USW President Thomas Conway dies

The president of the United Steelworkers was remembered Monday as a fighter for workers and a contract negotiator in the steel, aluminum, oil and other major industries where the union represented workers.

Thomas Conway, 71, who died in the Pittsburgh area, had been president of the 850,000-member Pittsburgh-based union since July 2019.

“From his earliest time making steel to his steady hand leading us through the darkest days of the pandemic, Tom followed two simple guiding principles: the dignity of work and the power of working people,” said David R. McCall, the USW’s International vice president of administration.

Before becoming union president, Conway had been the international vice president under USW President Leo Gerard since 2005.

The union characterized Conway as not being afraid of a fight and he “relished going toe-to-toe with top leaders of some of the biggest corporations where the membership worked.

The union said he also spearheaded innovative initiatives to organize more workers into the labor movement, extending the benefits of union representation to workers in a variety of fields, from manufacturing to higher education.

Conway became a union activist when he went to work at Bethlehem Steel’s Burns Harbor Works in Indiana in 1978. He joined the union’s international staff in 1987.

United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts, who served with Conway on the AFL-CIO Executive Council, said Conway was “an inspirational leader who was always in the forefront of the fight to better workers’ lives.” Conway was in many ways “a trailblazer who cared about his union, its members and their families,” Roberts added.

The union’s International Executive Board plans to meet to decide on a succession plan, the USW said.