Last year, Mark Glyptis and dozens of other union leaders went into contract negotiations with the Cleveland-Cliffs mining company. They were determined not only to win wage and benefit enhancements for their coworkers, but also to protect thousands of family-sustaining steel mill jobs for years to come.

The United Steelworkers (USW) negotiating team ultimately delivered a historic contract requiring the company to invest $4 billion in 13 union-represented facilities. This includes about $100 million at the Weirton, West Virginia mill where Glyptis and his colleagues rely on ever more sophisticated equipment to make precision tin plate.

Protecting Workers’ Sweat Equity

Unions fight for financial commitments like these to safeguard workers’ sweat equity.

The time and labor they invest in their workplaces for decades at a stretch. Capital upgrades keep employers accountable and plants viable, preserving family-sustaining jobs while also laying the groundwork for future growth.

“Steel mills are being built across the world, and we’re definitely competing on a worldwide basis,” observed Glyptis, president of USW Local 2911, noting the overseas facilities feature the “most modern technology.”

“We’re the best steelworkers in the world. We can compete. But we have to keep up with capital investments,” continued Glyptis, who helped to represent about 12,000 USW members from six states in the talks with Cleveland-Cliffs in 2022.

Glyptis and other Local 2911 members fought for new equipment that they need to produce “perfectly flat and flawless “tin plate for food containers.

Based on members’ input, other local unions — supplying the military, highway contractors, aerospace, and numerous other industries — went into negotiations with their own requirements for upgrades.

Members overwhelmingly ratified a new, four-year contract last fall. The vote reflected their satisfaction with the $4 billion in investments — to be allocated among the 13 worksites — as much as it did the 20% raises and benefit enhancements the agreement provides.

“You can have the best health care in the country or in the world, but if you can’t compete because of technological deficiencies, you’re going to be an also-ran,” Glyptis pointed out. “Maintaining a competitive facility is just as important.”

“It all goes into a decision about whether this is a fair contract. It would be difficult to have a contract passed if it didn’t have a commitment to capital investments attached,” he said. He added that the company continues hiring many younger workers who see the upgrades as crucial to raising families and putting down roots.

Infrastructure Investments

Unions also negotiate capital investments to protect workers from companies that might otherwise abandon plants on a whim or run them to failure while wringing out every last penny in profit.

“They don’t have to live with the long-term impact of what they do. We do. Union workers do,” declared Andrew Worby, president of USW Local 2-209. He was referring to “profit-taker” CEOs who line their pockets on workers’ backs before moving on to their next jobs.

Once a company commits resources to a location, it’s more likely to stick around, said Worby. He recalled that he and his coworkers at the Harley-Davidson plant in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin upped their demands for capital investments after a cavalier executive threatened to move the facility during a contract dispute.

Most recently, a contract requires Harley-Davidson to invest $65 million in the Menomonee Falls powertrain manufacturing site over five years. The company also has to invest another $10 million at a Tomahawk, Wisconsin, plant where workers are represented by USW Local 460.

The impact is already evident. Workers in Wisconsin are “tooling up and readying to produce” the powertrains for a new line of electric motorcycles, the company announced.

“There’s a much bigger and broader picture to the impact of a union contract,” said Worby. “It doesn’t just affect the union members. It affects the families. It affects the community. It affects the state we’re in.”

The security provided by union-won investments means that “a new worker, instead of renting, is willing to buy a house,” he explained. “Now he’s paying property taxes. He’s going to send his kids to the school district. He’s going to buy a refrigerator from the local appliance guy. It’s huge.”

Preserving Jobs, Protecting Communities

When companies do threaten to close worksites, unions step up to preserve jobs and protect communities.

The USW, for example, intervened when Domtar announced plans to close a Kingsport, Tennessee paper mill where union members made uncoated free sheet. Some workers, including USW Local 12943 President Keith Kiker, worked there for decades.

Union leaders knew Domtar wanted to enter the recycled containerboard market, so they successfully pushed the company to overhaul and reopen the Kingsport facility for that new product line.

The union’s advocacy resulted in a $350 million investment, saving about 150 jobs and ensuring a competitive facility for decades to come. Workers produced their first roll of recycled containerboard in January 2023.

“Everybody who wanted to come back got to come back,” said Kiker, noting company officials “knew what they had” in a skilled and dedicated workforce committed to ensuring a successful mill conversion.

“This has been a good place to work. It’s still the best insurance in the region,” he added, noting other companies in the Kingsport area must match USW-negotiated health benefits to retain their own workers.

Worby and his coworkers at Harley-Davidson see “a lot of new equipment coming in” right now, giving them the sense of security that they sought in the last round of contract talks. But they realize that the fight for facility investments, like the battle for fair wages and benefits, never ends.

“You want to keep the positive energy flowing,” Worby said.. “Longevity is very important to us.”

This blog originally appeared at In These Times on February 28, 2023.

About the Author: Tom Conway is the international president of the United Steelworkers Union (USW).

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