United Steelworkers ratified a three-year contract covering 1,000 workers at Republic Steel at five steel mills in Ohio, New York, and Indiana. The agreement provides for no wage increases, but enhances the profit sharing when the company turns a profit, increasing the percentage from 2.5 to 3 percent or higher depending on profits.
Southwest Airlines and its mechanics’ union, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, reached an agreement in principle for its first contract covering 40 employees. The five-year contract provides workers with bonuses, a set wage scale, and a set of work rules. And, after more than three years of talks, Southwest Airlines and Transport Workers Union Local 556, the flight attendants’ union, reached a tentative contract deal covering the 14,500 flight attendants working for the airline. The terms of the agreement have not yet been released.article text
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Catholic Health System agreed on three separate four-year labor contracts that cover 2,500 nurses and other workers at hospitals in Buffalo, N.Y. The deals include wage increases, pension contributions, and the continuation of what members call “high-quality, low-cost health benefits.”
General Mills and the UFCW agreed to close a soup production plant in New Jersey, laying off 370 workers in 2018.
AT&T and the CWA reached agreements on first contracts covering 2,150 former DirecTV employees across the country. The proposals allow the employees to join AT&T's workforce following AT&T’s 2015 acquisition of the satellite TV provider. AT&T remains the nation’s only major wireless company with a significant union workforce, with about half of the 277,000 U.S. workers being unionized.
