United Steelworkers (USW) at four Arconic plants, including Davenport Works in Riverdale, have a new labor contract with the aluminum maker after union members ratified the tentative agreement on Wednesday, May 27.
The three-year master contract covers roughly 3,400 workers across the four operations. In addition to Davenport Works, the contract covers union members at Lafayette Operations in Lafayette, Indiana; Tennessee Operations in Alcoa, Tennessee; and Massena Operations, USW Local 420, Massena, New York.
“The unity of our membership across all of the Arconic locations gave us power to negotiate more secure jobs with improved wages and excellent benefits,” USW International Vice President Ramirez said in a news release issued Wednesday night after the votes were counted. “When union workers stand together in the name of fairness and justice, there are no limits to what we can accomplish.”
The USW members cast their votes throughout Wednesday with USW Local 105 voting at the Quad Cities Waterfront Convention Center. The union did not release specific vote totals.
At the Bettendorf polling site, USW Local 105 President Patrick Stock told the QCBJ mid-morning Wednesday that voting had been steady. “It’s a fair contract. … We have some local issues that weren’t addressed, but it’s fair,” he said. “There’s a small wage increase and no healthcare (insurance) increases. That’s good.”
Mr. Stock would not address many of the local issues, but did say that Arconic’s policy of forcing overtime shifts on many workers was important to Local 105’s membership. “We have some forced overtime here and that’s a concern. Our people need time off with their families,” he added.
Solidarity strength
In the USW International’s release, Mr. Ramirez credited solidarity within and between the local unions as essential to winning economic and contract language improvements for Arconic employees. The union leader chaired the negotiations, which began in mid-April.
The bargaining committee and Arconic reached a tentative agreement in Pittsburgh on Saturday, May 16, which was the day the previous contract was originally scheduled to expire.
The International USW recommended ratification by union members.
Under the new contract, workers will receive compounded wage increases of 5% in 2026 and 4% in both 2027 and 2028. That represents an average cumulative wage increase of 13.6% over the contract’s life, the USW release said.
In addition, the USW said the contract also protects high-quality health care coverage, strengthens retirement security and includes language improvements addressing scheduling, job security and workplace protections. The new agreement follows months of coordinated bargaining and strong member engagement across all four locations, including a strike authorization vote, which union members had approved ahead of the contract deadline.
Strike averted again
The ratification also avoids a strike by the Steelworkers at Arconic. The new contract replaces a four-year contract Arconic workers ratified in June of 2022.
The last major work stoppage at the company was back in 1986 when it was known as Alcoa. That strike, involving some 15,000 members of the Steelworkers and the Aluminum, Brick and Glass Workers (ABGW) International, which impacted Alcoa plants in nine states including Davenport Works. The workers hit the picket line after rejecting an offer that cut benefits and wages. The 1986 strike was the first strike by USW Members at Alcoa since 1956 and the first walkout by Alcoa’s ABGW members since 1968.
Today, the USW represents 850,000 men and women employed in metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in tech, higher education, public sector and service occupations.
(QCBJ Content Editor Dave Thompson contributed to this report.)
