Pickets protest at Warren steel mill

By GRACE WYLER

gwyler@vindy.com

warren

Severstal Warren union workers set up informational pickets Wednesday to protest the company’s use of outside contractors for maintenance and other work.

Members of United Steelworkers Local 1375, which represents Severstal Warren workers, took turns on picket lines outside the mill’s main gates on Pine Avenue Southeast and across from the blast furnace on Main Avenue Southeast.

The workers are protesting the company’s use of outside contractors for mechanical work and other skilled trades labor that could be performed by union members that have been laid off, said Darryl Parker, vice president of Local 1375.

About 600 workers were recalled when the mill restarted in March after standing idle for more than a year. About 1,050 union workers had been laid off before the recalls started.

About 171 of 270 additional union workers could be recalled for the work the outside contractors are doing, Parker said.

The USW contract with Severstal has specific language on outside hiring, Parker said. “We feel like this is a violation of our contract,” he said. “We’re trying to make them understand that we don’t appreciate the way they are going out and violating our contract.” The pickets will continue “as long as necessary,” Parker said.

The union will also address its concerns in its ongoing contract negotiations with Severstal, Ed Machingo, president of Local 1375, said in a statement.

“Management has laid off USW skilled trade workers and resorted to the use of outside entities to perform maintenance work,” Machingo said. “Local 1375 will exercise its right to the expedited arbitration portion of the existing contract in response to the company’s actions.”

Severstal had no comment on the protests or the union’s claims.

Last month, Severstal North America and the USW agreed to extend their contract through the end of August, while the parties continue negotiations.

The extension covers all union-represented steelworkers at Severstal’s mills in Warren, Wheeling, W.Va., Sparrows Point, Md., and Mountain State Carbon, Severstal’s coke-manufacturing facility in Follansbee, W. Va.

Last week, Severstal announced plans to idle parts of its Sparrows Point operations. About 600 workers are employed at the idled facilities.