Union Meeting Page

United Steelworkers Local 1063 District 7, Sub 2

Next Union Meetings are Thursday March 12, 2009

Our next Union meetings are scheduled for Thursday April 9, 2009  at 4:30 p.m. at our Union Hall at 1412 20th Street in Granite City.   Please attend regularly so you may stay informed of your Union's activities and intentions. An informed membership is a strong membership. Strength for all is determined by individual activism, and Union meetings are a great place to start. Get the facts and know the truth. See you there...

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Downturn at Ohio Granite City Open

That photo on the homepage is ASF during the lockout of 1999. To all of us that were here then we remember that lousy feeling, going to work to have the doors closed on us because we didn't accept the contract offer. Kenny Bast was President of Local 1063 during those negotiations,  We were locked out over a dime. ASF eventually moved the dime to the first year of the contract and the membership accepted it, and we went back to work after five weeks. The most trouble was over Small Parts, which had just been saved by the Plant accepting the Small Parts Agreement in 1997. The people that chose to remain in Small Parts willingly were struggling to make money on the new man hours per ton incentive system and they wanted to return to Big Parts incentive plans. The Small Parts Agreement was responsible for keeping the Small Parts operations in Granite City. Before Kenny Bast was President of Local 1063., Lenroy Johnson held the office. Lenroy had to make the decision to either keep the Small Parts here or let them go. ASF had told Lenroy they were losing money on every coupler they sold, and Amsted wouldn't sit by very long and watch money going out the door. The worst thing was the Company already had a plan to keep the Small Parts here, they just needed the Unions approval. Their idea was to combine all the 21 job classes into 3, and take away the current incentive plans throughout the Plant. That would surely be enough to convince Amsted that Granite City workers wanted to keep the Small Parts in Granite City. Lenroy knew that wasn't the right answer to the problem, instead he and his staff put together the Small Parts Agreement that seperated the two operations fiscally, and allowed the operations to stay in Granite City without one person being forced to stay or accept a job in Small Parts under the new pay system. Not one person. Even so the membership wasn't quick to accept the Agreement, it was new and unlike anything we had seen, and it put restrictions on going between the operations. A lot to accept. But the membership accepted the agreement, mainly because we knew the value of Small Parts being in Granite City, especially during the lean times. Tough decisions to make as a member, let alone a President. That was a long time ago, but here we are,  the leanest times in decades. Last year was approximately a 50,000 car build year for the railroad industry. This year was supposed to drop to around 30,000 cars, but it is now down to 17,000 cars due partly to the national economic disaster. As the tide worsened ASF was faced with a tough decision, they only have enough work to run 2 of their 3 Plants, so where do they make the cut? Mexico, Alliance Ohio, or Granite City? I'm proud to tell you that Monday April 6, 2009 American Steel President Paul LImbach informed us that Granite City will remain open during these lean times, and the Plant in Alliance Ohio will be shut down. I'm not happy about our brothers in Ohio, but I'm proud as hell of the workers here. The reasons we are open and they are not are our ability to produce Small Parts, our abilty to make any Big Parts out there, and our PEOPLE.. We are a specialty shop, we can build anything they need, and we can get it done in a pinch. After all the forecasters of doom, and the few that seem like they don't want ASF to prosper are finished talking, the truth is Lenroy was right about the Small Parts and the people at Granite City needing that work.  It was a tough road from there to here, but it has paid off. I'm more proud than ever to be a member of Local 1063.

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