After Eight Months without a Contract, ArcelorMittal and Steelworkers Union Reach Tentative Agreement

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Workers campaigning for a fair labor contract outside the ArcelorMittal plant in Coatesville--via Pete Bannan / Daily Local News.
Leo W. Gerard, president of United Steel Workers.
Leo W. Gerard, president of United Steel Workers.

A thousand steelworkers from Coatesville and Conshohocken will soon have a new, tentative contract presented to them for a vote as the United Steelworkers has reached agreement on a new contract with ArcelorMittal USA. If the contract is approved by the almost 14,000 members of the union, it will run until September 1, 2018, writes Brian McCullough for the Daily Local News.

“After almost a year of difficult bargaining that continued eight months past the expiration of our previous contract, our committee’s hard work and dedication have resulted in a tentative agreement with ArcelorMittal,” commented USW International President Leo W. Gerard in a statement. “Our members’ unwavering solidarity throughout the bargaining process in the face of management’s persistent demands for major cutbacks has been rewarded.”

John Brett, CEO of ArcelorMittal USA, said the company is happy that a tentative agreement has been agreed.

“We are pleased to have reached a fair and equitable agreement with the USW on a new three-year contract, however we are unable to comment on specific details out of respect for the ratification process,” he said.

The USW will hold meetings over the next several weeks at all ArcelorMittal USA locations to present the proposed contract and deliver a summary with mail-in ballots.

Workers from Coatesville held rallies outside the steel mill on East Lincoln Highway in August and October last year, to bring attention to the fact that they were working without a contract and to express support for their negotiating team. A local union official at the time commented that there was no agreement on the contract because ArcelorMittal was asking for far too many concessions.

Read more about the agreement at the Daily Local News here, and check out previous VISTA Today coverage of ArcelorMittal here.

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