Contacts: Kent Holsing - (989) 615-3901
(Elizabethtown, Ky) – Union leaders representing thousands of workers employed at the Dow Chemical and DuPont companies from the United States and around the globe recently met this week in Kentucky to discuss issues common across their worksites.
The unions spent four days sharing collective bargaining data, identifying mutual obstacles and brainstorming potential solutions.
Delegates discussed a number of issues, primarily the potential merger and split of the two companies and the potential effect on employees’ pensions, benefits and insurance. Other topics included workplace safety, organizing and the need for proactive communications between the corporations and the respective unions.
Representatives from the United Steelworkers (USW); the International Union of Operating Engineers; Texas City Metal Trades; the International Chemical Workers Union Council/United Food & Commercial Workers; National Conference of Firemen & Oilers; the Ampthill Rayon Workers Incorporated (ARWI); the Dow Chemical European Employee Forum; the Dow Chemical-Stade Works Council (Germany); UNITE the Union (United Kingdom); the Global Union Federation IndustriALL (Geneva, Switzerland) and the Union of Workers and Employees Petrochemicals States-SOEPU (Argentina) participated in this year’s event.
The meeting also served to strengthen international connections and increase mutual respect and understanding across Dow and DuPont’s unionized worksites.
The USW represents 850,000 members in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It is the largest private sector union in North America, representing workers in a wide range of industries including metals, mining, rubber, paper and forestry, oil refining, plus office, technical and service workers in health care, security, hotels and municipal governments and agencies.