News, Developments and Information

Tom Conway, the International president of the United Steelworkers, has sadly passed away.

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our father, Ron Romanow. He passed on September 16, 2023 after fighting cancer, with his sister, Kathy, and his daughter, Holly, by his side.

Ron is survived by his son and daughter, Brad and Holly, and his sisters, Kathy Lewko and Olive Kotylak.

Ron had a generous heart and was a good friend to many people. He worked at EVRAZ, formerly IPSCO, as an electronic technician for 32 years. Being on the farm was his happy place, and he loved his Vega race car. He was a dedicated child of God, and we know he is in a better place, at peace on the farm.

Please join us for Ron’s Celebration of Life at the Rock of the Valley Community Church on September 21, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. The church is located at 10 Short Street in Lumsden, SK.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Allan Blair Cancer Centre, 4101 Dewdney Avenue, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4T 7T1.

The burial will be at Holy Ghost Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery on September 22, 2023. We will gather at the hall at 12:00 p.m. and the burial will take place at 2:30 p.m. To get to the church from Candiac, SK, drive one mile south and turn right. Head west on this road for 2.5 miles and the cemetery and church will be visible on your right. Please feel free to attend the Celebration of Life, the burial or both.

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The Union was a participant in a small diameter trade case on July 4-7,2023. Attached is the findings from the Canadian Trade Tribunal. The results meaning, the Unions and Industry were successful – and Korean line pipe will be prevented from entering the country at dumped prices for another 5 years.

The CPI figure for April was released on August 15, 2023. Per the Collective Agreement, the following calculation will apply:

                         April 2023                              160.4

                        July 2023                                161.1

                        Difference                                      .7

                        Divide difference by .063 =   $0.11

Effective August 27, 2023, COLA will be $3.09 per straight-time hour worked, as it was previously $2.98.

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SEPTEMBER 4TH, 2023
12:00PM – 3:00PM
CITY SQUARE PLAZA
(FIACCO SQUARE)

Join us for free food,
entertainment, and fun!
Ice cream, freezies, watermelon,
popcorn, hot dogs, dino bouncers,
face painting, soft drinks

Members,

On Aug 9th,2023 , your President Mike Day, along with Paul Chevrier (5917 President), Patrick Veinot (staff), Darrin Kruger (Area coordinator staff) and Patrick Rodigues (staff) met with Minister Morgan and Carr from the Saskatchewan Government, members of Crown investment Corp and other officials from Crown Corporations. We focused on the current layoffs at Evraz and the use of local steel in Provincial procurement projects. Below is a follow up letter to that meeting.

Hon. Don Morgan, K.C.

Minister of Crown Investments Corporation

Legislative Buildings

Regina, Sask S4S 0B3

Hon. Lori Carr

Minister of SaskBuilds and Procurement
Legislative Buildings

Regina, Sask S4S 0B3

Dear Ministers:

Thank you for meeting with the United Steelworkers (USW) representatives on August 9, 2023. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss how we can work with the provincial government and Crown Corporations to develop procurement policies that better support Saskatchewan workers and businesses. In particular, our focus was our members in Local Unions 5890 and 5917 who are currently laid off from their jobs at Evraz Regina steel plant.

We welcomed your interest in ways to not only expand direct procurement opportunities for steel produced in Regina, but also in developing improved procurement policies and promoting our products globally. Our members will also appreciate your support in trade complaints to address the influx of cheap, lower quality steel from international sources.

To address specific concerns, our team, in collaboration with Evraz management, will work towards meeting Sask Water and Sask Energy requirements for pipe and other products being considered by Crown Corporations. We also understand that developing a new procurement policy that can navigate internal and international trade laws requires a deft hand and determined focus. As you shared, Buy USA policies present a huge challenge. However, this can be an opportunity to examine and build similar policies that prioritize Saskatchewan workers and businesses. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed our collective reliance on “just in time” supply chains and essential goods produced overseas. Establishing a strong made-in-Saskatchewan procurement policy will help mitigate that, and better secure and promote Saskatchewan as a modern, manufacturing province. 

While we acknowledge the ongoing sale of Evraz’s North American operations, we remain confident in the long-term prospects of our facilities. Our longstanding labour-management relationship, which predates the current ownership, assures us of our ability to address any challenges alongside local and regional management. We are committed to working closely with them and your offices to create impactful marketing materials that can promote our steel globally through the Government’s international trade offices.

We plan to share the details of our discussions and our shared confidence in the abilities of Saskatchewan’s workforce with our members. We believe there is a shared confidence in Saskatchewan workers to not only manufacture high quality steel and other goods, but also offer the people of Saskatchewan value for their investment. I look forward to working with you and our members in Saskatchewan to follow up on these issues.

Sincerely,

Scott Lunny

Director

cc:      Sean Wilson, Chief of Staff for Minister Lori Carr

            Kyle Toffan, Deputy Minister, Ministry of SaskBuilds and Procurement

Rupen Pandya, President & CEO, SaskTel

Rhea Brown, Executive VP – Customer Experience and Procurement SaskPower

Doug Matthies, President & CEO, SaskWater

Mark H.J. Guillet, President & CEO, SaskEnergy

Christine Short, VP & CFO, SaskEnergy

Tim Highmoor, VP, Crown Investment Corporation, Government of Saskatchewan

Erin Connelly, Director, Strategy & Planning, CIC

Shara McCormick, VP HR & Corporate Services, Sasktel

Mike Day, President USW Local 5890

Paul Chevrier, President, USW Local 5917

Darrin Kreuger, Area Co-ordinator

Patrick Veinot, Staff Representative

Patrick Rodrigues, Staff Representative

Jessie Uppal, Staff Representative

Our financial performance for the first quarter of 2023 resulted in profit-sharing payments for employees under the plan. The payout will be a $0.86 per eligible hour bonus payment for qualifying employees deposited into your bank account by August 15, 2023.
Our financial performance for the quarter was impacted by the slowdown in demand for our OCTG and line pipe products; this is mainly due to a high inventory of imported pipes on the ground at a much lower price. We also saw the oil & gas seasonal spring break-up return this year, leading to lower demand for OCTG products. Regina Tubular’s 24” and spiral mills remained idle, and we ran at reduced crewing levels at some of our production facilities in Alberta.
With the reduced demand for OCTG and line pipe products, third-party sales at Regina Steel increased compared to the prior quarter. Portland slab was also produced and shipped with any available capacity.
Thank you all for your continued dedication and performance. Your efforts are very much appreciated.
Looking Forward
First and foremost, we must continue focusing on improving our safety performance. We have a long way to go before we reach our safety goals. A strong focus this year on stopping unsafe work and reporting all near misses will help us get there.
We are starting to see the softening of the flat market, which may impact the slab shipment volume to Portland. However, we expect the OCTG & line pipe market to improve later in the third quarter as distributors deplete their on-ground inventory of imported pipes.
We must continue to improve our operational performance with a focus on the quality of the products we produce, controlling costs, and delivering on our commitments to our customers.

Thursday, July 27
5:30 – 7:00
NDP Campaign Office – 868 Argyle St N
Pizza to follow (sponsored by CUPE SK)

Are you a first-timer? No worries! We’ll ease you into it by pairing you with an experienced canvasser to see how it’s done.
Are you an experienced labour activist? Bring a friend!

Click here to check out the Summer 2023 issue of our newsletter.

Members,

Evraz will be mailing out your Total Rewards statements in the coming weeks. With that, you’ll be receiving a Pension Plan Booklet as well as a Beneficiary Designation Form. At some point everyone would have filled out a beneficiary designation form but regardless, if there is a change or not in your beneficiaries please fill it out and return it in the postage paid envelope.

If you have questions regarding this, once you receive it, please contact benefits.pension@evrazna.com or call 306-924-7333.

If your an activist interested in attending this years summer school, please email m.day@usw5890.com.

2023 District 3 School

On May 2nd and 3rd, members from 5890 participated in the USW lobby days. Below is a response from the Provincial government from those meetings and response from District 3 Director Scott Lunny.

The CPI figure for April was released on May 16, 2023. Per the Collective Agreement, the following calculation will apply:

January 2023 156.7
April 2023 160.4
Difference 3.7
Divide difference by .063 = $0.58

Effective May 21, 2023, COLA will be $2.98 per straight-time hour worked, as it was previously $ 2.40

1st Quarter Results
Our financial performance for the first quarter of 2023 resulted in profit-sharing payments for employees under the plan. The payout will be a $2.25 per eligible hour bonus payment for qualifying employees deposited into your bank account by May 17, 2023.

Our financial performance for the quarter compared to the prior quarter was impacted by slower demand for OCTG and line pipe products. As a result, the 24” mill was idled in Regina, and we crewed down some of the production lines at our Alberta mills. Average selling prices remained above budget assumptions.
Steel-making excess capacity continued to be used to produce slabs and shipped to Portland as their plate market remained relatively strong.

Thank you all for your continued dedication and performance. Your efforts are very much appreciated

Looking Forward

First and foremost, we need to continue to focus on improving our safety performance. We have a long way to go before we reach our safety goals. A strong focus this year on stopping unsafe work and reporting all near misses will help us get there.
We expect the second quarter demand for both OCTG and line pipe to remain soft in the short term due to high inventory on the ground from imports and oil & gas seasonal spring break-up. Especially in this more competitive market we must maintain existing and win new customers by improving our operational performance, focusing on the quality of the products we produce, controlling costs, and delivering on our commitments to our customers

Please be advised that EVRAZ Calgary has following positions available:
• Millwright (1)

All expenses will be the responsibility of the interested employee.
Given the current layoff status, and in accordance with Article 12.15 (Interplant Trans-fers), “opportunity will be afforded to laid-off members from Regina prior to the hiring of new employees”.

Please contact Breanne Ehman at breanne.ehman@evrazna.com or (306) 924-7428 by May 8, 2023 by 5:00 pm Mountain Time if you would like to be considered for one of these positions.

Remembering workers injured or killed on the job; committing to keeping each other safe

The Labour Councils around the province have organized the following events.
We encourage all locals to support and attend the event in your area.

Regina & District Labour Council
City of Regina Elizabeth Court II (In front of Regina City Hall at 2476 Victoria Ave.)
In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony may move indoors at the Regina Union Centre (2709 – 12th Avenue)
Annual vigil, wreath laying
April 28th 5:30 – 6:30 pm

Our financial performance for the fourth quarter of 2022 performance resulted in profit-sharing payments for employees under the plan. The payout will be $7.46 per eligible hour bonus payment for qualifying employees deposited into your bank account by April 17, 2023.

Our strong financial performance was primarily due to continued strong demand for OCTG products and we also received a refund from the US customs for large diameter duties paid in prior years that were higher than our final assessed duty rate. Even though we started to see line pipe demand softening in the fourth quarter, the average selling price for this product was still higher than normal which positively impacted our financial performance.

The steel mill ran at full capacity as we continue to utilize any excess capacity after meeting tubular demand to produce and ship slabs to Portland.
Thank you all for your dedication and performance throughout the year. Your efforts are very much appreciated.

Looking Forward
Safety of all our employees is important to us, we should not lose focus on safety at any time.
We are seeing demand for both OCTG and line pipe softening in the short-term, it is imperative that we continue to work on improving our operational performance with a focus on the quality of the products we produce, controlling costs, and delivering on our commitments to our customers.

The CPI figure for January was released on February 21, 2023. Per the Collective Agreement, the following calculation will apply:
October 2022 157.8
January 2023 156.7
Difference -1.1
Divide difference by .063 = -$0.17
Effective February 26, 2023, COLA will be $2.40 per straight-time hour worked, as it was previously $ 2.57.

As a result of the announcement on changes to operational demands on January 27,2023 and layoffs scheduled February 18 th,2023, the parties agree that due to these special circumstances and to meet operational requirements employees displaced from the Tubular maintenance division may request a temporary inter divisional transfer to the Steel maintenance division.

Both Parties can terminate this agreement by giving 14 (Fourteen) days’ notice

This LOU is in effect the following day of signing and will expire on May 10^th,2023 (90 days)

Employees who accept the interdivisional transfer will be utilized in the steel division only.

Employees who are transferred shall be subject to recall in Tubular, and they shall return to Tubular upon recall. Clause 12.10 (m) 5.

The company has also posted 7 Full-Time maintenance positions.

2 Electricians

4 Millwrights

1 EET

As per the Letter of Understanding signed between the Union and Company

IF AN EMPLOYEE FROM TUBULAR IS LAID OFF DURING THIS PERIOD, THEY WILL BE AFFORDED THE OPPORTUNITY TO DISPLACE A JR EMPLOYEE THAT IS ON A TEMPORARY INTER DIVISIONAL TRANSFER.

The individuals Tubular Seniority numbers currently on Inter Divisional Transfers are #136 and #184.

If SR individuals are wishing to make a request to displace these members and move over to the Steel Division on a Temporary basis, please send an email to both Breanne Ehman Breanne.Ehman@evrazna.com and m.day@usw5890.com

Service Canada has offered an information session for impacted members. This would be a zoom session and anyone interested please email m.day@usw5890.com

Members,

The Provincial Government has reached out with potential employment opportunities. They have several career options and openings across the province and would like to extend an invitation to individuals looking for an exciting new career in Corrections.

How to Apply
•Step 1: Learning About The Job•

Step 2: Applying•

Step 3: Evaluations and Assessments

•Step 4: Qualified Candidate Pool

•Step 5: Offer of Employment

•Step 6: Induction Training Program

Working in Corrections | Justice, Crime and the Law | Government of Saskatchewan

Email: csrsrecruitmentandstaffing@gov.sk.ca

Open to all prior service, please register.