USW: Ninth Circuit Appeals Court Affirms that ASARCO Must Pay Copper Price Bonus

TUCSON, Ariz., June 19, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed Senior U.S. District Judge Stephen M. McNamee's March 3, 2016, decision to enforce an arbitrator's order for ASARCO, LLC, to pay millions of dollars to hundreds of workers hired after June 30, 2011.

The eight international unions which represent more than 2,000 hourly workers at five ASARCO locations in Arizona and Texas have been fighting to collect the award since December 2014, when an arbitrator determined that the company wrongly withheld quarterly bonuses based on the price of copper from newer employees.

USW District 12 Director Bob LaVenture said that the company's attempt to divide the union membership by withholding bonus payments from newer hires backfired and became an issue that united workers in solidarity within and between ASARCO locations.

"Our long struggle for fairness and justice for all ASARCO employees did not begin and will not end in court," LaVenture said. "It begins and ends with workers standing and fighting together to force management to respect our unions and obey our contract."

The Ninth Circuit's three-judge panel heard arguments in the case on Nov. 16, 2017.

The USW and other unions will continue pressing the company to pay its employees as ordered by the arbitrator and the courts.

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 public sector and service occupations.

More information, contact: Manny Armenta – (520) 465-3617; [email protected]
Tony Montana – (412) 562-2592; [email protected]

SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)

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