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Tony Rosaci, General Organizer for Ironworkers International and Tim Dunlap, Recording Secretary and Chief Shop Steward for Ironworkers Local 807, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the recent contract negotiations with Cives Steel at the Augusta, Maine plant. Dunlap shared the stalling tactics the company used during negotiations and the solidarity shown from other labor organizations.
This wasn’t the first time Cives Steel was difficult during contract negotiations with Ironworkers Local 807, but Rosaci believes this time was the most unique. The company stalled negotiations by working to find loopholes, and in general did not want to participate in negotiations, but this might have been the best contract Local 807 has ever received. Previously, Cives tried to schedule production projects around the ending of contracts, so workers couldn’t use the threat of interrupting production with a strike at the bargaining table. However, due to a busy schedule, other plants being too busy to take extra work and a worker shortage, Local 807 was able to gain leverage this time.
The new contract provides workers with major increases in multiple areas. The first was an average 6.5 percent increase in wages in the first year. Dunlap was excited to announce that the biggest win came in the form of company contributions to retirement, with a 25 percent increase. Some of the other wins included more safety equipment on the work floor and having the phrase, “Produced by Ironworkers Local 807” stamped on every load of steel leaving the warehouse.
This wasn’t an easy process, Dunlap said. Local 807’s negotiations were buoyed by the solidarity shown from the Virginia and Upstate New York Cives plants along with the Maine AFL-CIO and it’s member unions. During a rally prior to negotiations, nearly 100 people from the Maine AFL-CIO and its member unions along with multiple other labor organizations joined Local 807 to show their support. The support was not lost, as Local 807 immediately agreed to affiliate with the Maine AFL-CIO following the successful contract negotiations.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more. 
America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.
America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.
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