Two days before the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF) planned protest
of ArcelorMittal’s idling of nine blast furnaces on the Continent, Paul
Gipson, president of United Steelworkers Local 6787, is reminding members of
the step taken nearly two years ago to protect the company’s Burns Harbor
facility.
Gipson told the Chesterton Tribune today that, in May 2010, Local
6787 inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with ArcelorMittal under
which the Burns Harbor facilities’ C and D blast furnaces must continue to
operate and produce iron “even when fewer furnaces are needed (in North
America) to meet demand.”
“We must always research our facility and take steps to secure the economic
future of the Burns Harbor facility,” Gipson said. “ArcelorMittal has an
annual business plan and I am sure the projections for steel production in
Europe and the United States indicate how many furnaces are required to meet
that plan. It is important to recognize the significance of the MOU.”
Right now two of ArcelorMittal’s blast furnaces in North America are idled,
Gipson said, while nine of its 25 furnaces in Europe are. In protest of the
latter idling, EMF is calling for strikes, work stoppages, and
demonstrations across the company’s European operations, sited in nine
countries with employees represented by 25 unions.
Noted Gipson, “Good agreements during the worst of times have greater value
for the long term.”
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