USW 309 Membership Update 7/25/2025

Brothers and Sisters,

Bargaining meeting update:

All 4 locals meet up in Pittsburgh on 7/22 and 7/23 to discuss next year’s upcoming bargaining. Each local gave updates on current plant conditions and all facilities are in very similar positions when it comes to many issues (manpower, contracting out, quality, and production goals not being met). Carrie Burnell our benefits tech presented us with some updates on where the company is as it relates to funding our pension plans. Currently they’re funding it at 76%. The statement that we received several months ago had it at 66%, so there has been some improvement on that front. Still not great and this will be a major headwind for us next year. Many of the concerns that were shared are those that we’ve heard for the last year or so at TN. These 2 major mills coming online in Mississippi and Alabama will also have a large impact on us at bargaining. STI in Mississippi started shipping coils in June, and plan to be at 25% capacity by end of Q4 and 75% at end of Q1 next year. Right as our bargaining will be starting up. Bottom line…… start saving now and plan for the worst-case scenario. We will be getting surveys out very soon to everyone so that we can best address the issues that the membership wants us to go after.

Ken Ross Visiting:

Ken has been at the facility for several days during the week of 7/21/2025. He met with the members of the Joint Safety and Health Committee on 7/23 for them to bring all their respective plant’s issues up to him personally. Mike Bivens and I met with Mr. Ross on 7/24 for around an hour and half to discuss some of the Company’s plans moving forward on some of the issues that were brought to him. A major focus on housekeeping in Remelt and Finishing is about to start up. This is to bring the departments back up to the standards that have always been in place, but have been lost in this run, run, run mindset we’ve fell into over the past several years. Equipment reliability was also addressed and the need for us to stop when something isn’t right. We have the full backing of the company in stopping, we just must do it. We brought up that we would like to see higher levels of training for the salary foreman as well for them to be able to recognize the hazards and not even put us in the situations in the first place. To address this the Company is sending all the foreman back through salary safety training classes with Larry Cannon. Hopefully, this will start to make an improvement on these situations.

HR Changes:

James Harrison is leaving the Company, and his last day will be 7/25/2025. They announced that Shannan Zartman will be the interim HR Manager for the time while they’re attempting to hire another manager. Darrin Tyre will remain the HR Business Partner that will be handling our labor issues. For now, the other 2 HR Business Partners will remain servicing the same areas that they’re currently handling.

Employee Moves and New Hires:   

The Company changed the number of new hires coming in from 23 to 31. This is to cover several of the long-term Red Card employees that some of the Departments are carrying. The bids were pulled on 7/22/2025, but the Plant Chairs were all in Pittsburgh and unable to perform the move. They will be executing the moves on 7/25/2025. This move is going to be one of the biggest ones that I personally have ever seen done, so please be patient as we navigate through it and make sure that it’s done accurately.

Focus on Safety and Quality:

We really must continue focusing on Safety and Quality every day. If you’re running and something is broken, STOP! If it’s not up to the quality standards that you’ve been trained to, STOP! If it doesn’t feel right or you believe it isn’t safe, STOP!!!! Stopping and taking the time to ensure that its right is way better than continuing to run and someone get hurt, damage equipment, or run bad product. If you STOP a job, please document everything (people involved, reason for stopping, and the outcome of the STOP) and get this information to Department Chair so that they can get it escalated up to the Bargaining Committee.

Upcoming Events:

• 8/6/2025 @ 3:30pm- NexGen Committee Meeting
• 8/14/2025 @ 12pm and 3:30pm- Union Meeting
• 9/11/2025 @ 12pm and 3:30pm- Union Meeting

Sincerely,

Nick McCarter
President, USW Local 309
(865)254-6252
Nmccarter@uswlocal309.net