Steelworkers win extension in Oregon Steel card-check campaign

United Steel Workers will have three additional weeks to make a case for unionizing to workers at Evraz Oregon Steel Mills plant in Portland.

Under a union contract covering workers in a Pueblo, Colorado subsidiary of Oregon Steel Mills, the company agreed to recognize the union at the Portland location if a majority of workers signed union authorization cards. Union organizers were allowed to talk to workers in company break rooms for 90 days, a period that was supposed to end Nov. 4.

But the union complained that the company was violating its contractual commitment to neutrality in several ways, including restricting access to some workers. At an Oct. 15 hearing before an arbitrator, the company agreed to settle the complaint by extending the card-gathering period to Nov. 26 and posting a notice spelling out workers’ union rights.

Steelworkers organizer Pete Passarelli said the union is cautiously optimistic it will have formal majority support by then. The plant has not had union representation since mid-1980s, when the USW was decertified after a bitter labor dispute.

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