Tentative settlement reached to end 138-day Calgon Corp. lockout of Neville Island workers

USW Local 5032 members to vote Monday night on three-year proposal

Neville Island – The United Steelworkers and Calgon Carbon Corp. reached a tentative agreement yesterday that could end the corporation’s lockout of 60 workers at the Neville Island facility that began at midnight. Feb. 29.

“This is a result not only of the members sticking together but the groundswell of community support and movement from the company,” said unit president for Calgon Carbon Jerry Morton of Local 5032, which represents the 60 workers who process carbon for filtration system such as respirators and water.

Morton declined to release details of the three-year tentative agreement until they are given to members of Local 5032 at a meeting Monday at 7 p.m. at the American Legion in McKees Rocks. Members will vote on the proposal at that meeting.

Morton said that like any proposal, it will generate give and take, but the negotiating committee will enthusiastically recommend it. “Overall the package is good. The company moved enough for us to strongly recommend approval to our members,” he said yesterday at a cookout fundraiser for locked out Local 5032 families at Paradise Bowling Lanes on Neville Island that turned into a celebration attended by hundreds.

For nearly a decade, Morton said, the workers at Calgon went without wage increases to help keep the struggling company afloat. But this year’s negotiations were different. In 2007, Calgon’s profits were greater than the previous nine years combined because the market for carbon is strong now. So the workers were shocked when Calgon initially sought huge healthcare and pension cuts.

The community, other unions and religious leaders all supported Local 5032 throughout the lockout. “That coalition really helped us get to where we are today,” Morton said.

It was only when the company’s position finally changed that the negotiation committee’s position could also change, and the tentative agreement could be reached, Morton said. The new tentative agreement will, if approved, maintain wages and benefits for workers in the future.