PAGE 22 | December 18, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
... ATI Albany steelworkers: Locked out but standing proud
From Page 18
ident Tom Conway, the union’s
lead negotiator in talks with ATI,
says the company justified its
demand for concessions by
pointing to the downturn in
steel: Prices globally are in a
sustained slump in large part be-
cause of a surge of exports from
China, which is accused in sev-
eral pending trade complaints of
selling steel below the cost to
produce it. But Conway says
ATI’s proposal — slashing
worker benefits — is a perma-
nent solution to that temporary
problem.
“It’s undeniable there’s some
pressure, but the company has
decided they’re going to use this
as an opportunity to try and strip
things out of the labor agree-
ment that have been there for
generations and that have noth-
ing to do with the crisis,” Con-
way told the Labor Press by
phone.
Not everyone at ATI is being
asked to make sacrifices. Last
year ATI gave CEO Rich Harsh-
man a 70 percent raise, to nearly
$8 million, and paid its stock-
holders a 72-cent dividend.
“That’s a heck of a racket
when you can run your business
at a loss and give yourself a big
bonus,” says picketer Karl
Krupicka, 52. A 27-year em-
ployee, he came prepared for the
weather in full rain gear and a
miners light.
When I ask picketers about
the scabs, and the executives
who hired them, I hear surpris-
ingly little profanity — just dis-
appointment, and a sense of be-
trayal.
“I don’t ever remember a
more disgusting day than the
first day they first paraded all
those vans in front of us,” says
Jim Wright, Local 7150 vice
president and a 37-year em-
ployee at the plant. Wright said
the lockout took him by sur-
prise. He thought the company
was bluffing.
Under the canopy, the pick-
eters reminisce about the days
when their plant was a stand-
alone company called Oremet
(Oregon Metallurgical Corpora-
tion), and CEO Carlos Aguirre
would visit the shop floor to talk
to workers. Back then they
earned company stock with
every paycheck. ATI bought
Oremet in 1997 for $560 mil-
lion. Now it’s playing a game of
hardball, attempting to starve
them into accepting far-reaching
concessions.
The two sides have met just
once since the lockout began —
a Sept. 11 session with a federal
mediator; USW says ATI re-
fused to discuss anything but its
last offer.
Locked out workers in Ore-
“I don’t ever remember a more disgust-
ing day than the first day they first pa-
raded all those vans in front of us.”
— Jim Wright, 37-year employee at the plant
DRY SOCKS: THE FIRST REQUIREMENT OF ANY CAMPAIGN Karl Krupicka and Joe Barton use a camp stove to
get dry after several hours of picket duty in a winter rain storm.
gon are eligible for unemploy-
ment insurance at least through
February, and picketers say
they’re determined to hold out.
“You either sacrifice the pres-
ent, or you sacrifice your entire
future,” says millwright Scott
Youngberg.
Some, however, won’t be go-
ing back. Conway says nation-
ally as many as 200 workers
who were eligible for retirement
decided in the weeks leading up
to the contract expiration that it
was time to retire. And others —
particularly millwrights and
electricians who possess rela-
tively transferable skills — have
found jobs elsewhere since the
lockout.
Several hours after I arrive,
the sun comes up and the rain
breaks, and the picketers re-es-
tablish their line of signs along
the road, garnering regular
honks from passing trucks and
cars.
“When we get all through
with this,” says Wright. “We’re
going to be a tougher union.”
Checks made out to USW 7150 can
be sent to the union hall at 1400
Salem Ave., Albany, 97321, with a
note indicating the contribution is
to support the locked-out workers.