ArcelorMittal US mills face strike threat

Members of the United Steelworkers (USW) union employed in the United States by Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal are reportedly keeping open an option to strike that was voted on and approved in mid-September.

An Oct. 12 online report from -based Business North says the USW “remains frustrated in labor negotiations with ArcelorMittal” and quotes a USW official as saying ArcelorMittal is engaging in “stall tactics.”

A mid-September online article by the Munster, Indiana-based Times of Northwest Indiana says 13 USW locals representing some 15,000 ArcelorMittal workers in the U.S. all voted at that time to authorize a strike “if negotiations falter.” A key issue in the dispute reportedly involves health care benefits.

ArcelorMittal has integrated steelmaking facilities in Riverdale, Illinois, northern Indiana and Cleveland; electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mills in Coatesville and Steelton, Pennsylvania; and several other downstream and upstream operations such as rolling mills and coking coal production sites.

Union officials quoted by the Indiana newspaper accuse ArcelorMittal of removing or decreasing benefits gained in earlier collective bargaining efforts.

A Sept. 27, 2018, statement issued by John Brett, president and CEO of ArcelorMittal USA, says ArcelorMittal “is committed to continuing to negotiate in good faith with the USW” and that ArcelorMittal USA’s proposal “increases both wages and pensions while addressing our competitive disadvantage in health care costs relative to other steel and competing material producers.”