UNITED STEELWORKERS AT EVRAZ LOCATIONS IN CANADA AND THE USA FORM UNITY COUNCIL
BURNABY, BC – Earlier this week, leaders of four United Steelworkers (USW) local unions certified to Evraz NA operations in the USA and Canada met for two days in Las Vegas, Nevada to form a “Unity Council,” in order to deal with the Moscow-based multinational on a common front. The union leaders represent over 2,600 workers at Evraz steel and pipe plants in Pueblo, Colorado; Calgary, Alberta and Regina, Saskatchewan.
“This is an important step in bringing workers together across borders to share information, strategies and plans with respect to a common employer,” says USW District 12 Director, Robert LaVenture, chair of the Unity Council.
“Steelworkers across international boundaries know that they need to work together if we want to balance our interests against powerful global companies like Evraz,” says LaVenture, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The local unions, staff and leadership agreed to form a Unity Council that will formalize their relationship and take steps to expand the council to include other Evraz NA workers, some of whom are represented by other trade unions and others without union representation.
“Ultimately, we would like to see a worldwide group of Evraz workers that is able to meet regularly and work to ensure that the company’s workforce, regardless of country or nationality, is treated fairly and has strong union representation,” says USW Western Canada (District 3) Director, Stephen Hunt. “This meeting is an exciting step in building global solidarity among workers at Evraz.”
The USW local unions that participated in the meeting were: USW 6673 (Calgary), USW 5890 (Regina), USW Local 2102 (Pueblo) and USW 3267 (Pueblo).
Contact: Scott Lunny 604-329-5308 / slunny@usw.ca