Workers at North Star Steel, who had been on the job without a contract since Oct. 1, approved a new three-year deal on Jan. 9.
The contract preserves health insurance for retirees, which North Star had attempted to bargain away. 'We credit our members, who told (the company) absolutely ?no' to eliminating retiree health insurance,' Mike Wodaszewski, president of Local 7263 of United Steel Workers of America, said in a statement. 'We earned it.'
The new contract also provides pay raises averaging 4 percent each year for higher job classifications and 3 percent each year for lower job classifications, said Gary Gunter, financial secretary for Local 7263. Most of the wage increase - about 90 cents an hour - is in the first year of the contract and is retroactive, Gunter said. That will raise the wage of a typical plant employee to about $17.50 an hour.
Some hard-to-fill job classifications, such as electricians, will get first-year increases of up to $2.90 an hour, the union said.
Approved by narrow margin
Gunter said the new agreement, which was settled on Jan. 5, was approved by a 'narrow margin.'
'The members figured they deserved more money, deserved more pension,' Gunter said. 'Plus health insurance went up a little, and they didn't like that. But we got as far as we could at the table.'
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Local 7263 represents about 335 workers in the maintenance, production and technical departments at North Star, which is owned by Minnetonka-based Cargill Inc. North Star, whose plant is at 1678 Red Rock Road, manufactures steel rounds and rebar.
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'Imports have always been a problem for us,' Gunter said, 'and sales are way down.' However, he said, there's been no indication there will be layoffs. 'It's not looking its best right now, but the company is going to try to work through this,' Gunter said.
This article was written for the Jan. 24 issue of The Union Advocate newspaper. Used by permission. The Union Advocate is the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org
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Workers at North Star Steel, who had been on the job without a contract since Oct. 1, approved a new three-year deal on Jan. 9.
The contract preserves health insurance for retirees, which North Star had attempted to bargain away. ‘We credit our members, who told (the company) absolutely ?no’ to eliminating retiree health insurance,’ Mike Wodaszewski, president of Local 7263 of United Steel Workers of America, said in a statement. ‘We earned it.’
The new contract also provides pay raises averaging 4 percent each year for higher job classifications and 3 percent each year for lower job classifications, said Gary Gunter, financial secretary for Local 7263. Most of the wage increase – about 90 cents an hour – is in the first year of the contract and is retroactive, Gunter said. That will raise the wage of a typical plant employee to about $17.50 an hour.
Some hard-to-fill job classifications, such as electricians, will get first-year increases of up to $2.90 an hour, the union said.
Approved by narrow margin
Gunter said the new agreement, which was settled on Jan. 5, was approved by a ‘narrow margin.’
‘The members figured they deserved more money, deserved more pension,’ Gunter said. ‘Plus health insurance went up a little, and they didn’t like that. But we got as far as we could at the table.’
online pharmacy buy premarin online cheap pharmacy
Local 7263 represents about 335 workers in the maintenance, production and technical departments at North Star, which is owned by Minnetonka-based Cargill Inc. North Star, whose plant is at 1678 Red Rock Road, manufactures steel rounds and rebar.
buy periactin online periactin online generic
‘Imports have always been a problem for us,’ Gunter said, ‘and sales are way down.’ However, he said, there’s been no indication there will be layoffs. ‘It’s not looking its best right now, but the company is going to try to work through this,’ Gunter said.
This article was written for the Jan. 24 issue of The Union Advocate newspaper. Used by permission. The Union Advocate is the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org