LaborSectionF

8/8/2019 LaborSectionF

1/8

F1

Local steelworkersare represented bythe United Steel-workers Local 2958, Dis-trict 7, AFL-CIO-CLC.President Rex Ambrose isresponsible for workers at

seven companies in thearea, the largest beingHaynes International inKokomo. In addition toHaynes, Local 2958 rep-resents workers atKokomo Gas & Fuel, In-diana-American WaterCo. (Kokomo), ADIscreen printing (HowardCounty), Classico Seat-ing (Peru), Orion SafetyProducts (Peru) and Gen-eral Cage (Elwood).

Ambrose took time lastweek to talk to the Per-spective about things aregoing at the local compa-nies and how the steel in-dustry is faring ingeneral.

Kokomo Perspective:How has the last yearbeen for Local 2958?

Rex Ambrose: Well,its hard to answer thatquestion because we arean amalgamated local.Weve got several differ-ent factories and facilitiesinvolved in our localunion. Some of them arein recovery mode, someof them have recoveredand some of them are farfrom recovery. TakeHaynes, instance. Duringthe last year at Haynesweve been doing fairlywell, work-wise. Wevefaced a lot of contractingout and issues I dontlike. The out-sourcinghas taken over our indus-try somewhat. We are stillstruggling to find which

Steelworkers face challenges all aroundLocal 2958s Rex Ambrose talks about Haynes, union issues and buying Am

direction to go to slowthis down or stop it.Thats the only real com-plaint I have at Haynes.The business is good. Wehave plenty of orders.The work relationship be-

tween the company andthe union is mediocre, inmy opinion.

KP: You did sign anew agreement earlierthis year, didnt you?

RA: We signed a newagreement. I suppose Ishouldnt go back awhole year and say itsbeen good. Its close to ayear. We started comingback around in February.Its been on the upswingsince. We did sign a newcontract in July. The con-tract was, in my opinion,a decent contract for thetime we have gonethrough and that every-one else is still goingthrough. So we came outthat most contracts youwould see at that time.

KP: Does a three-yearcontract give you anysense of security?

RA: A three-year con-tract is a pretty securecontract. It is a contractwhere we remain intactwith pension and insur-ance locked up at where itis. The premium could godown, with the formulawe use. It could go up butif it does, then the com-pany will cover that over-age.

KP: Around hereeveryone thinks Hayneswhen you mention steel-workers. There areother steelworkers.What about the others?

RA: I can talk about

Classico Seating in Peru.There is another placeopen in Carmel, which isassociated with them, thatis doing a lot of work they should be doing.

KP: Is the one inCarmel a union shop?

RA: No. Not at all.KP: It pays a non-

union wage then?RA: I cant tell you

what the wage is, but Ican tell you its a non-union shop.

KP: How are thingsat General Cage in El-wood?

HOT JOB Travis Berry, a forklift operator at Haynes International, removes a bar product from a furnace.Perspective photo / Steve Geiselman

RA: The work is slowover there. They have alarge issue going on overthere. But it has nothingto do with the union.

KP: Overall, what aresome of the issues thatsteelworkers are facing?

RA: The more that we

lose in manufacturing orany facility, you losemembers. You lose a littlebit of your edge. Most of them are moving over-seas. Shutting placesdown and moving themout. If we cant stop thattrend then by the time my USWA F2

grandkids are old enoughto work, you wont besaying the word steel-workers any more. Thatsmy fear.

KP: Is there a generalapathy on the part of


2/8

kokomoperspective.com/ Salute to LaborKokomo Perspective Oct. 20, 2010

F2

apathy on the part of the American publicabout buying union ormade-in-the-USA prod-uct?

RA: I dont think the

people are as concernedas they use to be or asthey should be. Have youever tried to go out and inone day just buy thingsthat you need that areonly made in the UnitedStates? Youd be out therefor two days just trying toget that one day done.Unfortunately if we con-tinue to go the way weare going, we are going tohave a bunch of offices inthe United States and all

of the workers will be insome other country.KP: What about some

of the smaller facilities?RA: Some of my

smaller factories did go

through contract negotia-tions during the recession.I think managementworked hard at taking ad-vantage of that to reducecontractual language. Thetreatment the people aregetting is much differentthan it was a year ago. Itschanged drastically due to

the recession.KP: Anything elsegoing on?

RA: The Haynes plantin Louisiana just union-ized about three weeksago. So they getting readyto go through negotia-tions down there. Whatpeople think of what aunion is, is getting worseas time goes on. Thats avery interesting subject.As we get new hires, I ask people, What do you

think a union is? Well,you save peoples jobs.Well, let me explainsomething to you. Myidea of a union is a groupof people working toward

the same goal. Thatmeans the union peopleand the company people.All we want to do is makeit fair. We want to make agood living and we wantto make it fair. If the com-pany makes a good living,we should make a goodliving. If the companygets treated this way, weshould get treated thisway. Its not about JoeSchmoe who gets in trou-ble. Maybe we do spend alot of money on him. Theidea behind it is if thecompany has mistreatedhim in anyway, I dontwant them to mistreat theother 500 or 1,000 peopleor whatever. The unionreally works for the ma-

jority, but its not seenlike that. There have beenmany cases of If you didit, you did it. We are hereto make sure everyonegets a fair shake.

USWA continued from page F1

TESTING Tom Heflin, a CNC lathe operator, prepares alloy test samples.Perspective photo / Steve Geiselman

Some milestones in United SteelWorkers of America history:

1930sJune 17, 1936 - Steel Workers Organiz-

ing Committee (SWOC) forms.March 7, 1937 - Union signs first con-

tract, with Carnegie-Illinois Steel, for $5-a-day wage and benefits.

May 1937 - "Little Steel" strike calledto organize workers at Bethlehem, Jones& Laughlin, National and other compa-nies, results in police riots, attacks onworkers by company guards and otherhardship for steelworkers, yet ultimately

leads to successful organization of thesecompanies and confirms validity of theNational Labor Relations Act.

1940sMay 22, 1942 - Delegates to SWOC

convention in Cleveland create UnitedSteelworkers of America and elect PhilipMurray, chairman of SWOC, as firstUSWA president.

June 30, 1942 -Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel& Tin Workers merges with USWA.

1950sNov. 9, 1952 - Philip Murray dies of a

heart attack.

Nov. 15, 1952 - David J. McDonald, In-ternational Secretary-Treasurer, is ap-pointed to succeed Murray.

July 1, 1956 - Start off our-week "BigSteel Strike."

1957-1966 -The long struggle to establish the Steel-

workers as the union for miners at theNoranda-owned Gaspe Copper Mine inMurdochville, Quebec. The mine and

smelter were closed by 2002, effectivelyturning Murdochville into a ghost town.

1960sJuly 31, 1961 - Steelworkers join other

trade unionists to help create New Demo-cratic Party (NDP) in Canada.

July 1, 1962 - NDP government inSaskatchewan enacts Medical InsuranceAct, the beginning of universal health carein Canada.

1970sDec. 20, 1970 - Occupational Safety

and Health Act, lobbied for by USWA,becomes law.

Jan. 1, 1971 - United Stone and AlliedProducts Workers of America mergeswith USWA.

1980sNov. 17, 1983 - Lynn R. Williams

elected temporary acting president fol-lowing death of Lloyd McBride.

1990sJune 29, 1992 -

West Virginia aluminum workers atRavenswood Aluminum Co. march back to work in unity after a international cam-paign ends a 20-month lockout with a fairunion contract.

2000s

Sept. 12, 2001 - President Leo W. Ger-ard condemns "the armies of the intoler-ant" and demands "justice for the victims,their families and humanity" followingthe September 11 terrorist attacks.

Sept. 24, 2007 - Steelworkers launch'Get the Lead Out' project to mobilizeunion activists to mount a series of eventsacross the US and Canada and help tostop dangerous imported products from

USWA has rich history


3/8

kokomoperspective.com/ Salute to LaborOct. 20, 2010 Kokomo Perspective

F3

Local 2958s men and women of steel

RED HOT Jeremy Barker, a mill operator, processes product on the 24 bar mill.TESTING Kelly Silvers, a CNC lathe operator, prepares alloy test samples.

H A Y N E SI N T E R N A -TIONAL (Left)Danny Keating,who works in thevacuum melt de-partment, ob-serves the statusof the moltenmetal at the vac-uum induction fur-nace.( R i g h t ) S t e v eCowan and Je-remy Dunn, platesaw operators,use a vacuum liftto remove a pieceof plate for furtherprocess.

Photos bySteve

Geiselman


4/8


F4

Steelworkers keep Haynes running

PIPE (Above) Doug White, a maintenance millwright,works on treading some pipe. (Below) Jeff Kennedyworks on the A&K line.

GRINDER Bruce Willis, a belt polisher, conditions bil-let product.

PUT IT AWAY Debbie Eberhardt and Loretta Bowensstock shelves in receiving.

SHEET PRODUCT Ken Gregory identifies sheetproduct for sample preparation. ON THE JOB Morris Layman, a mill operator, works

on some bar product.

FIX IT (Above) Bill Pratt and Dave Dunivan rebuild alubrication pump. (Below) Jeff Biggs and Kris Lane se-cure plate product to a skid.

Photos by Steve Geiselman


5/8


6/8


F6

Plumbers and Steamfitters work through tough timesby Steve Geiselman

sports [email protected]

A bad economy gener-ally means badthings for the build-ing trades. Plumbers andSteamfitters Local 440 isnot immune to bad times,according to Local 440business representativeDon Bough.

The economy is hurt-

ing everybody, Boughsaid. Around the countrythere is some big industry-type work. Refineries,power plants - that kind of stuff. We are one of thefortunate ones that belongto an international union.

The United Associationof Journeymen and Ap-prentices of the Plumbingand Pipe Fitting Industryof the United States and

Canada, or "UA" as it iscommonly known, is amulti-craft union whosemembers are engaged inthe fabrication, installationand servicing of pipingsystems. There are ap-proximately 326,000highly skilled United As-sociation members whobelong to more than 300individual local unionsacross North America.Local 440 covers the bulk of central Indiana, reach-ing as far north as BunkerHill and as far south asJennings County. InKokomo, Local 440 work-ers can be found at suchplaces as BMD mechani-cal, B&K Mechanical, and

Benchmark Mechanical.Work projects in HowardCounty include WesternSchool Corp. and KokomoHigh School.

Belonging to an interna-tional means the opportu-nity to go where the work is located, Bough said.

If there is work some-where else, you can pack your bags, go over thereand go to work, he ex-plained. So we are expe-riencing 20, 25 percent

unemployment. But prob-ably 50 percent of themare out of town workingsomewhere. They are stillabsorbing all of the bene-fits of working for theunion and being able towork some where. Theunion is able keep benefitplans paid and retirementfunds paid, but everyone isstruggling.

The lack of major in-dustry is always a factor.

We dont have majorindustry around here,Bough said. Really theonly major industry wehave here is the automo-tive industry and we all

ON THE JOB Bob Roarke of Benchmark Mechanical gets ready to work.Perspective photo / Steve Geiselman

know what kind of shapethat is in. The recent de-velopment of Chrysler andFiat and what they are al-legedly going to do is a lit-

tle encouraging. Hopefullythat will kick things back off.

There are always thingson the horizon, Boughsaid. The loss of work atthe Getrag plant was dis-heartening, but the pur-chase of the facility by asolar panel company isequally encouraging.

Of course they are nottalking about being in pro-duction anytime soon, butthat is certainly somethingto look forward to, Boughsaid. The Fiat addition toChrysler has added an in-flux of work. Also, I think there will be some thingscome up with Delphi, withthe whole issue of GeneralMotors. I think we actu-ally have some guys doingsome work for Delphiright now. There is talk of more work, primarily cre-ated by the finishing of theseparation.

Some things neverchange, like work at

schools and hospitals.There is still some

school work going on,Bough said. Weve gotsome guys finishing up the

job at the library. Other-wise, its a little bit of hos-pital work. They just bid aSt. Vincents project closeto the hospital. Little bitshere and there. The hospi-tals budgets are feelingthe crunch just like every-one else.

Bough is confidentthings will get better as theeconomy gets better.

I think there is light atthe end of the tunnel, hesaid. If the big economicwheels begin to roll again,I think you will see somethings happen. Of course,the new bypass could gen-erate some new work. Iwasnt here when the firstone was built but it wasabsolutely consumed bysurrounding businesses.So the future says that willprobably happen to thenext one, too.

Using union workersUsing union workers

only makes sense, accord-

ing to Kent Reynolds of B&K Mechanical, basedin Lafayette. Unionworkers produce qualitywork, Reynolds said.

Better trained workersput out a better product.With the current state of

the economy, the tradesare affected just like anyother business just at adifferent time.

We generally are thelast to be impacted and thelast to start back up again,Bough said. Still, theworking being done athospitals and schools iswork that has to be doneeventually.

Even though thoseprojects are somethingthat needs to be done, theywill still slow down if theeconomy slows down,Bough added.

Greg Smith of Bench-mark Mechanical said thatwhile his company isnt inthe position of downsiz-ing, the economy is im-pacting his company justlike everyone.

Its definitely not a

TOUGHF7


7/8

kokomoperspective.com/ Salute to LaborOct. 20, 2010 Kokomo Perspective

F7

good time, Smith said.Everyone has issues, in-cluding schools. Bench-mark has done work for

just about every schoolsystem in the area includ-ing Northwestern, West-ern, Kokomo, Eastern,North Miami and LewisCass.

Its all about best valueconstruction, Bough said.Union workers, ownersand the union work to gettogether to produce thebest quality work. Unionsplay a vital role, Boughsaid. Labor unions are thevoice of the working classin America, he said. Andthe working class is thebackbone of the U.S.economy.

UAs storied history Founded in 1889, the

United Association is oneof the most respected andinfluential building tradesunions in the United Statesand Canada today. Itserves as a collective voicefor workers through nego-tiation and collective bar-gaining with employingcontractor groups, such as

the Mechanical Contrac-tors Association of Amer-ica, and the NationalAssociation of Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contrac-tors.

Currently there are morethan 300 local unions inthe United Association,with in excess of 300,000members. The localunions are located in all 50states of America andevery province of Canada.Members are free to travel

from one local area to an-other to satisfy the needsof local work conditions.

The birth of the UnitedAssociation dates back to

the year 1889, when aBoston plumber named P.J. Quinlan addressed abrief letter to Richard A.OBrien, a plumber inWashington, D.C. "DearSir and Brother," the letterbegan, "I take the liberty of addressing a few lines toyou to obtain your views

as regards the formation of a United Brotherhood"The author of the letter

would become the firstGeneral President and itsrecipient the first GeneralSecretary-Treasurer of theUnited Association.

Prior to 1889, plumbers,

steamfitters and gas fitterswho were organized weremembers of independentlocal unions with either noaffiliation, or affiliationwith a variety of trades.

By 1889, however, withexisting organizations de-clining or becoming de-voted to only one craft,

local union leaders beganto consider other ways tounite national pipe trades

journeymen to deal withmutual problems, includ-ing how to treat travelingmembers, build appren-ticeship, and provide strikeaid.

TOUGHcontinued from page F6

Most people are familiarwith plumbers who cometo their home to unclog adrain or fix a leaking toi-let. Plumbers, pipelayers,pipefitters and steamfittersinstall, maintain and repairmany different types of pipe systems. Some of these systems move waterfrom reservoirs to munici-pal water treatment plantsand then to residential,commercial and publicbuildings. Other systemsdispose of waste, supplygas to stoves and furnaces,or provide for heating andcooling needs. Pipe sys-tems in powerplants carrythe steam that powershuge turbines. Pipes alsoare used in manufacturingplants to move materialthrough the productionprocess. Specialized pip-ing systems are very im-portant in pharmaceuticaland computer-chip manu-facturing.

Although plumbing,pipelaying, pipefitting andsteamfitting are sometimesconsidered a single trade,workers generally special-ize in one of five areas.Plumbers install and repairthe water, waste disposal,drainage and gas systemsin homes and commercialand industrial buildings.Plumbers also installplumbing fixtures bath-tubs, showers, sinks andtoilets and appliancessuch as dishwashers,waste disposers and waterheaters. Pipelayers layclay, concrete, plastic orcast-iron pipe for drains,sewers, water mains, andoil or gas lines.

Plumbers, pipelayers,pipefitters and steamfittersuse many different materi-als and construction tech-niques, depending on thetype of project. Residen-tial water systems, for ex-ample, incorporate copper,steel and plastic pipe thatcan be handled and in-stalled by one or twoplumbers. Municipal sew-erage systems, by contrast,are made of large cast-iron

ONE LAST THING Jason Richey of Benchmark Me-chanical puts the finishing touches on a project at thepublic library.

Perspective photo / Steve Geiselman

Pipefitter? Steamfitter?Whats the difference between those and a plumber?

pipes; installation nor-mally requires crews of pipefitters.

Recently, plumbers havebecome more involved inthe design process. Theirknowledge of codes andthe operation of plumbingsystems can cut costs. Firstthey lay out the job to fitthe piping into the struc-ture of the house with theleast waste of material.Then they measure andmark areas in which pipes

will be installed and con-nected.Sometimes, plumbers

have to cut holes in walls,ceilings and floors of ahouse. With some systems,they may hang steel sup-ports from ceiling joists tohold the pipe in place.

They connect thelengths of pipe with fit-tings, using methods thatdepend on the type of pipeused. For plastic pipe,plumbers connect the sec-tions and fittings with ad-hesives. For copper pipe,

they slide a fitting over theend of the pipe and solderit in place with a torch.

After the piping is inplace in the house,plumbers install the fixturesand appliances and connectthe system to the outsidewater or sewer lines. Fi-nally, using pressuregauges, they check the sys-tem to ensure that theplumbing works properly.

Plumbers work in com-mercial and residential set-

tings where water andseptic systems need to beinstalled and maintained.Pipefitters and steamfittersmost often work in indus-trial and power plants.Plumbers, pipelayers, pip-efitters and steamfittersoften work more than 40hours per week and can beon call for emergenciesnights and weekends.Pipelayers may need totravel to and from work-sites.

Source: U.S. Depart-ment of Labor


8/8

Page F8 Kokomo Perspective Oct. 20, 2010

THANKYOU

Working Familiesof Kokomo

For Making Our City a GreatPlace to Raise a Family!

Mayor Greg GoodnightCity Clerk Brenda Brunnemer-Ott

At-Large Councilman Mike Karickhoff At-Large Councilman Mike Kennedy At-Large Councilman Kevin Summers1st District Councilman Mike Wyant2nd District Councilman Bob Cameron3rd District Councilwoman Janie Young

4th District Councilman Donnie Haworth5th District Councilwoman Cynthia Sanders

6th District Councilman Ralph Baer

Documents

LaborSectionF