BURNS HARBOR, Ind. — The United Steelworkers union has agreed to 30-day extensions of its basic labor agreements with U.S. Steel and Cleveland-Cliffs, keeping thousands of Northwest Indiana steelworkers on the job past the Sept. 1 contract deadline while negotiators keep working toward new deals, The Times of Northwest Indiana reported Aug. 31.
USW International President Roxanne Brown said the union remains committed to strong agreements that recognize members’ contributions and protect good, family-supporting steel jobs. “While negotiations continue, workers will remain on the job, producing high-quality products under the terms and conditions of the current agreements,” Brown said in the Times account.
Key facts
- Wages: no company wage-increase proposal after five weeks of bargaining
- CapEx / R&M: no clear company proposals on capital spending or repair-and-maintenance budgets
- Healthcare: company plan would add premiums and higher deductibles with less coverage, the union said
- Progress: tentative agreements on health and safety, including drug-and-alcohol testing protections
Capital investment has been a flashpoint because large mill upgrades can underpin long-term competitiveness and jobs, The Times noted. Cleveland-Cliffs’ Burns Harbor Works in Porter County and U.S. Steel’s Gary Works remain among the Region’s largest private employers.
In an Aug. 28 bargaining update to members on the Cleveland-Cliffs Steelmaking Master Agreement, the USW said Cliffs had still not proposed wage increases and had not presented CapEx or repair-and-maintenance proposals. The union said it was waiting on those economic pieces before tabling its own wage ask.
Healthcare and time-off proposals drew sharper pushback. The USW said Cliffs recently proposed a plan that would mean monthly premiums and thousands more in deductibles while delivering less coverage, and that premium-free healthcare has long been part of the package. The company also proposed moving non-Medicare retirees to a high-deductible plan, eliminating current incentive programs in favor of profit-sharing, and requiring workers to use up to one week of vacation when taking Family and Medical Leave Act time — including for childbirth — steps the union called unacceptable. Members have already gone long stretches without profit-sharing payouts, including seven quarters in a row under the current agreement, the update said.
On the other side of the ledger, the union reported tentative agreements on health and safety, including new protections against abuse of drug and alcohol testing, plus improved training-obligation language and arbitrator selections.
U.S. Steel told employees it continues good-faith talks. “Our goal is to reach a mutually beneficial agreement that provides competitive compensation, benefits, and job stability for our employees,” the company said in a message carried by The Times. “We appreciate your continued focus on working safely and serving our customers.”
The extensions buy calendar time, not a finished deal. Pensions, additional time off, and other contract language remain open on the Cliffs side, the USW said, while both companies and the union work past the original Sept. 1 cliff.