Brackenridge steelworkers to vote on ATI strike authorization
The United Steelworkers local representing employees at Allegheny Technologies Inc. facilities in Harrison has scheduled a strike authorization vote.
The union’s 10 locals with ATI are scheduling the votes this week after its contract with ATI expired on Sunday without the sides agreeing on a new one.
Locals 1196 and 1196-1, the largest of the 10 with about 500 members combined, will hold meetings at their union hall in Brackenridge throughout the day both Thursday and Friday, Local 1196 President Todd Barbiaux said.
“This company needs to realize that we mean business,” Barbiaux said .
Barbiaux said he’d have the results of the vote Friday evening. If authorized, when a strike would actually start would be up to the international union, he said.
“We’re prepared. We have the signs, the barrels, the sheds that can all be up within two hours. I know because a lot of it’s at my house,” he said.
“At the end of the day, nobody wins. We’re not asking to win. We’re just tired of losing. We’re not going to lose. It’s time we get taken care of.”
USW members continued working at ATI under an extension of the expired contract.
In an update Tuesday, the union says ATI is “demanding its employees accept a sweeping series of concessions with substandard wage offers and demands for USW represented employees to pay health care premiums.”
ATI argues that employees would be better off financially in every year of a four-year contract the company has proposed.
“By definition, this is not concessionary,” spokeswoman Natalie Gillespie said. “ATI’s proposal increases wages at a time when we’re losing money and investing millions to transform our business in order to preserve well-paying jobs for the vast majority of our employees.”
The Steelworkers International Strike and Defense Fund provides support for USW members during strikes and lockouts. Money is distributed based on each member’s individual need, according to the union. Each local would establish a committee to assess members’ needs and distribute money.
The fund pays the local $260 per week per member, beginning with the fourth week of a strike or lockout.
Brian C. Rittmeyer, a Pittsburgh native and graduate of Penn State University's Schreyer Honors College, has been with the Trib since December 2000. He can be reached at brittmeyer@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.