Strike continues as union reject’s ATI offer
Striking United Steelworkers members rejected a contract offer from Allegheny Technologies Inc. on Monday evening.
Following two days of negotiations last week, ATI gave the union a deadline of 5 p.m. Monday to accept its latest proposal. The Pittsburgh-based company said if an agreement was not reached by the deadline, the proposal “will be replaced by an offer that begins to reflect the costs incurred by ATI as a result of the strike.”
The firm is doing just that, Natalie Gillespie, ATI’s vice president of communications, said in an email. She said the new proposal “does not immediately have an expiration date.”
ATI and the union, according to Gillespie, have not been able to reach agreement on two issues: health care and USW demands for job security for Office & Technical employees.
The walkout, which began March 30, affects about 1,300 USW employees at nine U.S. facilities, including 180 at the Washington Plate mill in Canton Township. The company is operating with replacement workers.
This is the first strike at ATI since 1994.
USW’s contract with the company expired on Feb 29, 2020, after which employees worked through a one-year extension. The two sides negotiated from January into March, when another yearlong extension commenced. The walkout began less than a month later.
ATI workers are on strike at five Pennsylvania locations: Canton Township, Brackenridge, Latrobe, Natrona Heights and Vandergrift. The company has more than 25 locations nationwide and about 50 across the globe.