United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union | |
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| Abbreviation | USW |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers |
| Formation | May 22, 1942; 83 years ago (1942-05-22) |
| Type | Trade union |
| Headquarters | United Steelworkers Building,Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, US |
| Location |
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| Membership | 860,294[1] (2015) |
President | David McCall |
| Affiliations | |
| Website | usw |
Formerly called | United Steel Workers of America |
TheUnited Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as theUnited Steelworkers (USW), is ageneral trade union with members across North America. Headquartered inPittsburgh, the United Steelworkers represents workers in Canada, theCaribbean, and the United States. The United Steelworkers represent workers in a diverse range ofindustries, including primary and fabricatedmetals,paper,chemicals,glass,rubber, heavy-dutyconveyor belting,tires,transportation,utilities,container industries,pharmaceuticals,call centers,museums, andhealth care.
The United Steelworkers is currently affiliated with theAFL–CIO in the United States and theCanadian Labour Congress (CLC) in Canada as well as several international union federations. On July 2, 2008, the United Steelworkers signed an agreement to merge with the United Kingdom and Ireland–based unionUnite to form a new global union entity calledWorkers Uniting.
As of 2023, the International President of the United Steelworkers is David McCall, who was installed as president after the death ofTom Conway.[2]
Rank-and-file members, as well as representatives, of the United Steelworkers refer to themselves, and are most often referred to, as Steelworkers. The use of the capitalized single wordSteelworker orSteelworkers, as opposed to the lowercase two-wordedsteel worker orsteel workers, is also an identifier of those who are part of, or affiliated with, the United Steelworkers International Union rather than being general non-union workers within the steel industry. This distinction is important in North America wherein a vast majority of the steel industry is unionized. For example, some of the most recognizable and largest companies in the business such as United States Steel (USS) and Cleveland-Cliffs, with their combined hourly workforces at facilities in North America being Steelworkers and represented by the USW, including the largest facilities on the continent, like US Steel's Gary Works in Gary, Indiana, Cleveland-Cliffs's Burns Harbor in Burns Harbor, Indiana, Indiana Harbor East and West in Northwest Indiana, and Cleveland Plant in Cleveland, Ohio, all of which are situated on the Great Lakes freshwater system. On the other hand, some steel companies, usually at facilities known as "mini-mills", likeNucor Steel and its facility in Crawfordsville, Indiana, are non-union shops not represented by the United Steelworkers.
The USW was established May 22, 1942, in Cleveland, Ohio, through theCongress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) by a convention of representatives from theAmalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers and theSteel Workers Organizing Committee, after almost six years of divisive struggles to create a new union of steelworkers. The drive to create this union included such violent incidents as the infamousMemorial Day, 1937, whenChicago policemen supporting the rivalAmerican Federation of Labor (AFL) fired on workers outside aRepublic Steel mill and killed 10 men.[3]
The founder and first president of the USW,Philip Murray, led the union through its first organizing drives and its first decade, when the workers of USW went on strike several times to win the right tobargain collectively with steel companies.
Significant job actions of the USW include:
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The 46,000 members of theAluminum Workers of America voted to merge with the budding steelworker union that was the USW in June 1944. Eventually, eight more unions joined the USW as well: theInternational Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (1967); theUnited Stone and Allied Product Workers of America (1971);International Union of District 50, Allied and Technical Workers of the United States and Canada (1972); theUpholsterers International Union of North America (1985); theUnited Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America (URW) (1995); theAluminum, Brick and Glass Workers Union (ABG) (1996); the Canadian Division of theTransportation Communications International Union (1999); and theAmerican Flint Glass Workers' Union (AFGWU) (2003).
In June 2004, the USW announced a merger with the 57,000 memberIndustrial, Wood and Allied Workers of Canada (IWA Canada), a major Canadianforestry workers union. In 2005 it then announced an even larger merger with thePaper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE). The resulting new union adopted its current name after the PACE merger.
In September 2006, the Independent Oil Workers Union of Aruba, which represents refinery workers on theCaribbean island ofAruba, affiliated with the United Steelworkers, becoming the first USW union local outside of the US (includingPuerto Rico and theUS Virgin Islands) and Canada.[5]
In April 2007, the USW also merged with the Independent Steelworkers Union, adding 1,150 members atArcelor-Mittal'sWeirton, West Virginia steel mill.[6]
In addition to mergers, the USW has also formed strategic alliances with several other unions as well as other groups. In April 2005, the USW and theAlliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) announced that they had formed a strategic alliance to take on the globalization of the culture industry and to address a range of common issues.[7] In July 2006, the USW announced a similar arrangement with theUnited Transportation Union (UTU), to address common issues in the transportation industry, including the globalization of the industry.[8] In July 2007, the USW inked yet another strategic alliance with the Canadian Region of theCommunications Workers of America.[9]
Beyond its affiliations with other unions, in June 2006, the USW announced the formation of a 'Blue-Green Alliance' with theSierra Club, with the goal of pursuing a joint public policy agenda.[10]
In October 2009, the USW announced a framework for collaboration between US and Canadian Steelworkers withMondragon Internacional, S.A., the world's largest federation ofworker cooperatives.[11]
In April 2007,Amicus, then the United Kingdom's second-largest trade union, began discussions with the USW about a possible merger.[12] Amicus subsequently merged with the BritishTransport and General Workers Union to form the new union Unite. Unite and the USW continued the merger talks initiated by Amicus.
In May 2008, the unions announced that they were putting the "finishing touches" on the merger, that the merger had been endorsed by Unite officials, and that the USW would discuss the plan at its forthcoming convention in July. Once completed, the new merged entity would represent more than 3 million workers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada,Ireland and the Caribbean. The unions have further announced that the new entity would target further mergers with labor groups inAustralia and in the emerging economies ofAsia,Latin America andEastern Europe.[13] On July 2, 2008, USW and Unite leadership formally signed the merger agreement to create the new entity, to be called Workers Uniting.[14]
In the 2006 election, the USW led a political mobilization program that eventually grew to include 350 full-time political organizers in 26 states, a majority of whom were rank and file USW members who took time from work to organize their communities and educate fellow union members. The USW turned out some 5,000 USW volunteers on Election Day, including over 1,000 each in the key states of Pennsylvania and Ohio. Exit polls suggested union families made up 23 percent of the total vote and supported Democratic candidates by a substantial 32 percent margin, 65 percent to 33 percent. Based on these numbers, the United Steelworkers, in conjunction with the rest of the labor movement, took substantial credit for the eventual Democratic victory.[15]
The USW endorsedBarack Obama's presidential campaign[16] and re-election,[17]Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign,[18] andJoe Biden's presidential campaign.[19]
In 2023 and 2024, USW expressed opposition to theproposed acquisition ofU.S. Steel by Japanese steel companyNippon Steel.[20][21] USW International President David McCall stated in March 2024 that “Allowing one of our nation’s largest steel manufacturers to be purchased by a foreign-owned corporation leaves us vulnerable when it comes to meeting both our defense and critical infrastructure needs.”[22][21]
The United Steelworkers was a founding partner of theNew Democratic Party and continues to be an affiliated union.[23]
The USW has contributed to various charitable and philanthropic causes since its creation. The USW has enthusiastically supportedThe Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP), a nonprofit organization that works with brain-injured children. The USW has hosted the IAHP's founder, Glenn Doman, at their annual convention.[24] The USW has also held fundraising events for theMake-A-Wish Foundation andRoswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. The USW has consistently stated that such charitable causes are important to its mission.
The presidents of the United Steelworkers are:[25]
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