For more information: Tony Montana – 412-562-2592; tmontana@usw.org
PITTSBURGH– The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that members of local unions representing Arconic (NYSE: ARNC) workers at the company’s facilities in Davenport, Iowa; Lafayette, Ind.; and Massena, N.Y., have granted their negotiating committee the authority to implement a strike if necessary at those three facilities covered by a master agreement.
The strike authorization votes were conducted during meetings at each location over the course of the past several weeks. USW members have continued to work under the terms and conditions of a contract that was set to expire on May 15, 2019, when the USW and Arconic agreed to a temporary extension, subject to termination by either party with 24-hours’ notice.
USW International Vice President Tom Conway, who chairs the union committee, said that negotiations between the USW and Arconic broke off with the company demanding major economic and non-economic concessions that the union considers excessive and unnecessary.
“Although we hope to resolve the outstanding issues without a work stoppage, our members have delivered a strong message through their overwhelming support for strike authorization,” Conway said. “We are prepared to fight for the fair contracts we have earned and deserve.”
“Through decades of hard work and personal sacrifice, USW members have made these facilities among the most productive in the world,” he said. “When bargaining started, we hoped that management would come prepared with proposals that respect these workers’ contributions to the company’s past, current and future success.”
“Instead, Arconic is scheming to extract deep concessions from hourly workers while at the same time orchestrating a $1.5 billion stock buyback designed to reward a few senior executives and short-term investor, Elliott Management, at the expense of practically everyone else associated with the company,” Conway said.
The USW represents 850,000 men and women employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in public sector and service occupations.