Steelworkers Ratify Pact with RG Steel—and More Bargaining News
The United Steelworkers (USW) at RG Steel ratified a new contract—and more news from the “Bargaining Digest Weekly.” The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily, bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 1,300 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
SETTLEMENTS
USW, RG Steel: The United Steelworkers ratified a new agreement with North America successor RG Steel that covers some 6,000 workers at five facilities in Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia.
UTU Leader Picked to Head Federal Railroad Administration
Joe Szabo, United Transportation Union’s (UTU‘s) Illinois state legislative director and a vice president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, was nominated last week by President Obama to serve as head of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). A Senate confirmation vote is expected soon.
The FRA administers and enforces federal rail safety laws and writes and enforces federal rail safety regulations.
Szabo is a fifth-generation railroader who began work with the Illinois Central in 1976 as a yard switchman and also worked as a road trainman and commuter passenger conductor. He was elected UTU Local 1290 secretary-treasurer in 1984 and began serving as UTU state legislative director in 1996. UTU President Mike Futhey says Szabo is
the first FRA administrator to come out of the ranks of rail labor. It is a validation that the Obama administration is a friend of organized labor.
