Local 1005 union leaders walked out of negotiations with U.S. Steel last week after they came to the table with major pension concessions only to have their own requests swept aside, steelworkers said after Thursday night’s union meeting.
In a letter to employees Tuesday, the company said, “This is the Company’s final offer for a new collective bargaining agreement. You deserve an opportunity to vote in favour of the Company’s offer, end the lockout and return to work.”
In return for pension concessions, the union was seeking about a dozen items including a guarantee of two years of work for all employees recalled by seniority, probationary employees to be reinstated immediately and made permanent, pension credits lost during the 2008-09 layoff as well as during the latest 11-month lockout, and premiums for afternoon and evening shifts, documents obtained show.
The union is asking for language for benefits for defined contribution plans for new hires and a guarantee of 2,080 hours annually for those employees.
Previously, it refused a company demand to allow for defined contribution pensions for new hires.
The information was circulated in a package to hundreds of steelworkers who streamed into Michelangelo’s Banquet Centre Thursday night as Local 1005 gathered for a meeting following a breakdown in talks last week.
Neither 1005 President Rolf Gerstenberger nor U.S. Steel spokesperson Trevor Harris will comment due to a media blackout agreed to when talks restarted two weeks ago with a provincial mediator in place.
Hopes were raised slightly when U.S. Steel and Local 1005’s leadership finally sat down Sept. 13 for talks after an 11-month lockout.
The key issue at the centre of the debate is pensions — U.S. Steel demanded that new hires be offered a defined contribution plan managed by the union and an end to indexing for pensioners.
U.S. Steel’s latest offer included a new profit sharing plan that would allow employees to earn an extra $3,500 a quarter, a $3,000 ratification bonus along with credit for seniority during the lockout among other items but no key concessions on pensions.
The members are now beginning to face the expiration of employment insurance benefits and the prospect of trying to live on $200 a week in strike pay.
Union leaders told members at the meeting that the company saw that as an opportunity to force a vote.
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