Allegheny Technologies Inc. lockout enters fourth week
The lockout of 2,200 steelworkers at Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) at 12 mills in six states has entered its fourth week. ATI announced the lockout August 14 after the United Steelworkers (USW) union ordered its members to continue to work past the June 30 contract deadline, allowing the company to stockpile steel and make preparations for the lockout. The company also rebuffed USW offers of tens of millions of dollars in concessions.
ATI and the USW are scheduled to meet on September 11 for the first time since the lockout began. Talks will be held under the auspices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. There is no indication that ATI has changed its hardline stance.
The USW is continuing the isolate the workers at ATI, having ordered 30,000 steelworkers at US Steel and ArcelorMittal to remain on the job after their contract expired on September 1. These workers could very well face the same fate as the ATI workers but the USW is deliberately sabotaging any united struggle against the coordinated attack by the steel bosses.
Mark Spiering, with four-and-a-half years at the Leechburg, Pennsylvania plant, said, “All the steel companies are backing ATI. Our contract was up first and they want to make an example out of us. The company is putting ads in papers, Craigslist, local newspapers for people to take our jobs. They are trying to take from us all the things that people have struggled for.”
Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/09/07/stee-s07.html
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Obviously the company doesn't care if these workers live or die.
