Striking workers from Springdale's Greco Steel Products push for improved safety, benefits

Worries about safety and his poor life insurance policy pushed Jerry Harris to go on strike from Springdale-based Greco Steel Products.

Harris, 35, of Jeannette recalled watching a co-worker fall through a roof and die on the job in June 2023. Several of Harris’ striking colleagues pointed to that moment as an impetus for their efforts to unionize to demand safer working conditions and better benefits.

“I realized we didn’t really have the best life insurance or anything like that,” he said Thursday during a news conference in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. “That really scared me.”

Harris said he worried about what would happen to his 5-year-old son if he were hurt or killed on the job.

“The lack of care from our company was enough to get me and the rest of these guys to stand together,” Harris said. “We want to be treated as humans.”

Harris is one of nine Greco Steel workers who went on an unfair labor practice strike in April. They won a narrow vote — 9-7 — to join the Iron Workers International Union in October.

Greco Steel Products — which both makes steel and erects it at construction sites — challenged the vote. The issue is now before the National Labor Relations Board.

A Greco Steel representative declined to comment Thursday.

Striking workers held a rally Thursday near the construction site for 26th Street Apartments in the Strip District, where they said Greco Steel is providing services to Franjo Construction, the general contractor on the project.

Harris also called for better pay. He wants to be able to save up enough money to pay for his son to go to college.

“The prices of things aren’t getting any lower,” he said.

Fellow striker Raymond Cup, 64, of Apollo said he wants higher pay, better benefits and stricter safety standards at the steel company, where he has worked for about a decade.

After the death of Joseph Gazzo, 44, of Penn Hills, the worker who fell through the roof, Cup took over Gazzo’s job operating the crane.

But Cup said he’s concerned that the basket they use to hoist workers on the crane doesn’t have the proper safety certification. He’s striking in hopes of convincing his employer to address such concerns.

Gavin Porter, 21, of Ross said safety issues were top of mind for him, too. He called for “proper inspection of safety equipment,” like harnesses and slings.

“I started looking at safety issues and going, ‘This ain’t right,’ ” Porter said. “That started a lot of talks about whether or not we should (unionize), and it slowly built up.”

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Greco Steel $12,000 after Gazzo’s fatal fall.

OSHA’s online records indicate employees weren’t protected from falling through holes on the roof. Gazzo was installing steel decking over a hole on a high school auxiliary gym about 30 feet above the ground “without the use of fall protection,” according to OSHA records.

OSHA in 2019 issued a citation — but no fine — for a grinder that was not maintained in safe condition. In 2018, Greco was cited for failing to provide employees with information and training on hazardous chemicals in their work area.

Jesse Shoedel, 39, of Carnegie told TribLive that workers deserve better benefits. He’s putting off marrying his fiancée because she gets better health insurance through the state than she would get if they got married and he added her to the plan he receives through Greco.

“It’s long past due,” he said of the unionizing efforts. “It’s time.”

Striking workers — many wearing shirts that read “It’s better in a union” — and supporters chanted for union contracts and urged Greco to negotiate. They’ve held similar rallies outside of Greco’s Springdale headquarters.

“They’re not asking for much but asking for a fair contract and to go home every day and be safe,” said John Kopay, lead organizer of the Great Lakes District Council for Iron Workers International.

Staff writer James Engel contributed to this report.