USW Local 309 Membership Update 10/24/2025

Brothers and Sisters,

SAFETY

We had another serious safety event at the plant over this past weekend! By now you should have participated in a Safety Stand Down and been informed of the details of the event. This was very close to being a fatality and this gentleman is very lucky to still be here with us. Please, be careful anytime that we are performing work in areas that we are exposed to mobile equipment (which is almost everywhere in the plant). As always, if you don’t feel safe doing a task, STOP!!!! Contact your help chain and talk through the issue!!

If you are working and need to perform an LTV (Lock, Tag, Verify), please follow the full procedure. Ensure all paperwork is completed and verify that the Lock Out was done correctly. Taking 5–10 minutes to double-check could save your life. We’ve had several recent incidents where Lock Outs were done incorrectly, and the workers performing the tasks didn’t catch the errors. Fortunately, no one was injured — but we can’t count on luck. If you notice a problem during Lock Out verification or while performing the job, report it immediately. Reporting helps us correct issues and protect others. Not reporting is equivalent to failing to report a mobile equipment incident and may result in disciplinary action.

TOP-TABLE AND BARGANING UPDATE

The Top-Table met in Lafayette on October 6^th, through the 8^th. The company went over the state of the business with us. Of course, safety is still a major concern at all 4 locations. We were trending in a much better direction prior to this week’s incident. As for the volumes, next year is almost a mirror image of 2025 as far as numbers and mix of product.

The fire at Novelis was a major topic as it’s affects are going to have a major impact throughout the entire automotive industry. The company is doing its best to capitalize and add some volume to our facility. The main thing is, if we commit to it, we must produce it! This is a time for us to really put ourselves in a good position with several customers and become there go to for auto and industrial sheet.

There was lots of discussion around the cost of our benefits as well. These have increased significantly year over for this year. They had been staying relatively stable for 21-24, but there has been a large spike for this year. This will be a one of our hardest battles in the upcoming negotiations and is one that we must hold strong on.

We’re working on getting dates for starting Local Negotiations next month and we will communicate those out as soon as they’re set. We just recently had international come down and conduct training with the group that will be this contract’s CAT (Communication and Action Team) team. Their names and contact information will be listed at the bottom of this update. They will be a major point of contact throughout the entire negotiation process! Soon we will also be putting out some information on the general basics of bargaining and how the process works.

On Tuesday, October 21^st, the company put a posting up that stated that they are cancelling the recent Truck Shop and Machine Shop moves. This isn’t the case. Those moves are still valid and active. We are currently in the process of conducting mass testing for top-rate crafts and believe that we will be able to easily bring in the amount of MCSs needed to complete these moves.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tonight, the Women of Steel and the NextGen groups are going to be in downtown Maryville for the city’s annual Trunk-Or-Treat event. Please bring the kids and come out between 5pm-Dark. We’ve got plenty of candy and can’t wait to see everyone there.

• NextGen Meeting: November 5^th, 12:30pm
• Union Meeting: November 13^th, 12:00pm and 3:30pm

CAT Team Members

• Pam Neubert- (865) 414-8516
• Aaron Crowder- (865) 804-0716
• Avery Moneypenny- (865) 336-0193
• Sarah Forester- (865) 898-1523
• David Christopher- (865) 621-2613
• Devin Pratt- (865) 459-9126