From Staff & Wire Reports
LAS VEGAS — Members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) and the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers (PACE) voted overwhelmingly to merge.
The votes were held yesterday at concurrent national conventions of the two unions, both being held in Las Vegas.
The new union will be called the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International or USW for short, according to the USWA. The merger creates North America’s largest labor union, with a combined total of 850,000 members.
“This is truly a great moment in our union’s history,” said PACE President Boyd Young. “Our members have voted to secure the future for themselves and the next generation of workers.”
“This merger rings in a new day for the labor movement in the U.S. and Canada,” said Leo Gerard, USWA president, who will be president of the combined union. “Our members’ hands will be greatly strengthened in bargaining with multinational employers, and politically we’ll have considerably more clout in combating the assault on workers’ rights that is threatening to undermine decades of social and economic progress in both countries – especially among the thousands of unrepresented workers we’re determined to organize in both countries.”
The USW will be headquartered in Pittsburgh, but will retain an office in Nashville – PACE’s former headquarters – for the next 10 years.
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