Steelworkers in Warren protest for fair contract

About 50 ArcelorMittal workers in Warren stood out in the close to 90-degree weather this afternoon to get their point across: They want a fair contract.

"Years ago we gave back concessions and we never got anything in return," said Craig Humes, a worker at the Warren plant where coke, the primary energy for integrated steelmaking is produced. "We just want a fair contract. They want multiple concessions with retirrees and they want to gut pretty much anything."

There are 177 employees at the Warren plant that sits on 177 acres at 2234 Main Ave. S.W.

The contract negotiations have been ongoing since June between the company and the United Steel Workers, which represents the ArcelorMittal workers at several plants across the U.S.

Of primary concern to the workers are an increase in health care costs and a lost of health care for retirees. ArcelorMittal said on its website: "While we won’t negotiate the specifics in the media, our first proposal presented to the United Steelworkers was an attempt to mitigate the disadvantage of our current agreement while proposing an alternative that would continue providing our active and retired employees with industry leading pay and benefits as compared to other USW-represented employees in our industry and beyond."