattern settlement is negotiated by the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers (PACE) International Union shortly before merging with the USWA.

April 2005 - The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) signs a strategic alliance with the Steelworkers. The alliance is aimed at taking on the global­ization of the culture industry and to address a range of common issues.

April 13, 2005 - The USW signs strategic alliances with the National Union of Mining, Steel and Allied Workers of the Republic of Mexico (SNTMMSRM) .and with CNM-CUT, the largest metalworkers' union in Brazil, to strengthen the close working relations between the unions and increase communication, collaboration and coordination across national bor­ders.

April 14, 2005 - The USWA and the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers (PACE) International Union merge to form the largest industrial union in North America, the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (USW). With more than 850,000 active members in over 8,000 bargaining units in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, the combined union is the dominant union in paper, forestry products, steel, aluminum, tire and rubber, mining, glass, chemicals, petroleum and other basic resource industries.

May 24, 2005 - Canadian Steelworker Carol Landry is elected as one of eight women on the-executive committee of the International Metalworkers' Federation, joining International President Leo W. Gerard as one of two Canadians on the 25-member executive board.

August 1, 2005 - International Executive Board appoints Richard "Dick" LaCosse International Vice President with responsibility for national paper industry bargaining, follow­ing the July 31 retirement of former PACE President Boyd Young, who is named USW President Emeritus.

August 9, 2005 - USW and Amicus, the largest manufacturing union in the UK with over one million members in the private and public sectors, including: steel and other metals; ener­gy; paper; chemicals and pharmaceuticals; shipbuilding; health care and transportation form a strategic alliance to increase solidarity and communication between the two unions, develop cross-national networks of unions with common employers and support cross-national orga­nizing and bargaining.

September 1, 2005 - John Sellers retires. International Executive Board appoints Ron Hoover as Executive Vice President of the USW Rubber/Plastics Industry Conference (R/PIC).

October 6, 2005 - Steelworkers win a two-and-a-half-month strike against Teck Cominco Ltd. in Trail, BC. The campaign to win a decent contract included demonstrating at corporate headquarters in Vancouver and appearing province-wide on radio talk shows.

November 2005 - Passage through the Canadian Senate of the Wage Earner Protection Program Act marks the biggest victory so far in the USW campaign to amend the Bankruptcy Insolvency Act (BIA) and the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Under the amendments, companies cannot ask judges to rewrite collective agreements in order to force concessions. Companies can no longer take the easy way out by ripping off workers and pen­sioners in order to satisfy bondholders.

November 21-25, 2005 - In the first joint effort of the USW-ACTRA strategic alliance, Canadian performers and Steelworkers lobby on Parliament Hill for key election issues rang­ing nom more support for Canadian film and TV to better protection for steel and softwood lumber.

November 22, 2005 - The slate of candidates for international office headed by President Leo W. Gerard wins election without opposition. It is the first time in the union's 63-year his­tory that the entire International Executive Board is elected by consensus.

January 25, 2006 - Delegates to the union's National Paper Bargaining Conference unani­mously approve a vision statement calling for renewed solidarity in national paper bargaining, and changing the percentage of votes needed to call for a strike to a simple majority.

March 1, 2006 - Installation of USW Officers and International Executive Board.

April 13, 2006 - USW wins guarantees of lifetime health care coverage and lower prescription costs for 6,100 former hourly employees of American National Can Co., American Can Co. or National Can Co. who retired prior to 1987.

May 26, 2006 - Members of the National Pharmacists Association (NPhA), representing approximately 1,100 registered pharmacists at Walgreens retail pharmacies in the Chicago area, as well as many other parts of northern Illinois and Northwestern Indiana, have voted overwhelmingly to affiliate with the United Steelworkers (USW).

June 7, 2006 - The United Steelworkers (USW) and the Sierra Club announced the formation of a strategic alliance to pursue a joint public policy agenda under the banner of Good Jobs, A Clean Environment, and A Safer World.

October 5, 2006 - Today 15,000 United Steelworkers struck Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.

October 31, 2006 - More than 40,000 United Steelworker retirees and spouses who lost health care coverage in the bankruptcies of four steel companies are getting financial help with their Medicare Part B premiums from an innovative trust fund bargained by the USW to assist them.

December 29, 2006 - USW members at Goodyear ratify new three-year contract as 86-day strike ends, less than one week after a USW-organized protest at 180 Goodyear tires stores in the U.S. and Canada.

February 4, 2007 - Former President George Becker, a second-generation steelworker who became the sixth international president of the United Steelworkers (USW), died Saturday at his home in Gibsonia, Pa. He was 78.

April 13, 2007 - USW International President, Leo W. Gerard and Mark Glyptis, former president of the Independent Steelworkers Union, signed a merger agreement for 1,150 members of the new USW Local 2911.

April 18, 2007 - The United Steelworkers (USW), Amicus and the Transportation & General Workers Union (T&GWU) of the United Kingdom, today announced a formal process to prepare the ground for the creation of the first Trans-Atlantic trade union.

July 17, 2007 - The United Steelworkers (USW) and the Canadian Region of the Communications Workers of America  (CWA)  have signed a Strategic Alliance to work together on issues of common interest in Canada and globally. The CWA/SCA Canada Region represents about 9,000 workers in every aspect of media across Canada, including newspapers, broadcasting, news agencies and online media.  Other members are in social work, interpretation services and light industry.

August 24, 2007 - Members of the United Steelworkers at 14 mills owned by International Paper, the largest producer in the industry, voted overwhelmingly yesterday to approve a four-year master agreement that improves wages and benefits and secures jobs with a successorship clause.

September 24, 2007 - Steelworkers launch 'Get the Lead Out' project to mobilize union activists to mount a series of events across the US and Canada and help to stop dangerous imported products from entering the domestic markets and homes.

October 18, 2007 - Leo W. Gerard, President of the United Steelworkers (USW) applauded today’s U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) final determination to place anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on coated free sheet paper imports, or glossy paper from China, Indonesia and South Korea.

October 30, 2007 - United Steelworkers’ (USW) Ontario/Atlantic Director Wayne Fraser said Tuesday that a Newfoundland-Labrador Supreme Court decision is a breakthrough for workers suffering from work-related disease.

November 9, 2007 - Members of the United Steelworkers (USW) at three sawmills in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley have voted to accept a tentative collective agreement reached between the union and International Forest Products (Interfor).

November 27, 2007 - As the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, the United Steelworkers is hosting “Safe Home Sessions” in 17 cities across the country to educate families about how to screen for lead contaminants in toys and other products.

December 17, 2007 - Québec's largest private sector union, the United Steelworkers (FTQ), is now under the leadership of Daniel Roy and his assistant, Guy Farrell. The new Director declared that the United Steelworkers (FTQ) will be involved in all actions intended to halt the shift to the right that is evident around the world.

December 19, 2007 - Dorval International Airport's 40 screening point supervisors have accepted a new contract. This is not only their first collective agreement, but also sets a precedent that will have repercussions throughout the airport security industry.

December 20, 2007 - In accordance with the constitution of the United Steelworkers, the USW’s International Executive Board has by unanimous vote named District 2 Director Jon Geenen the union’s international vice president with responsibility for national paper industry bargaining.

December 21, 2007 - Members of United Steelworkers (USW) local 9316 have voted 60 per cent in favour of a new contract with North Atlantic Refining Ltd. The agreement, covering 800 employees at the Come By Chance refinery, comes into effect Jan. 1

January 16, 2008 - On Wednesday (Jan. 16), as part of a North American day of action and the campaign to Stop Toxic Imports, members of the United Steelworkers (USW) in Western Canada called upon the federal government to stop ignoring flaws in trade deals that expose Canadians to unsafe imports.

January 17, 2008 - The United Steelworkers (USW) union in Ontario and Atlantic Canada is looking forward to 2008 collective bargaining for more than 24,000 of its members in Ontario, Newfoundland-Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
 
January 17, 2008 - United Steelworkers’ (USW) National Director Ken Neumann announced Wednesday that a tentative agreement reached in November with Canadian National Railway Company has been ratified by members of USW Local 2004.

January 23, 2008 - United Steelworkers’ (USW) Ontario/Atlantic Director Wayne Fraser announced Wednesday that members of USW 9393 have voted to accept a new, three-year collective agreement with Kubota Metal Corporation.

January 29, 2008 - United Steelworkers’ (USW) Ontario/Atlantic Director Wayne Fraser announced Tuesday that members of USW Local 8794 have ratified a new, three-year collective agreement with Tube City IMS Canada Limited.
 
February 18, 2008 - The 154 workers of Métallurgie Brasco Entretien in Sept-Îles have joined the ranks of the United Steelworkers (USW). The Commission des relations de travail du Québec (CRT) has just certified this group of workers.
 
March 11, 2008 - United Steelworkers (USW) International Vice President Fred Redmond is one of four new members of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, a key decision-making body of the 10.5 million member labor federation. Redmond, 53, and three others were elected to the Executive Council on March 4.
 
March 18, 2008 - United Steelworkers’ (USW) National Director Ken Neumann said Monday’s fine for the first-ever criminal conviction under 2004 changes to the Criminal Code of Canada does not do justice to the legislation or to the family of the worker killed on the job at Quebec-based Transpavé Inc.
 
March 25, 2008 - Four of America’s largest unions have announced a political, electoral and legislative alliance pledged to “renew core American values:  dignity, decency and fair treatment in the workplace.”
 
March 29, 2008 - The BC government can and should take immediate steps to stop the bleeding in British Columbia’s forest industry, say leaders of the United Steelworkers (USW). The Steelworkers released a 10-point plan aimed at getting the industry back on its feet.
 
April 7, 2008 - Leo W. Gerard, President of the United Steelworkers (USW) today called on Congress to reject the proposed Colombia Free Trade Agreement transmitted by President Bush today for a vote.
 
April 25, 2008 - Members of the United Steelworkers Union (USW) overwhelmingly approved by 77 percent a new four-year master economic and security agreement with International Paper (IP) covering 32 converting facilities that take paper and make it into paperboard, cardboard and other paper products.
 
May 9, 2008 - Over 2,000 members of the United Steelworkers Union (USW) voted by a 4 to 1 margin to accept a four-year umbrella agreement with Domtar that covers 4,000 members at 10 Domtar facilities.
 
May 15, 2008 - “Today, by virtue of a unanimous vote of our International Executive Board, we find ourselves once again in agreement to endorse Senator Barack Obama.  And thus today, the United Steelworkers enthusiastically endorses Senator Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States.
 
June 28, 2008 - The United Steelworkers (USW) top international officers, executive board and 3,500 elected local union leaders from North America’s steel, paper, rubber and tire, mining, oil and service sector workplaces will meet for an International Convention, Jun. 30-Jul. 3 at the Paris-Bally’s Conference Center in Las Vegas to create the first global union.
 
July 2, 2008 - Carol Landry, a union activist and seasoned contract negotiator who joined the USW in 1987 at Canada’s largest copper mine, was appointed International Vice President (First Woman to the Executive Board) by unanimous vote of the 27-member IEB during the USW’s 2008 Constitutional Convention.
 
July 19, 2008 - The United Steelworkers and Calgon Carbon Corp. reached a tentative agreement yesterday that could end the corporation’s lockout of 60 workers at the Neville Island facility that began at midnight. Feb. 29.
 
July 25, 2008 - The United Steelworkers Union (USW) and Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) reached a tentative agreement July 23 on a five-year master economic and security umbrella agreement that will cover 1,200 workers at mills in Valdosta, Ga., Counce, Tenn., Filer City, Mich., and Tomahawk, Wisc.
 
August 1, 2008 - Leo W. Gerard, President of the United Steelworkers, today presented a series of questions on trade policy at a national hearing of the Democratic National Platform Committee, challenging the panel drafting the document for the upcoming nominating convention to find answers for inclusion.

August 7, 2008 - No former employee in Weyerhaeuser’s containerboard packaging business that is represented by the United Steelworkers (USW) will lose their job or see a change in their  contract due to the sale of Weyerhaeuser’s containerboard packaging and recycling business to International Paper (IP).
 
August 12, 2008 - The United Steelworkers (USW) announced today that a tentative new 4-year agreement has been reached with U.S. Steel that provides very significant wage, substantial bonus and pension increases and improves benefit programs for active employees and retirees.
 
August 15, 2008 - Members of the United Steelworkers Union (USW) ratified by an overwhelming margin a five-year master global agreement for economic and security with Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) that covers over 1,200 workers at paper mills in Valdosta, Ga., Counce, Tenn., Filer City, Mich., and Tomahawk, Wisc.
 
August 30, 2008 - The United Steelworkers (USW) today announced that the union has reached tentative agreement on a new, four-year contract with ArcelorMittal USA.
 
September 2, 2008 - United Steelworkers (USW) announced today that a new tentative 4-year agreement has been reached with Cleveland Cliffs, a mining company employing some 2,500 USW members at four locations.
 
September 09, 2008 - A new 4-year labor agreement between the United Steelworkers (USW) and U.S. Steel covering some 16,000 union members at 14 locations has been ratified by the membership in a mail-in secret ballot vote of 10,571 to 2,670, concluded here today at the union’s headquarters.

September 10, 2008 - The United Steelworkers today announced the appointment of veteran labor attorney Richard J. Brean as the union’s General Counsel. Brean, 60, of Pittsburgh, succeeds General Counsel Paul Whitehead.

October 08, 2008 - As the U.S. faces high energy prices and a severe economic crisis, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) today announced that they would join the Blue Green Alliance. Together with the Sierra Club and United Steelworkers, the Alliance now unites more than four million people in an unprecedented partnership to realize the enormous potential of the green economy.

October 30, 2008 - The United Steelworkers (USW) joined Appleton Papers in applauding today’s U.S. International Trade Commission’s (ITC) final determination to impose both anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on unfairly traded imports of lightweight thermal paper (LWTP) from China and Germany.

November 05, 2008 - USW Grassroots Campaign Delivers for Obama, others United Steelworkers (USW) members nationwide celebrated last night's polling victories, particularly in key battleground states where the USW mounted unprecedented outreach efforts to educate voters on key issues.

December 08, 2008 - The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that the union and working men and women across the country lost an important friend and advocate for fairness in the workplace with the passing of former Assistant Secretary of Labor Paul J. Fasser, Jr.

February 03, 2009 - The United Steelworkers (USW) union reached a tentative agreement today with the lead company for the oil industry that becomes the minimum standard of wages, benefits and working conditions for all National Oil Bargaining local union negotiations in the U.S.

February 04, 2009 - Some 4,000 workers from all over the U.S. joined together on Capitol Hill today to deliver more than 1.5 million petitions to Congress urging the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

February 06, 2009 - The tentative pattern agreement negotiated between the United Steelworkers (USW) union and the oil sector features wage increases, a ratification bonus, continuation of the current premium contribution structure and no retrogression on items previously settled between the union and the industry.

February 17, 2009 - President Obama selected the perfect negotiator, expert and innovative thinker when he chose Ron Bloom, a special assistant to United Steelworkers (USW) International President, to serve as a senior advisor in the Treasury Department for U.S. auto industry restructuring, said a union official today.

March 24, 2009 - Leo W. Gerard, international president of the United Steelworkers (USW) appeared today before the U.S. House Trade Subcommittee, saying “the potentially catastrophic issues posed by climate change is the challenge of our generation, and meeting that challenge will require the mobilization of everyone in the world behind a common purpose.”

April 09, 2009 - United Steelworkers Union (USW) members at 25 Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) facilities announced today that they overwhelmingly ratified a five-year PCA/USW Box Facility Master Agreement. The contract will provide workplace stability for the company to attract new customers, and economic and contract protection for over 1,500 workers and their families.

May 07, 2009 - More than 7.2 million paychecks are dependent on U.S. autos, including health care, education, service, retail and other jobs. That’s the message workers, community leaders, elected officials, labor leaders, and others will bring to an 11-state, 32-cities “Keep it Made in America” bus tour the week of May 11.

May 14, 2009 - The USW has been working to ensure that the new products and processes which will build the clean energy economy and solve the challenge of climate change are created here in the U.S. and built by American workers.

May 14, 2009 - From May 11 to May 14, thousands of workers whose paychecks are tied to the U.S. auto industry joined bus tours through 11 states to showcase the ripple effect of economic devastation and lost jobs in industries ranging from steel and paper to shops on Main Street and public education.

June 29, 2009 - The United Steelworkers (USW) applauded today’s vote by the International Trade Commission (ITC) for a tariff remedy in the union’s Section 421 petition against a surge of low-priced and market disrupting consumer tires from China.

July 08, 2009 - Trade union and parliamentary leaders from 13 countries are visiting Mexico this week to support the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers, which has been under attack by the Mexican government and the Grupo Mexico mining company.

July 27, 2009 - The United Steelworkers (USW) has requested an appearance before the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) public hearing scheduled Aug. 7 in the final step of a trade case in which the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has determined that surging low cost consumer tire imports from China have damaged the domestic industry with lost jobs and factory shutdowns.

August 26, 2009 - Leo W. Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers (USW) today issued this statement on the passing of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.

September 07, 2009 - Leo W. Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers (USW), praised U.S. President Obama’s naming of Ron Bloom to an expanded role that makes the future of American manufacturing strategic to the nation’s economic future and an answer to persistent unemployment.

September 08, 2009 - The United Steelworkers (USW) today updated the White House on this year’s sharp spike of accelerating China tire imports, pending the President’s decision due Sept. 17 on the relief to be provided under a Section 421 safeguard case.

September 14, 2009 - The United Steelworkers (USW) today said President Obama’s decision to impose tariffs on Chinese consumer tires was simply a matter of enforcing existing trade laws. “It’s our union’s responsibility to defend our members and to do it in a way that is within the law and that’s what we have done,” USW International President Leo W. Gerard said.