Contact: Tony Montana, (412) 562-2592 or Heather Anderson, (304) 489-3961
Clarksburg, W.Va. – The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that Europtec USA, Inc. illegally locked out 28 members of Local 567 at the company’s glass processing facility in Clarksburg this morning. The union further said that it has already filed charges today with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleging the lockout to be illegal.
USW District 8 Director Billy Thompson called on the company to end its illegal lockout immediately, abandon its strategy to bully union workers into accepting management’s concessionary demands and negotiate with the USW in good faith for a fair contract.
“Europtec must be made accountable for its decision to hold our jobs and families hostage over issues that should be resolved through collective bargaining,” Thompson said. “Management should end this lockout immediately.”
Although their previous contract expired in October 2015, union-represented hourly production and maintenance employees continued working under its terms and conditions while negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement proceeded.
In February, however, Europtec illegally implemented the company’s “last, best and final” contract proposal in the absence of a legal bargaining impasse. And, while the company recently signed an agreement purporting to settle the NLRB charges over this implementation, it has as yet failed to remedy this violation of the law.
“We are determined to negotiate in good faith for a fair contract in Clarksburg,” Thompson said. “Europtec management needs to quit breaking the law and join us at the bargaining table.”
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.