About 10,000 union steelworkers at ArcelorMittal mills in Northwest Indiana and Riverdale have been working without a contract for eight months, but the steelmaker and the United Steelworkers union have finally reached a tentative pact.
The union and the Luxembourg-based steelmaker have been at the bargaining table for a year trying to negotiate a new contract. The new pact, which would expire in September 2018 , is expected to result in the idling of some finishing lines at ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor in East Chicago , and more investment in others as ArcelorMittal seeks to make a dent in the overcapacity problem that's dogged the industry globally.
Union leaders say the pact "preserves our economic security and other contractual protections." The USW had been holding out against ArcelorMittal's proposals to shrink health care benefits, increase retiree premiums, weaken severance pay, and scrap incentives for employees in Labor Grade 1 jobs.ArcelorMittal , which has been looking to cut costs after losing $8 billion last year, already backed off proposals for two-tier wages and health care, and to slash vacation pay, sickness and accident benefits.
No one is currently disclosing what concessions either side made in the tentative pact.
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