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About 100 USW members, retirees and supporters rallied at rush hour outside ArcelorMittal’s corporate offices in downtown Chicago on the morning of Wed., Jan. 27, 2016, and delivered a loud, clear and unified message directly to CEO, Lakshmi Mittal, “We deserve a fair contract now!”
Mittal and ArcelorMittal Americas CEO Lou Schorsch were drawn to the USW rally from their offices, and invited a delegation of USW members inside for coffee and a brief discussion of the issues.
Once inside, the delegation told Mittal and Schorsch that tens of thousands of active and retired Steelworkers stand in solidarity against ArcelorMittal’s contract demands, that the USW cannot allow the company to take away the rights and benefits members have earned and will not allow management to triple the amount retirees contribute to health insurance premiums.
The negotiating committee sincerely thanks everyone who attended and helped organize Wednesday’s rally – especially the delegation who attended the meeting with Mittal – for representing all of us very well.
At the Table, Committee Waits for Response
Our negotiating committee gave management a comprehensive contract proposal on Jan. 21, and the company has not yet responded.
More than 13,000 workers at ArcelorMittal facilities in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Minnesota, South Carolina and Louisiana continue to work under existing terms and conditions since our contracts with the company expired on Sept. 1, 2015, and negotiations have been slowed by management’s demands for significant concessions.
In order for us to fend off these demands and the company’s relentless and endless attempts to reverse decades of collective bargaining progress, we must continue to stand together. We remain committed to negotiating in good faith for a fair contract with ArcelorMittal, and our committee remains confident that the union will achieve its goals with the continued support and solidarity of the membership.
For more information and photos of our rally in Chicago, visit http://www.usw.org/steel.
