From Staff & Wire Reports
PITTSBURGH — The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) and the Paper, Allied Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE) will merge following a unanimous vote by the two unions’ international executive boards.
The new union resulting from the merger will have more than 850,000 active members in more than 8,000 bargaining units in North America and an organizing budget of more than $30 million per year. It will be known as the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union.
It will be the “dominant union in North America in metals, paper and forestry products, tire and rubber, mining, glass, chemicals, energy and other basic resource industries,” according to the executive boards. The union will also take part in the following sectors: equipment and machinery, stone, clay and concrete, other manufacturing, transportation, utilities and service.
“Once merged, our union will immediately be a major presence in North America’s core industrial sectors and that strength of diversity will both protect and promote our bargaining agendas,” said Boyd Young, president of PACE. “PACE members will have access to a $150 million defense fund so that we can take on employers who make unreasonable demands at the bargaining table,” he added.
In April, PACE and USWA members will vote on the proposed merger at their concurrent conventions.
_______________________________________
Click here to view the rest of today’s headlines.
