Steel prices are climbing, contracts are expiring and union members are running for office across Ohio.
North Coast Area Labor Federation President Pat Gallagher, a retired United Steelworkers member, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to break down what rising steel benchmarks mean for workers heading into summer bargaining, what enforcement failures have long undermined trade agreements and why this primary election season may be the most consequential one yet for working families.
For steelworkers across the Midwest, the economic signals heading into summer are more encouraging than they have been in years. Pat Gallagher, president of the North Coast Labor Federation and a retired member of the United Steelworkers, told America's Work Force Union Podcast that the benchmark price for hot roll coil — the index used to track steel pricing — is trading at roughly $1,046 per ton, a level he described as favorable for the companies.
Gallagher said forecasts suggest prices will continue to climb, though he acknowledged uncertainty about whether the movement reflects broader inflationary pressure, increased demand or structural shifts in the industry. What matters to workers, he argued, is that the industry enters negotiations in a strong financial condition.
Those negotiations start soon. Contracts between the United Steelworkers and two of the country's largest steel producers — Cleveland Cliffs and U.S. Steel — are set to expire Sept. 1. Gallagher said bargaining will likely begin sometime this summer, giving the union a narrow but meaningful window to leverage the current market conditions.
He noted that Dave McCall, the recently retired president of the United Steelworkers, has agreed to remain in place to lead the union's bargaining team. Gallagher called that continuity a significant advantage as the union enters what could be one of its most important contract cycles in recent memory.
The tariff environment adds a layer of complexity to the steel picture. Gallagher acknowledged that tariffs have been inconsistently applied — toggled on and off in ways that make long-term planning difficult for both workers and companies. But he said the price movement suggests the market is responding, at least for now.
The broader issue, he argued, is trade enforcement. Gallagher pointed to a pattern he has long tracked: foreign manufacturers finding ways to route products through third countries to avoid duties and gain access to the American market. He described a scheme in which Chinese steel was imported into Canada, stamped with Canadian origin markings and then shipped into the United States to sidestep tariffs on Chinese-origin material.
That kind of circumvention, Gallagher said, is why raw trade agreements — however well-crafted — fall short without rigorous enforcement mechanisms. He stressed that American manufacturers and the workers they employ cannot compete on a level playing field when trading partners are allowed to game the rules.
That concern extends directly to the upcoming renegotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, commonly known as USMCA. The agreement, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, is scheduled for review this summer, with talks expected around July. Gallagher said labor is watching those negotiations carefully and hopes policymakers approach the process with both practicality and a commitment to holding all parties accountable.
He described trade agreements as an extraordinarily complex subject with many moving parts. The core demand from labor, in his opinion, is to enforce the agreements that exist so workers in all three countries can compete without being undercut by bad-faith actors operating outside the rules.
Switching topics, Gallagher said the current national political environment has made it more clear than ever to him how much politics shape the daily lives of working people. Wages, benefits, workplace safety, the right to organize and more all flow through legislative decisions made by people who may or may not understand what a union member's life actually looks like, he said.
His answer focuses on better representation. Gallagher is backing a slate of union candidates running in Ohio's May 5 primary, and getting union members to the polls in a low-turnout, non-presidential primary cycle is one of the federation's top priorities right now.
He highlighted two candidates in particular. Davida Russell, secretary-treasurer of the North Coast Area Labor Federation and an active member of her union, AFSCME, is running for the 18th District seat in the Ohio House of Representatives. Russell faces a contested primary, and Gallagher said he hopes she can prevail. Scott Demaro, a former president of the Ohio Education Association, is running in the 16th District with an uncontested primary.
Gallagher also expressed support for Brian Poindexter, a union ironworker running for Congress in northeastern Ohio's 7th Congressional District.
Gallagher's endorsements center on electing people who have lived the experience of working families to various legislative positions. In his view, union members bring something to a legislative chamber that no amount of political training can replicate — a firsthand understanding of what is at stake when a contract expires, a plant closes or a safety rule is rolled back.
The Ohio Primary is May 5. Gallagher's message to union households is the same one labor leaders have delivered for generations, but with renewed urgency: show up and vote.
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