More than 1,300 steelworkers across the northeast will vote on a new contract next week, potentially ending a three-month strike that has shut down nine factories, including one in New Bedford’s South End.
Allegheny Technologies Inc. and the United Steelworkers reached a tentative agreement last week that promises workers their first pay raise in seven years.
The union is expected to hold a vote over whether to ratify the contract on Tuesday, July 13, after which workers could return to work as soon as the following Sunday.
John Camarao, a furnace operator in New Bedford, is one of the union members who traveled to ATI’s headquarters in Pittsburgh to negotiate the agreement.
He said it includes a major concession from ATI: the company is no longer asking workers to pay a monthly healthcare premium, which Camarao said would have canceled out most of the pay raise ATI had agreed to earlier in the negotiations.
“Our resolve out here just held strong, and we wouldn’t waiver,” Camarao said. “And in the end, they ended up giving us the contract we wanted.”
ATI said in a statement that the agreement offers the company financial protection if healthcare costs rise significantly over the life of the four-year contract.
“This enables stability for our employees, our customers, and our business,” said Kim Fields, an executive vice president at ATI.
The strike began three months into negotiations in late March, not long after the previous contract expired.
Close to sixty workers in New Bedford have picketed outside the factory on a daily basis since then, holding up cars driven by their managers and the workers hired to replace them.
Prior to the strike, the plant ran almost 24 hours per day, applying the finishing touches to steel used by airplane, aerospace and medical device manufacturers.
Camarao said his union estimates ATI lost close to $100 million during the strike, which forced the company to pay for replacement workers and additional security as steel production declined in its nine factories.
“In the end, they missed an opportunity to capitalize on the price of commodity steel, which is at an all time high,” Camarao said.
The company’s assessment of the financial impact of the strike will become clearer when ATI releases its quarterly report in August.
Striking workers have also suffered financially during the prolonged dispute, weathering 14 weeks without pay with the help of supermarket gift cards and a bill paying service offered through the United Steelworkers’ strike fund.
Ben Berke is the South Coast Bureau Reporter for The Public’s Radio. He can be reached at bberke@thepublicsradio.org.
