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
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 at 10001 S. Howell Ave.
“Komatsu and its labor union are in the process of standard labor negotiations, and those continue to progress," said the company in a statement Monday evening. "While some informational demonstrations are taking place near the facilities, and we respect these employees' rights to do so, there is no strike underway. We remain hopeful that we will reach a mutually agreeable contract in the near future."
There are approximately 380 steelworkers who are part of USW Local 1114 and work at Komatsu. The union’s contract officially expired on Sept. 20, according to Brad Dorff, sub-district director for USW District 7.
“We’ve done this during many bargaining (sessions) with many companies where our members will hold those signs up and do these solidarity walks,” said Dorff. “We’re going to continue to do these until we get a deal.”
[caption id="attachment_598382" align="alignleft" width="300"] 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.”
