INFORMATION LINE QUESTIONS THAT YOU CAN’T GET ANSWERED FROM GERDAU!!!!!!!

How much is Gerdau paying the union busting attorney from Ogletree Deakins to lead their negotiations?

$__________________________________________

A.      Will the amount cover the cost of our SUB fund for the next four years?

B.       Will the amount cover the cost of our retiree health care for the next four years?

C.      Will the amount cover the cost of spousal health insurance for the next four years?

D.      Will the amount equal or exceed our current profit sharing projections for the next four years?

E.       All of the above?

Answer ____________________________________

Brazil Trade Unions Condemn Gerdau’s

Anti-Union Posture in North America

Sao Leopoldo, Brazil - Some 440 trade union leaders, representing 210 metalworker unions in Brazil unanimously passed a resolution on May 7, condemning the “anti-dialogue and anti-union attitude,” expressed by the Brazilian steelmaker, Gerdau, in its relations with workers in the U.S. and Canada.

The union leaders were meeting in the 11^th Congress of CUT (Brazilian Metalworkers Federation), and following an address from Ben Hallas, vice president of Local 7263 in St. Paul, Minn., passed the resolution.

“Jorge Gerdau is no different than George W. Bush,” Hallas told the delegates who roared with applause.

The resolution called for solidarity among Gerdau’s workers in Sapucaia, Charqueadas and Porto Alegre, with USW members in the U.S. and Canada, considering the fact that Gerdau is aggressively expanding in North America.

Labor agreements expired last year at Gerdau’s Wilton, Iowa; Beaumont, Texas; and St’ Paul, Minn., plants but workers remain on the job.  In addition, Gerdau is purchasing Sheffield Steel where contracts have expired at all three plants – Joliet, Ill., Sand Springs, Okla., and Kansas City. 

Jim Whitmore, a member of the negotiating committee at Local 8581 in Wilton, Iowa is scheduled to visit workers at Gerdau’s Brazilian mills in June.

Gerdau workers pledge global solidarity

May 15, 2006

SAO LEOPOLDO, Brazil — Some 440 union leaders representing 210 metalworker unions in Brazil unanimously passed a resolution condemning the "anti-dialogue and anti-union attitude" of Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau at its Canadian and U.S. operations, including its plant in St. Paul.

The union leaders met May 7 in the 11th Congress of CUT (Brazilian Metalworkers Federation), and following an address from Ben Hallas, vice president of Local 7263 in St. Paul, Minn., passed the resolution.

"(Gerdau executive) Jorge Gerdau is no different than George W. Bush," Hallas told the delegates, who roared with applause.

The resolution called for solidarity among Gerdau's workers in Sapucaia, Charqueadas and Porto Alegre, with USW members in the U.S. and Canada, considering the fact that Gerdau is aggressively expanding in North America.

Labor agreements expired last year at Gerdau's Wilton, Iowa; Beaumont, Texas; and St. Paul, Minn., plants but workers remain on the job. In addition, Gerdau is purchasing Sheffield Steel where contracts have expired at all three plants – Joliet, Ill., Sand Springs, Okla., and Kansas City.

Jim Whitmore, a member of the negotiating committee at Local 8581 in Wilton, Iowa, is scheduled to visit workers at Gerdau's Brazilian mills in June.

Related article
Minnesota Steelworkers get help in their contract fight

Steelworkers call on Gerdau to end demands for concessions; stop union busting tactics, and negotiate fair contracts

Toronto - Steelworkers employed at Gerdau’s steel mills in Canada, Chile, Brazil and the United States gathered at Gerdau Ameristeel’s shareholders meeting here today and issued the following statement, read by Pete Savoy, president of Local 8586 in Beaumont, Texas:

“On behalf of union workers, employed by Gerdau in North America, I raise many concerns that must be addressed by top management.

We recognize that the Gerdau family has been in business in Brazil for over 100 years.  Since the company’s entry into North America with the purchase of the Courtice mill in Cambridge, Ontario in 1989, the bright prospects that once existed, have now deteriorated to the point where the future is at risk, not only for the workers but for the company.

We look back to 1999 when Ameristeel properties were acquired and to 2001, when Birmingham Steel in Cartersville, Ga., was purchased.  Along with those mills came a management that wants to treat its employees as if they are permanent military boot grunts with no rights, no voice and no reason for being, other than to work in the mill.

Unfortunately, that management, now headquartered in Tampa, is in charge of Gerdau Ameristeel North American operations.  The company has acquired other mills, including North Star Steel and now, Sheffield Steel – both companies with union contracts.

Union workers expect certain things from their employer. At the top of the list is respect from our employer and dignity in the workplace.  Tampa management has shown us neither.

Labor agreements have expired at three Gerdau plants.  A fourth is due June and a fifth in July.  All three contracts have expired at the Sheffield Steel locations.

We have a problem.  Union workers have proved over the years to be loyal and dedicated.  We are skilled and conscientious.  We want Gerdau to be profitable.  Our future depends on it.  Whether you like it or not, we are partners.  It has come to our attention that Chairman Jorge Gerdau Johannpeter has stated to his emissaries that the union’s objective is to have a master agreement for all Gerdau locations.

Nothing is further from the truth.  Here are the facts:

• We’ve agreed to establish four-year contracts that will end at widely separate expiration dates.

• All non-economic issues have been settled with widely different terms at each location.

If your negotiators tell you differently, they are lying.  We think that we know where the falsehoods are coming from.

Our problem is in Tampa.  Your North American management has demonstrated a virulently anti-union behavior toward union representatives.  They have hired law firms with no real experience in negotiating steel industry contracts but with expertise in union-busting. 

It’s time for Gerdau Ameristeel’s Board of Directors to step in and stop demanding concessions from the workers when profits are at an all time high.

Gerdau’s union workers will fight to protect our standard of living.  With eight labor agreements expired, let’s settle this before a conflict gets out of hand.” 

The United Steelworkers is the largest industrial union in North America, representing some 850,000 workers in various industries.  Nearly 3,000 of our members are employed at 13 Gerdau Ameristeel locations in Canada and the U.S.

                       WHERE’S OUR INTEREST?

(Excerpted from the Code of Iowa, 2005)

CHAPTER 91A WAGE PAYMENT COLLECTION

91A.1  Short title.

  This chapter shall be known and may be referred to as the "Iowa Wage Payment Collection Law".

91A.2  Definitions

6.      "Liquidated damages" means the sum of five percent multiplied by the amount of any wages that were not paid or of any authorized expenses that were not reimbursed on a regular payday or on another day pursuant to section 91A.3 multiplied by the total number of days, excluding Sundays, legal holidays, and the first seven days after the regular payday on which wages were not paid or expenses were not reimbursed. However, such sum shall not exceed the amount of the unpaid wages …

7.      "Wages" means compensation owed by an employer for:

  a.  Labor or services rendered by an employee, whether determined on a time, task, piece, commission, or other basis of calculation.

  b.  Vacation, holiday, sick leave, and severance payments  which are due an employee under an agreement with the employer or under a policy of the employer.

  c.  Any payments to the employee or to a fund for the benefit of the employee, including but not limited to payments for medical, health, hospital, welfare, pension, or profit-sharing, which are due an employee under an agreement with the employer or under a policy of the employer….

91A.8  Damages recoverable by an employee.

  When it has been shown that an employer has intentionally failed to pay an employee wages or reimburse expenses pursuant to section 91A.3, whether as the result of a wage dispute or otherwise, the employer shall be liable to the employee for any wages or expenses that are so intentionally failed to be paid or reimbursed, plus liquidated damages, court costs and any attorney's fees incurred in recovering the unpaid wages and determined to have been usual and necessary. In other instances the employer shall be liable only for unpaid wages or expenses, court costs and usual and necessary attorney's fees incurred in recovering the unpaid wages or expenses.

91A.12  Civil penalties.

  1.  Any employer who violates the provisions of this chapter or the rules promulgated under it shall be subject to a civil money penalty of not more than one hundred dollars for each violation. The commissioner may recover such civil money penalty according to the provisions of subsections 2 to 5. Any civil money penalty recovered shall be deposited in the general fund of the state.

  2.  The commissioner may propose that an employer be assessed a civil money penalty by serving the employer with notice of such proposal in the same manner as an original notice is served under the rules of civil procedure. Upon service of such notice, the proposed assessment shall be treated as a contested case under chapter 17A.

`

April 24, 2005

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

            The purpose of this letter is to ensure that every employee in the Wilton plant and their families are fully informed regarding the negotiations for a new labor agreement that have been underway for the past eight months.  We urge every employee and every family member to take the time to read this letter carefully .

            The Company knows that our unity is our strength.  They know they can never force their will on us if we remain united.  Our unity is very threatening to the Company and they are engaged in a massive and desperate campaign to break our will and undermine our unity.

            Carl Czarnik has held captive audience meetings, directed supervision to spread propaganda, and written several letters in an effort to sow disunity in our homes.  As part of its propaganda campaign, the Company has used its web site to publish phony Questions and Answers while refusing to print Questions supportive of the Union or critical of the Company. 

            We believe that an informed membership is an empowered membership.  We believe that the antidote for the falsehoods and half-truths that the Company is peddling is the truth and all of it.

            So, what follows is a full and detailed account of the status of the issues that separate the Company and the Union and an expose of the Company’s disinformation campaign regarding those issues.

1. Wages -- Carl’s letters do not tell us three critical facts:  (1) new hires will be paid up to $3.75 per hour less than current employees for the same job, (2) 73 employees will become retirement eligible during the term of the proposed agreement, and (3) in six years nearly 50% of our workforce will be retirement eligible. 

Just think of the implications of a mass of co-workers seeing themselves as underpaid, second-class employees.  What does this mean for today’s employees?  Will the Company ever give wage increases to those of us they seem to think are overpaid?  How will the Company treat those who are getting paid more?  How will the new employees feel about joining the Union?  About those of us who did this to them (if we were to allow it)?  What happens when they become the majority?

By the way, Carl’s summary says that no current employee will take a pay cut and that everyone gets a raise every year.  Well, that is not true.  The 90¢ per hour that is offered to the 40% of employees who would be red-circled amounts to 1.2% per year for the average employee, while the U. S. Department of Labor reports that the cost of living has increased at a rate of over 3.5% annually during the last ten years and the average hourly wage increase in the United States during the past twelve months was 3.4%.  Falling 2.3% behind the cost of living and 2.2% behind the average U.S. worker is not a pay raise in our opinion.

2.   PIP -- Under the Company’s offer, 20% or more of your earnings would come from PIP.  But the Company refuses to put the PIP in our Labor Agreement or to give us any assurance that PIP will not be changed or eliminated.  The Company’s PIP proposal states that “The Company may change, modify, amend, replace, or eliminate PIP, at any time,” subject only to 30 days’ notification to the Union, and “will not be subject to the grievance or arbitration provisions of the Agreement.”

So, not only would you be falling way behind the cost of living, you could lose 20% of your pay.  What do you think Gerdau would do when we hit one of the inevitable steel industry down cycles?

3.   Retroactivity -- One of the most dishonest aspects of Carl’s propaganda campaign is retroactivity.  In his letter to our homes he told each of us what we would receive upon ratification.  The amounts range from roughly $7,000 to $11,000.  He did this to panic us into accepting a terrible contract.  But the money he dangled is all either money we are already owed or an effort to buy an existing benefit for cents on a dollar.  Worse yet, he isn’t even offering us everything that we are owed. 

Let’s look at what he offers by way of retroactivity:

a.   Profit-sharing -- He offers profit sharing from November 1, 2004 to September 30, 2005.  That is simply giving us our own money that the Company has refused to pay since it bought our plant.  But we are also entitled to profit sharing from October 1, 2005 to date which the Company is refusing to pay.  On average, the profit sharing they owe us for the period since October 1, 2005, amounts to more than $2,000 per employee.

We are proceeding to collect through legal processes or at the bargaining table the entire amount for the entire period from November 1, 2004 to date.  We have no intention of paying for what is ours or of giving away 40% of the profit sharing we are owed.

By the way, there is no mention of interest on the money they have withheld.  This alone would amount to a couple of hundred dollars.

b.  PIP Matrix -- Another piece of the Company’s retroactivity scam proposes to substitute PIP for Indices and Profit Sharing.  Carl fails to mention that Indices plus Profit Sharing has yielded a higher payout than PIP alone.  This is why the Company is proposing PIP less Indices instead of Profit Sharing for the seven months since October 1, 2005.  Why didn’t Carl tell us that we are being shorted about $300 on this exchange?

c.   $500 Lump Sum for SUB -- Carl offers $500 “to settle SUB grievance.”  This is a deception.  He is offering $500 for us to give up SUB entirely and with it our guarantee of 32 hours of work per week.

If we agreed, we would be making a gift to the Company of the $62,000 currently in our SUB Fund along with the $106,000 that was stolen when Gerdau bought the plant.  Where that $106,000 SUB Fund went only Cargill and Gerdau know and they are not saying.

Currently the Company is funding SUB at 11¢ per hour.  On an annual basis this amounts to roughly $220 per employee.  So if we were to agree to the $500 lump sum we would be settling for a little over two years of Gerdau’s SUB funding obligation, giving the Company a $62,000 gift on top of the already stolen $106,000 and, most important,  giving up our 32-hour work protection.

Will no SUB and no 32 Hour Guarantee, what kind of scheduling could we expect in the future, especially given the forthcoming $63 million capital investment?

4.  VEBA -- Carl says the VEBA is fully funded.  Well, here are the facts in four charts.  The first page compares the Company proposal and the Union proposal for Pre-Medicare retirees.  The second page compares the Company proposal and the Union proposal for Medicare-Eligible retirees.

Sure, Carl, the VEBA is fully funded if the Company never assumes any responsibility for future cost increases and the retiree assumes the entire responsibility.  How do you expect us – employees with a lifetime of service to the Company, receiving a monthly pension of only $1,320 – to pay an average of $709 per month for health insurance by the end of the proposed agreement?  In just six years to pay an average of $1,216 per month for health coverage?  In just 11 years to be paying more than twice the amount of our monthly pension?

The answer to these questions is that the current active employees will never be able to retire, and that Medicare age retirees would be paying such enormous premiums that they will  have to survive on Medicare alone.  Meanwhile the Company will be allowing the VEBA to pay only $97.88 per month for Medicare-eligible retirees.

In addition, the Company refuses to let employees hired after January 13, 2004 participate in the VEBA, thus denying all employees hired after 1/13/04 and all subsequent new hires retiree health care coverage.  Here again, we would be faced with all the tensions and divisions that having a mass of second-class citizens would create.

5.   Pensions -- The Company is refusing to increase our pension multiplier which is one of the lowest in the steel industry.  The 1% increase in 401(k)  match benefits that the Company is offering in lieu of a pension increase only those employees who can afford to participate in the 401(k) plan and is simply what every unrepresented Gerdau employee receives without collective bargaining.

6.   Early Retirement -- Gerdau and Cargill stole our Early Retirements when our plant was sold.  They are jointly liable for this travesty, and our International is pursuing legal remedies.

The Company, obviously realizing that it is in legal jeopardy, has offered $10,000 to settle this claim but are willing to compensate only those who retire during the next 3½ years.  The Union estimates this claim to be worth an average of over $30,000 per employee.  The Company knows that the $10,000 is an unfair offer because they have offered $15,000 at the Beaumont plant.    

We have two questions for Carl.  What about the pension service stolen from those of us who don’t retire during the next 3 ½ years?  How many will get the $10,000 since no one could afford to retire during the next 3 ½ years under your proposal? 

7.  Overtime -- Under the Company’s offer we would lose:

·                     Time and one-half for any day in which we work over 8 hours but have to miss work for any reason in the week.

·                     Double time for hours in excess of 12.

·                     Double time for hours in excess of eight on a 6^th or 7^th workday.

·                     Double time for overtime hours within any 24-hour period.

·                     Hours over eight on a holiday would no longer be paid at 2¾ time but would instead be paid at 1½ time.

·                     Funeral leave no longer counted for overtime purposes.  (To add insult to injury, the Company would impose a death penalty on us.)

8.   Health Insurance for Active Employees -- The Company refuses to give us any assurance that it will not change the health plan, increase co-pays, increase deductibles, increase premiums, and/or reduce the benefit provisions of the health plan.  The Company insists on the following language:

“Coverage, level of benefits, and the plan provider are subject to change at the Company’s discretion during the term of this Agreement, provided that any such changes shall become effective on January 1 of the subsequent Plan Year and shall apply equally to all employees of the Company who are covered by the Company’s group health plan.

“Premium increases or changes to the plan will be effective January 1^st of each year, and will be announced during the open enrollment period.  In the event of a catastrophic event, the Company reserves the unilateral right to modify the employee contributions and plan designs, provided that such modifications will be the same as those changes implemented for all employees of the Company who are covered by the Company’s group health plan.”

We have proposed health insurance language giving the Company reasonable flexibility but ensuring that the flexibility will be subject to fair limitations.

Another huge problem with the Company’s health care proposal is its insistence that any married employee whose spouse works 30 hours or more per week must enroll in their employer’s health plan and pay the entire employee premium no matter how costly or inadequate the health plan may be.  The effect of such a requirement is that lots of our spouses will have to pay insurance premiums and many will have to pay hundreds of dollars per month.  This is, in effect, a big wage cut. 

We have posed some questions for Carl Czarnik in this letter.  Unfortunately, we are never going to hear his answers since he has refused our invitation to meet with the members and our spouses and engage in full and open discussion about the issues discussed above.  It seems that he is afraid  to expose his propaganda to the full light of inquiry and truth.

We hope that you have found this summary to be informative and urge all employees and their spouses to attend one of the explanation meetings we will have at the Union hall at 7:30 a.m., 1:15 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday, May 3.

In Solidarity,

(Signatures)

April 12, 2006

Mr. Carl Czarnik

Gerdau Ameristeel

1500-2500 West 3^rd St

PO Box 3002

Wilton, IA 52778-3002

Dear Mr. Czarnik:

As President of USW Local 8581 and Chair of the Local 8581 Negotiating Committee, I am inviting you to participate in informational meetings in which both Gerdau Ameristeel and the United Steelworkers Union discuss the contract offer that the Company identified as Last, Best, and Final.  We propose that these meetings take place on Thursday, April 20, 2006.  We envision four meetings that would coincide with the shift schedules of our members and be held at 7:30 AM, 1:15 PM, 3:30 PM, and 7:05 PM.  It is our preference that these meetings be held at the Local 8581 Union Hall but would be willing to meet at another location of your choosing in near proximity to the plant should the Company show reluctance to come to our Union Hall.  Please understand that you and/or any company representative(s) are welcome to present Management’s position.

We must insist, however, that all covered employees and their spouses be welcome to participate in these discussions.  To demonstrate our sincerity in trying to disseminate accurate information and to foster the free exchange of opinion, we will waive any and all claims of Unfair Labor Practice charges against the Company for anything you or other Gerdau representatives say or distribute at these meetings.

Sincerely,

William J. Clevenger

President, Local 8581

Wilton, Iowa- Thank you for coming today.  Frankly, I’m very disturbed that we have to take this step.  Our employer, Gerdau Ameristeel has taken a very hard and unrealistic stance during the current contract negotiating process.  This Brazilian owned and Florida operated corporation that has reaped millions in profits with very little local investment has demanded wage concessions, profit sharing elimination, health insurance reductions for both active and retired personnel, the ending of job and income security provisions, and complete pension stagnation for the life of the agreement. 

They owe the workers at the Wilton facility millions in unpaid profit and gain sharing income under the current agreement, they’ve refused to pay recent pensioners their earned benefits, and now, they’ve offered what they consider to be a Last, Best, & Final offer that would paid for by the monies already owed to the workers.  And worst of all, Gerdau has by-passed the accepted bargaining process with the democratically elected union representatives and appealed quite disingenuously to the workers’ spouses and families.    

In addition to violating the legitimate employment contract with the union, Gerdau has probably violated Federal Pension laws and doesn’t seem to care about either their moral or legal obligation to workers who have dedicated their working lives to ensure the profitability of the Wilton steel mill. 

And while Gerdau is illegally contacting our members and their families insisting on a vote on their current proposal, the Local 8581 Negotiating Committee, in complete solidarity with the elected leadership of the union, rejects these tactics and calls for Gerdau to return to the bargaining table with the intent of negotiating a contract that will provide not only a realistic wage and benefit package for current and future workers, but also a secure and comfortable retirement for those workers in our community who have spent a lifetime toiling in the Wilton

facility. 

We made an offer to the company that they share the same stage with us in an open discussion of their proposal with our members and their spouses.  That offer was summarily rejected by Gerdau.

There are several attachments in the Press Packets and I, along with my fellow officers will answer any questions.

###

Gerdau’s union-busting agenda marches on!

Gerdau Ameristeel recently purchased Callaway Building Products, Inc. located in Knoxville, Tenn.  Hourly employees at the facility were represented by Shopmen’s Local Union No. 733 which is affiliated with the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers. After sending a fax on March 10^th, and a follow-up letter on March 15^th requesting Gerdau to either recognize the current agreement or enter into negotiations to reach a new agreement, the union received the following response:

…”Gerdau Ameristeel does not recognize Shopmen’s Local 733 as the representative of any of its employees in a unit appropriate for collective bargaining and, therefore, will not enter into collective bargaining with Local 733.”

The company went on to say:

“Any former Callaway employees who have been hired or are hired in the future will be employed under the terms and conditions applicable to all Gerdau Ameristeel employees.”

Sound familiar??

Gerdau strives to either eliminate representation from the facilities it acquires or to lower compensation to the levels of their non-union facilities. Just remember…

United We Bargain, Divided We Beg!!

In a not so subtle twist of irony, (chutzpah…perhaps?), the company lawyer talked at length of how we could trust them on PIP. How all we needed was ‘TRUST’.  All this from a company whose first order of business in negotiating with us was to hire a union-busting law firm, (this firm even brags about it on their website). This is the guy telling us to trust them. (Yeah, but trust them to do what? Remember they locked Beaumont out for 6 months just to intimidate them.)

Since we can trust them, they say we don’t need a letter of understanding on putting up to perhaps 20% of our earnings to a program that is at their whim and will. (“We don’t need no stinkin’ letters” perhaps?). This program is designed to change at least yearly, and to keep raising the bar as we work harder to get it.

They claim it is so essentially a part of their current managements business model that it is nearly inconceivable to operate without PIP. If this PIP program is so essential, so permanent that we needn’t worry, what harm to them could there be in giving their ‘most valued assets’ (us!) a small amount of peace of mind?

                   Just say NO! to Carl, Bob and company.

  HIGHWAY SIGN  ROBBERY BY GERDAU AMERISTEEL!!!

            We’ve been calling it ‘Highway Robbery At Gerdau Ameristeel’ on the billboard, making the point that not only are they making money here, but they want to make more by stealing it from you, so their “fat cats” in Tampa can have more. Oh sure, if you’re being robbed at gunpoint, the crook can tell the judge later, “honestly, he just handed me his wallet!” 

What shameless arrogance!  What a load of…chutzpah.

Leave it to the company, though. They went and proved our point. They went and stole our highway sign site! And then used it to “thank” us. What a joke!

     After some quick work by the Union president and the USW International, (which is paying for this sign and the previous one), we were able to get a new sign up on the backside of where we were robbed.  Look for it the next time you drive north on Highway 38. Think how true it is, and how their ‘joke’ on us backfired!

Remember too, it’s up to us to not just hand our wallets over!                                                                                                        

Now you think you can use it to buy your concessions?

GIVE US OUR $$$

THIS WAS  PULLED FROM THE ST.PAUL PIONEER PRESS

Posted on Sun, Feb. 12, 2006

Steelworkers think globally

DAVE BEAL

One of St. Paul's signature manufacturing sites — its 39-year-old steel mill hard by the Mississippi River on Red Rock Road — has moved to center stage in the ongoing debate about the net effect of the increasingly global economy on U.S. workers.

The plant's still-powerful international union is trying its hand at the globalization game, which many transnational corporations have been playing so effectively.

Negotiators from management and labor are locked in tough talks as Local 7263 of the United Steelworkers of America seeks its first contract with the mill's new owner, Gerdau Ameristeel.

After the workers' old contract here expired last July, they promptly authorized a strike. That vote came in the midst of a bitter lockout that shut down Gerdau's unionized sister mill in Beaumont, Texas, for seven months.

In November, bargainers here finally reached agreement on many non-economic issues — grievance procedures, work rules and the like — and since then have exchanged economic offers. Both sides are to begin negotiating this week over meaty pocketbook concerns: wages, retiree and health care benefits and a supplemental benefit fund.

Meanwhile, the wrenching challenges that steelmakers and their workers face in the rapidly globalizing steel industry loom like an 800-pound gorilla at the bargaining table.

Gerdau Ameristeel is part of rapidly growing Gerdau S.A., the world's 12th-largest steelmaker. The parent company, based in Porto Alegre, Brazil, employs more than 23,000 workers in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, the U.S. and Canada. Its latest acquisition, a large stake in Spanish steelmaker Sidenor, gives it a presence in Europe.

Gerdau's U.S. managers argue that to compete in a more global industry, they must turn to "reality-based bargaining."

Philip Bell, director of human resources for Tampa-based Gerdau Ameristeel, argues that the management wants to avoid the fate that has befallen workers at Northwest Airlines, General Motors, Ford and other large corporations. These companies find themselves in a pickle today because, in Bell's view, their past union contracts gave unrealistic benefits to their workers.

"Then they find themselves in the position of GM, where they have to freeze pensions, eliminate retiree benefits and pass on dramatic increases in health care costs to employees," Bell says.

Today's rising steel prices, profits and stock prices aren't likely to last in this highly cyclical industry, he adds.

Union leaders here and at the Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburgh counter that reality-based bargaining is simply a euphemism for seeking concessions. Concessions, they quickly add, are something Gerdau Ameristeel doesn't need.

Gerdau Ameristeel went public in 2004 and last week reported sales of $3.9 billion for 2005, up 29 percent. Its stock, which has been drawing upgraded recommendations from securities analysts in recent weeks, hit a new high last month. Union leaders say Gerdau's St. Paul plant is making lots of money.

They say the proposals Gerdau is making at the bargaining table would throw workers here into a spiral of falling wages and benefits and lost jobs. They fear becoming more enmeshed in a proverbial "race to the bottom" that has already smacked the pocketbooks of thousands of North American steelworkers.

The union has countered by designing its own global strategy, a form of a "corporate campaign" that features extensive research about the Gerdau empire and strengthening ties with Gerdau workers in Canada and South America.

A key part of its battle plan is bonding with Gerdau workers and political leaders in Brazil, where Gerdau was founded 104 years ago. Roughly half of Gerdau S.A.'s production and 15,000 of its workers are in Brazil.

Last September, union leaders traveled to Porto Alegre to meet with Gerdau workers, their labor leaders and the country's politicians.

Last month, the leaders of two of Brazil's largest industrial unions — Fernando Lopes, general secretary of the CNM/CUT confederation, and Nair Goulart of the CNTM alliance — came to St. Paul for an international conference of Gerdau workers. Together, the two groups represent 1.5 million Brazilian metalworkers.

The employees and the management at Gerdau in Brazil have a good working relationship, Lopes said, but that condition came about only after "a long battle."

Lopes added that Gerdau's workers must unite across borders to gain bargaining power that will enable them to temper the harsher effects of globalization.

"What Gerdau is trying to do here is not acceptable," he said, referring to the company's tough stances in Beaumont and now in St. Paul.

Last week, a 22-member Steelworkers delegation attended a "global companies and global unions" conference convened in New York City by Cornell University.

The St. Paul mill's 400 workers — 330 of them in Local 7263 — represent one of the city's largest and most productive work forces. They make an average of $20 an hour, according to Bell, plus good benefits.

A trip through the plant tends to generate respect for its workers. The mill, open to the elements at both ends, runs around-the-clock seven days a week. The noise is like constant claps of controlled thunder. Temperatures can fluctuate wildly, from steamy hot to bracingly cold winds.

Many of the workers are not happy with Gerdau's proposals. Kevin Fahey, a union representative, says the proposals would move them backward on pensions, a new two-tier wage scale, overtime and would eliminate supplemental employment benefits.

Fahey says bargaining is much harder than it was under the plant's former owner, Minnetonka-based Cargill."Cargill was a tough negotiator, but they did things right at the bargaining table."

All of this raises the question of whether the Steelworkers' global strategy will bear fruit.

"In many ways, particularly for the U.S. steel industry, it's too little, too late," says Gary Chaison, an industrial relations specialist at Clark University. Transnationals like Gerdau hold most of the chips now, he says. They can move production around, and use competitive threats to hold down wages and benefits and cut jobs.

Others disagree.

"The global economy has become a blast furnace that seeks to eliminate many of the gains that steelworkers have won over the years," says Harley Shaiken of the University of California at Berkeley, who thinks it's too early to tell how the Steelworkers will fare in their international campaign.

In any event, he says, they have no choice but to try.

Dave Beal can be reached at dbeal@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5429.

STRIKE PREPERATION CLASSES 

FOR:   ALL STRIKE CAPTAINS

DATE:   WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18, 2005

TIMES:   7:30 A.M, 3:30 P.M., 7:05 P.M.

LOCATION:   UNION HALL

ALL STRIKE CAPTAINS NEED TO MAKE

ARRANGEMENTS FOR ATTENDING ONE OF THE

THREE CLASSES.

FOR:   UNION MEMBERS AND SPOUSES

DATE:   JANUARY 19, 2006

TIMES:   7:30 A.M, 3:30 P.M., 7:05 P.M.

LOCATION:   UNION HALL

ALL UNION BROTHERS AND SISTERS ALONG WITH

THEIR SPOUSE ARE INVITED TO ATTEND ONE OF

THREE CLASSES SCHEDULED.

“UNITED WE BARGAIN…..DIVIDED WE BEG!!!”