United Steelworkers announces strike date at ATI facilities

The United Steelworkers union announced Friday it will start a strike at Allegheny Technologies Inc. next week.

The union said it informed ATI it will strike over what it calls unfair labor practices beginning at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

“We have provided the notice to ATI to ensure an orderly and safe shutdown of the equipment and facilities,” the union said in a bargaining bulletin.

ATI spokeswoman Natalie Gillespie said the company is “incredibly disappointed” that the employees represented by the USW elected to strike.

“Our latest proposal increases wages and continues premium-free health care for our employees, at a time when we are losing money, following one of the worst years in company history,” she said. “As we have said previously, we are committed to rewarding our people’s hard work. At the same time, we need to have a competitive cost structure that supports this business and our investment for the long term.”

After the strike begins, Gillespie said ATI will restart critical operations using salaried employees and interim replacement workers.

“We’re committed to serving our customers with as minimal interruption as possible,” she said.

ATI can probably keep its hot rolling and processing facility operating with salaried workers, said industry analyst John Tumazos, a Wilkinsburg native and owner and CEO of Very Independent Research in New Jersey. He said the company already has gotten rid of most of its labor-intensive plants.

“There are certain things they roll at Brackenridge that are very high-value products, such as titanium. So they’re probably going to try to roll their most profitable products,” he said.

Noting that ATI reported losing $1.12 billion in the last three months of 2020, Tumazos said, “Some of their plants might lose less money on strike than operating. It isn’t like they’ve been doing well.

“They’re already losing their shirts. Some of their facilities would be better idled than running,” he said.

A strike is most likely to benefit ATI competitors Acerinox, based in Spain and with facilities in Kentucky, and Outokumpu, headquartered in the United Kingdom and operating in Alabama, Tumazos said. Neither company is unionized, he said.

“It isn’t really ATI’s fault that the competitors are primarily non-union mills,” Tumazos said. “The steelworkers union is essentially commanding higher wages and lower productivity than the much newer plants in Kentucky and Alabama that are not unionized.

“The big winners are the companies in Kentucky and Alabama, while the union and ATI hurt each other.”

In voting that ended March 5, 95% of 1,300 USW members at nine ATI facilities authorized a possible strike against ATI. Union members rallied outside ATI’s facilities in Harrison on March 16.

The last contract between ATI and the union, approved in 2016 after a six-month lockout, expired at the end of February following an agreed-upon one-year extension.

There has not been a strike against ATI since 1994. Local 1196 President Todd Barbiaux, a 33-year employee, said that one lasted 69 days. Local 1196 represents about 450 workers at ATI’s Brackenridge plant in Harrison.

“It’s very unfortunate,” he said of the upcoming strike. “In any level of work stoppage, nobody really wins. We’re not letting the company take our jobs.”

The union advised employees to remove personal items from ATI facilities between now and when the strike is scheduled to begin.

USW International Vice President David McCall, who chairs the union’s negotiations with ATI, said the union is prepared to meet with management “all day, every day if it helps us reach a fair agreement.”

“We will continue to bargain in good faith, and we strongly urge ATI to start doing the same,” he said.

Gillespie said the company is committed to moving forward with negotiations “for the purpose of reaching agreements that are in the best interest of all parties.”

“We also remain dedicated to serving our customers without interruption and will continue to safely operate in the manner necessary to deliver our commitments,” she said.