Cliffs Bargaining Committee Letter to Retirees

Click here to download a PDF of the letter to Cliffs retirees

To all USW Retirees and Surviving Spouses,

Cliffs Natural Resources mailed letters to its USW retirees and their families last week warning of substantial increases in health care premiums for the coming year.

As you probably know, your USW bargaining committee is still in the process of negotiating a new contract with Cliffs. We believe the rates that the company quoted in its letter would be incorrect regardless of the status of our negotiations.

As soon as we learned of the company’s letter, we scheduled a meeting with management in an effort to resolve this matter.  Unfortunately, the company continued to insist on moving forward with its planned premium increases and seemed determined to force the USW to go to arbitration over these rates.

While we understand that this is a difficult time for our industry, we also are determined to do everything we can to make sure Cliffs does not take advantage of that climate to harm our retirees who have worked hard their whole lives.

We will continue to do everything we can to prevent Cliffs from imposing unnecessary and burdensome premium increases on our retirees and families, and we will continue to keep you and your families informed about this situation as it unfolds.

In solidarity,

Michael Bolton                                                            Emil Ramirez
Director, USW District 2                                            Director, USW District 11

 Arthur Kroll                                                               John Rebrovich
 Assistant to the Director, USW District 2                  Assistant to the Director, USW District 11