Recently my husband received a letter from Gerdau Ameristeel signed by Gregg Bott.  It said question your Union Reps.   The Union has invited the family members to get involved.   So I took Mr. Botts advice and questioned the Union Representatives.  What I heard was shocking.   What I heard was the proposals the company was making for the workers.   My first thought was “YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING”.   After 28 years working at the same Steel Mill my husband would lose seniority, job classes would be changed, insurance (well enough said on that), and forced overtime up to 16 hours a day without overtime pay for the extra 8 worked in that day.  Compared to the refineries in this area the Steel Mill is already below standard pay, the only way to make up for that IS overtime.  After a man works 16 hours a day, drives home 30 minutes in most cases, takes a bath, eats, sleeps then return to work the next day adding driving time that gives them five and one-half hours of sleep to possibly be forced over another 16 hours.   I question IS THIS SAFE?  Aren’t there celebrities who go to Third World Countries to protest this?

          After 28 years in the same Mill, I know most workers went without a pay raise for 9 years because the market was down, and to keep insurance premiums in check. The proposal from the Company is only the upper job classes get a pay raise, the lower job classes get a one time check.  Isn’t the cost of living going up for all of us?  The first months after this company took over the mill, the market was good.  From what we understand from other Union Presidents their Mills are running wide open making as much steel as they can stand.  Does this mean they are diverting the orders of the Beaumont Mill to them or is the market better than what they want us to believe?    When Gerdau Ameristeel took over they promised better working conditions, started cleaning up the Mill areas for better safety, and air quality.   Finally my husband felt, a company that actually cares about their workers.  That was a major misjudgment.  After the proposals I heard recently, I stand totally behind my husband and his Union. What most people do not realize is the workers have never walked out, they have worked without a contract many times while the Company and Union worked toward an agreement.  The workers did not walk out this time either. The Company LOCKED them out.

 Growing up in Port Arthur all my life, what I would like to see is the old time negotiations come back.   Locked in a hotel, meeting day in and day out until this thing is worked out.     Note:   I had no problem getting hold of Local 8586’s Union President.                      Janet Wallace