Steelworkers

The United Steelworkers of America, instrumental in the history of Baltimore and other industrial cities but shrunken by the rise of technology and global competition, announced yesterday a plan to fortify itself by merging with another union. The Steelworkers will join the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE) to become what the two organizations describe as the dominant union in North America in metals and many other commodities. Symbolic of the merger, the new union will have a lengthy name - the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied-Industrial and Service Workers International Union.

In the film "Brassed Off," unemployed British miners rediscover their self-respect by playing in a championship brass band. In "The Full Monty," unemployed British steelworkers turn to a more revealing form of entertainment. They become strippers.Therapeutic stripping? Psychologists may not endorse it, but the beleaguered men of "The Full Monty" are only able to cover themselves in dignity once they have shorn themselves of shirts and pants and -- yes -- scarlet G-strings.This has been a rough season at the movies for the Yorkshire laboring classes.

WASHINGTON -- Putting an end to striker-replacement practices heads the agenda of hundreds of Steelworkers here this week for their annual legislative conference.Replacing of striking employees by management has become "the most effective union-breaking device" to emerge from the 1980s, when President Reagan demonstrated the practice by firing striking air traffic controllers, said Rep. William D. Ford, D-Mich."It won't be very long before you'll be afraid to face a strike," Ford told members of the United Steelworkers of America.

An attorney for the United Steelworkers union said yesterday that it will be at least six months before Continental Can Co. workers who were illegally denied pensions, including about 300 in Baltimore, can collect some of the $415 million settlement reached this week.Robert Plotkin, a Chicago attorney who helped the Steelworkers win an eight-year legal battle against the former owners of the can-making company, said court and union officials will start meeting today to decide how to reimburse more than 3,000 workers.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. and the United Steelworkers of America announced yesterday that they will begin negotiating next week for a new labor agreement -- five months before the current contract expires.The early negotiations, which are also starting at three other major steel companies, comes about two months after the union said it would consider contracts longer than the traditional three years as well as more flexible work rules in exchange for more job security.In a joint announcement, Bethlehem and the Steelworkers said they would be working toward a longer-term contract and expect to have a settlement by May 1 -- three months before the July 31 expiration of their contract.

Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey has been unable to restart contract talks between the United Steelworkers of America and the potential buyer of Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s bar, rod and wire division.The failure of the last-ditch effort puts the possible reopening of the rod mill at Sparrows Point in Baltimore County in extreme doubt.Neither representatives for Governor Casey nor for the potential buyer, Ispat Mexicana S.A. de C.V., were available for comment last night."It was hard to breathe life into it," said Francis X. Powers, a spokesman for the Steelworkers.

A coalition of retired steelworkers hoping to expand a nationwide fight for pension and health care security launched an operation in Maryland yesterday, attracting nearly 1,000 Baltimore-area retirees to a union hall on Dundalk Avenue. ReUNION, an organization established in 2004 by the United Steelworkers of America and several U.S. steel companies, is eyeing retirees in industrial cities where factory life once dominated the local economy. The group has organized around health care, pension reform and trade policy issues affecting retirees of steel and other manufacturing industries.

Seeking to shore up strength amid the declining fortunes of organized labor, the governing board of the United Rubber Workers union has approved a proposal to merge with the United Steelworkers of America.The merger agreement, reached late Thursday after several months of talks, is to be voted on by the board of the Steelworkers' union Monday. It would then be subject to a vote at a convention of United Rubber Workers members, a meeting expected within two months.If the agreement clears those hurdles, the merger will significantly increase the membership of the Steelworkers' union, which since the mid-1970s has been in fairly steady decline.

Talks between the United Steelworkers of America and the potential buyer of Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s bar, rod and wire division broke down yesterday, jeopardizing the reopening of the rod mill at Sparrows Point.The talks between the union and Ispat Mexicana S.A. de C.V. in Pittsburgh ended after the Indian-owned steel company rejected union counterproposal, according to the Steelworkers."We've gone as far as we could possibly go," said Andrew V. Palm, director of USWA District 15. "We're willing to listen to anything reasonable the company has to say. The ball is in their court."

The union representing workers at the Baltimore Zoo said yesterday that negotiations are at a sticking point as the two sides try to hash out four outstanding issues to reach a contract. The zoo said it is hopeful that it will reach an agreement with the workers, who are being represented by the United Steelworkers of America. At issue for the union is that the zoo has asked workers to pay all future increases in medical insurance premiums and has not agreed to paid funeral leaves for workers.