Dozens of United Steelworkers are taking part in solidarity walks to show support for union members negotiating a new contract with Komatsu Mining Corp. The demonstrations, which are not an official strike, are taking place near Komatsu’s South Harbor Campus at 401 E. Greenfield Ave. in Milwaukee and at the company’s Oak Creek distribution center
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United Steelworkers during a solidarity walk at Komatsu's Oak Creek facility. Submitted image.[/caption]
Union members are still showing up to work under an expired contract, said Dorff. So far, Komatsu has issued one offer. That offer was voted down by 98% of the membership. The vote took place on Sept. 29.
“We still have open items on benefits, we have open items on wages, we have open items on work-life balance with vacation time,” said Dorff. “We didn’t reject (the offer) on a certain issue. We rejected the offer as a whole.”
Meeting dates between union representatives and Komatsu have also been put on the calendar for later this week and next week.
“We’ve been meeting for the last month pretty steadily. We’ve made some progress in certain areas,” said Dorff. "Our staff is meeting with the local bargaining committee and the company again today. We would hope to get things settled as quickly as possible, but we’re not putting any timetable on it.”