The advocacy of USW members and retirees resulted in key victories over the past few years that charted a stable, brighter future for the steel industry.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS and Science Act spurred demand for steel and many other products, securing USW members’ jobs while strengthening the manufacturing supply chains essential to America’s prosperity and security.
After helping to push this legislation through Congress, USW members went to the bargaining table and won unprecedented contracts advancing wages and working conditions.
These achievements represented one more remarkable chapter in the USW’s leadership of an essential industry.
The union’s ability to achieve bargaining goals, while resisting management’s regressive demands, depends—as always—on the unity and solidarity of USW members across the industry. Together, we continue to fight for the future of the industry and the rights of all workers.
These are our key contracts since the last convention:
“USW members went to the bargaining table and won unprecedented contracts advancing wages and working conditions.”
Cleveland-Cliffs
USW members voted in October 2022 to ratify a four-year contract covering about 12,000 members at 13 Cleveland-Cliffs steel facilities.
Then-International Vice President David McCall, who chaired the negotiations, credited union members with working through the pandemic and standing together in solidarity for the fair contract they won.
The agreement featured historic wage improvements of more than 20 percent, bolstered health insurance provisions for workers and retirees without increasing costs, and addressed work-life balance issues by improving vacations, adding an additional holiday, and extending paid leave to new parents and survivors of domestic violence.
The contract also increased pensions and included the company’s commitment to invest $4 billion in USW-represented facilities over its term.
Cliffs Mines
In September 2022, workers voted to ratify a four-year contract covering roughly 2,000 members of four local unions at Cleveland-Cliffs mines in Minnesota and Michigan.
The agreement featured significant wage and benefit improvements as well as Cliffs’ commitment to invest in the future of the USW-represented facilities.
Cliffs Northshore Mining
Members voted in September 2023 to ratify a three-year first contract at Cleveland-Cliffs Northshore Mining, where approximately 400 workers mine taconite in Babbitt, Minn., make iron ore pellets in Silver Bay, Minn., and transport products and tailings.
The agreement included a lump-sum bonus, annual wage increases, enhanced protections for job security and improvements in occupational health and safety. The contract also featured high-quality health insurance with no monthly premiums as well as defined-benefit pensions, while maintaining an existing 401(k) with company-matching contributions.
Northshore Mining was the last remaining taconite mine on Minnesota’s Iron Range without a union before members there voted in June 2023 to join the USW. They bargained their first contract outside the agreement that covers approximately 2,000 workers at four other Cliffs mining facilities.
U.S. Steel
Members voted overwhelmingly in December 2022 to ratify a four-year contract covering roughly 11,000 workers in 13 local unions at U.S. Steel facilities.
Then-International President Tom Conway attributed the win to the solidarity of the membership and to the tenacity of the negotiating committee in demanding respect from U.S. Steel and bargaining a fair agreement.
District 7 Director Michael Millsap chaired the negotiations. The contract featured a lump-sum bonus, improved wages by more than 20 percent, increased pensions, improved vacations, included an additional holiday, and made improvements to both active worker and retiree health care.
EVRAZ Pueblo
Members of Locals 3267 and 2102 ratified four-year agreements with the EVRAZ Rocky Mountain Steel mill in Pueblo, Colo., in October 2022.
The gains included annual wage increases totaling 18 percent over the life of the agreements as well as pension upgrades, better working conditions and other benefits aimed at enhancing job security amid the ongoing challenges faced by the steel industry.
One local union official described the contracts as setting “the gold standard for wages and benefits in Southern Colorado.”
Tenaris
The current labor agreement between USW Local 9305 and Tenaris, ratified in 2022, is set to expire in 2026.
This four-year contract included provisions for wage increases, improved health care benefits, and enhanced job security. Local 9305 represents about 500 workers at the Tenaris facilities in Ambridge and Koppel, Pa.
Universal Stainless
Members of Local 2332-2 at Universal Stainless’ North Jackson, Ohio, facility ratified a five-year agreement on July 18, 2024.
This contract, covering hourly production and maintenance workers, included competitive wages, enhanced benefits, and a focus on workplace safety and operational efficiency. The agreement reflected the importance of the North Jackson facility in Universal Stainless’ broader strategy, particularly the company’s investments in the plant and its role in meeting customer demands in industries like aerospace and energy.
Members of Local 9531 at the company’s Bridgeville, Pa., plant ratified their own five-year contract on Sept. 1, 2023.
Among other highlights, the agreement continued flexible work rules and profit-sharing incentives.
This deal benefited both the workers and the company, with Universal Stainless highlighting the agreement’s importance in maintaining work force stability while meeting the growing demand in the aerospace industry.
Timken Bearing
Members of Local 1123 in Canton, Ohio, ratified a three-year agreement covering Timken’s bearing operations in September 2023.
The agreement included yearly wage increases, cost-of-living adjustments, and improved vacation provisions while maintaining quality, affordable health insurance benefits and providing options for retirement with dignity.
NLMK and ATI
Labor agreements with NLMK and ATI will expire in early 2025, and bargaining preparations are already underway. USW members staged unfair labor practice strikes against both companies to obtain fair contracts during the previous round of negotiations.
