The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that the members of USW Local 8-675 in Covington, Virginia have voted in favor of a proposed new contract with MeadWestvaco. The overwhelming ratification vote took place on Wednesday, July 1, 2009.

The new agreement includes $2,600 in cash bonuses and over 16% in general wage increases over the course of its six-year term. Improvements to the defined benefit pension plan raise the multiplier to $58 per month for each year of service, meaning that an employee who retires with 30 years of service would receive a monthly benefit of roughly $1,740 per month, a high-water mark in for workers in the paper industry.

USW International Vice President Jon Geenen, the union’s top official with responsibility for paper bargaining, said that this groundbreaking new agreement will raise the bar for the entire industry. Further, Geenen pointed out that the ratification vote itself should end any speculation about which union is best suited to represent the hourly production and maintenance employees at the mill ... more

Fenton Art Glass - made by members of USW Local 508 - is scheduled to be featured on home shopping channel QVC this holiday weekend.

According to the QVC schedule, the glass will be sold on television on Saturday, July 4, from 1 a.m to 2 a.m. and from noon to 2 p.m.

Fenton Art Glass is a family-own glass company that has been making decorative and utilitarian glassware - vases, figurines, baskets and other colorful art glass - since 1905. The factory in West Virginia employs about 120 workers on one shift. At its height, more than 700 worked day and night. From day one, Fenton employees had a union – the American Flint Glass Workers - and now, the United Steelworkers Local 508.

You can find a photo slideshow from the Fenton plant below, and read more about the company in the latest edition of USW@Work.

President Obama just told us that the economic stimulus plan has “already saved or created” 150,000 jobs and that another 450,000 will be “saved or created” by the end of the summer, including 125,000 summer-only jobs for students. It’s hard for us to see how this will be the case—we hope it is—but, more important, there’s a huge difference between a job that is saved and one that is created. Just ask the 30.2 million workers who are already unemployed.

Obama has spoken forcefully about laying a new foundation for the economy, one that creates good jobs and rising incomes and that moves us from an era of borrow-and-spend to one where we save and invest and are able to produce more at home than we consume. And we agree these are the right goals for the nation. However, we do not believe that the policies the administration is pursuing will get us there, nor is the administration’s economic stimulus plan likely to move us toward anything approaching full employment.

By the administration’s own estimate, the stimulus plan will “save or create”—there’s that phrase again—just 3.5 million jobs over the next two years. But this amount represents less than 30 percent of the unprecedented 14.5 million jobs that have been lost since the recession began in December 2007, and it is just 12 percent of the workers already unemployed ... more

The United Steelworkers (USW) applauded today’s vote by the International Trade Commission (ITC) for a tariff remedy in the union’s Section 421 petition against a surge of low-priced and market disrupting consumer tires from China.

Leo W. Gerard, USW international president, declared: “Today’s remedy vote by the ITC is a great victory for the USW, its members and for all U.S. tire workers.  The tariffs voted by the commissioners should remedy the market disruptive surge in Chinese tire imports that have caused harm to the domestic industry.”

The USW president says he anticipates when President Obama receives the final recommendations from the U.S. Trade Representative on Sept. 2, he will agree with the findings and support enforcement of the recommended tariff levels. “It is time for the promise of enforcing U.S. trade laws to be fulfilled,” Gerard said. Click here to read more.

A higher education is more important than ever. But with real wages falling for working families, health care costs increasing and tuition rising faster than the rate of inflation, affording an education now is even harder.

To meet the growing need, Union Plus provided $200,000 in scholarships to 133 students from 41 unions this year, including five recipients representing the United Steelworkers (USW). The scholarship recipients will be furthering their education with financial assistance from the 18th annual Union Plus Scholarship Program.

“We understand what working families are facing,” says Leslie Tolf, president of Union Privilege, the organization that provides an array of benefit programs for union families, including the scholarship program. “Many of this year’s applicants made it clear that, without help from our scholarship program, they would have to put their dreams on hold or forget about college entirely.”  Click here to read more ...

USW International President Leo W. Gerard today released a letter transmitted by 13 Ohio congressional members and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to U.S. Secretary of Treasury Timothy F. Geithner. The letter urges simple justice’ with equity in financial support for the future medical and life insurance benefits of GM retirees represented by the United Steelworkers (USW) and two other unions.

Nearly 50,000 former employees of GM or Delphi and their dependents stand to lose most or all of their medical coverage in the GM bankruptcy proceedings.

The USW represents 6,200 retirees and surviving spouses, saying the present value of the lost benefits is at least $424 million. According to the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the lost benefits of 41,000 GM Delphi retirees and surviving spouses they represent are valued at $2.87 billion. Other Delphi retirees are represented by the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE).

Gerard said, “Along with the CWA and IUOE, we have filed objections before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on behalf of the retirees and hope that our federal government will come to its senses on fairness for the former GM workers who contributed nothing less than the auto workers to the fortunes of the company.”

The Ohio congressional delegation’s letter emphatically stated to the treasury secretary: “In short, it is your representatives who have decided that these retirees will not have an opportunity for a decent retirement.”

Click here for more.

U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, has sent a letter to the U.S. International Trade Commission calling on the agency to limit the number of tires imported from China.

"I am pleased the the ITC ruled by a 4-2 vote that the U.S. tire market was disrupted by a flood of Chinese imports. As you consider comments leading up to your vote on a remedy, I ask that you support good-paying middle class jobs and American businesses by supporting a remedy that limits tire imports from China," Stabenow wrote.

Click here to read the entire letter. And click here for background on the USW's major 421 trade case against the makers of Chinese tires.

Union Calls upon CPU to Drop Board Charges, Build Solidarity

The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that the union has reached tentative agreement on a new, six-year collective bargaining agreement on behalf of 900 hourly production and maintenance employees at MeadWestvaco.

The union also called upon the Covington Paperworkers Union (CPU) to drop charges it filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the company earlier this month for bargaining with the USW, which remains the only Board-recognized bargaining representative of these workers at the plant ... more

The United Steelworkers (USW) today gave strong support for a new World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute filed by the United States and European Union, challenging China’s export restrictions on key raw materials and minerals used in manufacturing.

The U.S. and the EU have requested WTO consultations with the Chinese government regarding export restrictions placed on a variety of raw materials and minerals, including bauxite, coke, zinc, silicon metal, silicon carbide, fluorspar, yellow phosphorous, magnesium and manganese ... more

Workers Uniting, the world’s first global union, is celebrating a major victory for workers in the developing world. Late last week, Metro Group – the world’s third-largest retailer – announced it would keep work at the R.L. Denim factory in Bangladesh and drastically improve the treatment of the workers there.

For years young women at the R.L. Denim factory  were trapped under prison-like conditions, forced to work seven days a week, beaten, denied maternity leave and paid as little as 11 cents an hour. 

Now, because of the solidarity of Workers Uniting and others, the workers will no longer be beaten at work. They will be paid for overtime and maternity leave. They will have basic needs met and treated with respect.

For more details, click here to read the Workers Uniting press release. Click here for background on the global solidarity we showed the R.L. Denim factory workers.