RAVENSWOOD, West Virginia -
New numbers and information were released Tuesday by the United Steelworkers Union Local 5668 in Ravenswood, where workers at Constellium Rolled Products went on strike this past weekend.
"Nobody wants to be out on strike but we've got to take a stand," said Jason Miller, president of the local union. "I mean that is what we are doing, we are taking a stand."
For the first time since going on strike Sunday morning union leaders hosted a news conference. Hundreds of union members were present at the union hall where emotions were running high.
"The only thing we have is the threat to withhold our labor and then ultimately withhold our labor," said Randy Moore, a United Steelworkers negotiator. "If we don't then we keep getting shoved farther and farther and closer to the bottom."
Union members said for the last several years they have been accepting lower pay in exchange for better insurance. They say now the company is trying to change that.
"The health care we currently have we've had since 1994 and we've paid since 1994 and the company wants to change that and put us into a system where there is a lot of cost shift and burden shift over to the employee," Moore explained.
Leaders announced Tuesday that of the 624 members who voted on the contract that was presented at the end of July, prior to the strike, only 20 voted to accept the company's offer.
Members present for the news conference made it clear, by standing and clapping , that they support the strike. They voted previously to allow the negotiating committee to decide if a strike was necessary.
"It is for the families and for the members all together," Miller said.
Constellium has called their previous offers generous. In a news release this week Constellium said the union was presented with alternative health care plan options and pay increases but that members opted to go on strike rather than put the new options to a member vote.
The union said the reason the alternative options haven't been put to a member vote is because the members have asked not to vote again until the health care coverage is restored.
Both sides have said they hope to continue negotiations in an effort to find a contract on which everyone can agree.
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