United Steelworkers ratify new, 4-year contract with ATI, ending strike

Members of the United Steelworkers ratified a new, four-year contract with Allegheny Technologies, Inc., the specialty steelmaker announced Tuesday night.

The agreement ends a strike by 1,300 union members at nine ATI locations that began March 30.

ATI employees will begin returning to their jobs the week of July 19, with production ramping in the weeks ahead, the company said.

“We look forward to resuming operations with our employees in place, working safely to deliver our commitments to customers,” said Kim Fields, executive vice president of ATI’s Advanced Alloys & Solutions and High Performance Materials & Components.

“We appreciate the efforts of our salaried workforce and the temporary replacement workers who helped maintain operations during the work stoppage, enabling us to meet our customers’ needs and protecting the business during the strike,” Fields said.

The union did not provide any details on the results of the voting in its statement Tuesday night.

USW International President Tim Conway praised the union’s members for their strength and solidarity through the strike, “beating back demands for concessions that would have hurt generations of workers.”

In a statement, the union noted that the agreement raises wages, provides lump-sum payments and continues “affordable, high-quality health care for current and future workers.”

“The company came into these negotiations in January looking for unfair and unnecessary concessions,” said USW Vice President David McCall, who chaired negotiations with ATI. “But after years of sacrifice, including the past year working through the pandemic, our members deserve a deal that reflects their contributions to the company’s success. This contract achieves that goal.”

The strike had been the first in nearly 30 years at ATI, which locally has facilities in Harrison, Vandergrift, Derry Township and Washington.

ATI and the USW announced July 2 that they had reached a tentative agreement. The union released a summary of the proposed contract on July 6.

The new contract is retroactive to March 1 and runs through Feb. 28, 2025.

“This contract achieves the objectives we shared from the beginning,” Fields said. “It rewards our employees for the important contributions they make to ATI’s overall success, with wage increases and continued excellent, affordable health care. At the same time, it secures the controls we need to reduce our exposure to health care cost inflation, which is critical for the long-term viability of ATI’s Specialty Rolled Products business.

“This agreement is a good outcome for our employees, shareholders, customers and communities,” she said. “Together, we can now focus our efforts on working to build a better future for our company.”

Contract details

According to the summary previously released by the USW, the new contract provides employees with a $4,000 signing bonus within 30 days, and two lump-sum payments of $1,500 on Feb. 1 in 2024 and 2025.

Employees would get 3% wage increases on March 1 in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

The union agreed to eliminate a profit-sharing program it called complicated in favor of other considerations.

Employees would continue to not pay premiums for their health insurance, although there are increases in deductibles and copays. A joint union-company committee will be formed to keep costs down and find alternatives to premiums if they can’t.

Increases in the company’s medical and prescription drugs costs are capped at 3.5% each year. If claims exceed the cap in 2023 or 2024, the sides would determine how to pay the amount over the cap, which the union said could be through a reduction of the lump sum payment in 2024 or a premium that year.

The USW said the contract protects union jobs against outside contractors, safeguards shutdown pensions and makes other improvements.

“I’m proud that our members refused to be intimidated by the company’s tactics,” McCall said. “While we certainly tried to avoid a labor dispute, when we were forced to strike against ATI’s unfair labor practices, our members stuck together and remained committed to reaching a fair deal. Now that solidarity is paying off.”