Jul 30, 2015 3 min read

Allegheny Technologies Inc. said Thursday the United Steelworkers union rejected its latest offer for a new contract without presenting it to the membership for a vote.

The union, which on Thursday staged a walk in downtown Pittsburgh by hundreds of its members to protest in front of ATI’s headquarters, said it decided not to submit the proposal to a vote from its members because it failed to meet their demands and contained “many dramatic and unnecessary cuts.”

Thursday’s march included members of USW Local 7139-5, which represents about 220 employees of the Allegheny Ludlum plate mill in Canton Township.

The company and about 2,200 USW members who work in ATI’s flat-rolled division have been negotiating a new contract following the June 30 expiration of their most recent pact. The union members are continuing to work under the provisions of the previous agreement.

According to a news release from ATI, its latest proposal included $4,200 in lump-sum payments and continued incentive programs for employees, with affordable and competitive solutions to family health care and other benefits.

“Our goal is to reach a contract agreement that continued to provide great wages and benefits for our employees and their families while improving our opportunities for long-term success, said Bob Wetherbee, ATI executive vice president of flat rolled products. “There are many factors that we, our employees and their union can’t ignore, including rising costs and lower prices for our products. ATI put a workable solution on the table.”

Union leaders said ATI is seeking longer workdays and is proposing that it be permitted to hire more contractors to perform maintenance in the plants.

ATI noted in its release that since it approved a $1.2 billion investment in new facilities in Brackenridge in 2008, foreign and domestic competitors have flooded the global market with standard stainless steel, with Chinese mills doubling their output in recent years and now producing half of the world’s supply of stainless, one of ATI flat rolled products’ main products.

The company said as a result of the oversupply of product, market prices have fallen more than 30 percent in recent years.

At the same time, ATI said its wage and benefit costs have continued to escalate. According to ATI, its employees under the recently expired contract average almost $70 per hour in total compensation, including base wages, incentive pay, paid time off, overtime, pension, health care and other benefits.

“We’ve been straightforward with the union throughout negotiations: The world has changed and will continue to changed,” Wetherbee said. “If ATI is to remain competitive in the global marketplace, we need to make changes.”

He said ATI employees are among the highest-paid in the industry, taking home an average of $94,000 in 2014.

He said the company, while offering $4,200 in lump-sum bonuses, is not seeking wage-rate reductions.

Wetherbee said the company’s latest proposal offers health care coverage with an employee contribution that is about half as much as what the average American workers pays. He said national studies show that the average American pays $402 in monthly premiums for their health care insurance, adding that ATI has proposed an employee premium or monthly contribution for family coverage starting at $215 per month in the final year of the four-year contract term.

In its proposal, the company continues to pay the major portion of the remainder of nearly $16,000 per employee annual cost for medical and prescription drug costs, with no proposed changes to the dental and vision programs.

The company said it is continuing to offer “attractive” retiree health care benefits for current employees and their families.