Tag Archives: Pacific Steel Casting
Pay raise, no added health costs in Pacific Steel contract
The workers at Pacific Steel Casting won’t have to make new co-payments for their health insurance, according to details of a new contract released today by the union.
After a strike last week, the company and members of Local 164B of the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers International Union agreed to a new four-year contact that will give the 461 workers a $3.78 per hour wage increase, according to Ignacio De La Fuente, the vice-president of the union. The company will increase the hourly rate by 75 cents over four years and also pay 44 cents more per hour toward the workers’ pension plans.
Most importantly, the company will continue to pay 100% of employee health benefits, said De La Fuente. The workers had gone out on strike March 21 because the company had been asking them to pay as much as 10% of their salaries toward health care. … Continue reading »
Workers at Berkeley’s Pacific Steel accept new contract
The strike is over at Pacific Steel Castings in Berkeley.
Workers at one of the largest foundries on the West Coast voted to accept a new contract this morning, according to Elisabeth Jewel, a spokeswoman for the company. She did not provide any details of the agreement and union officials have not yet returned phone calls.
About 470 workers walked out of the plant at midnight Monday March 21 in protest of what they said was an unacceptable contract offer. Pacific Steel had apparently asked workers to pay a larger percentage of their health care costs, which could have amounted to a 10% pay cut. … Continue reading »
Negotiations resume in Pacific Steel strike
The two clashing sides in the Pacific Steel Casting strike returned to the bargaining table on Wednesday, a day after Berkeley police resorted to tough tactics to push back a group of strikers from a warehouse on Fifth Street.
On Tuesday, about 100 strikers gathered outside a warehouse to prevent a truck filled with parts from the Pacific Steel foundry from leaving. Police attempted to clear away the protesters and a pregnant woman claimed she was struck in the stomach by an officer during the confrontation, according to Sgt. Mary Kusmiss of the Berkeley Police Department. She was treated at a local hospital and released.
“Today at a couple points, CMT (Crowd Management Team) members were asking the crowd/picketers to move back, stop blocking the roadway and the entrance to the shipping/freight business,” Sgt. Kusmiss wrote in a press release. “The crowd was asked to get back and many warnings were given. Each time a member of a skirmish line moves forward as a group, they are trained to say, “Move!, Step Back. Move.!” Force was used. A woman (who shared that she was pregnant) was at the front of the crowd and was pushed back on the shoulder a couple times by a CMT member. The crowd began to surge and the woman said she was struck in the stomach by an officer.”
Workers from Berkeley’s Pacific Steel go on strike
About 470 workers at the Pacific Steel Casting plant went on strike around midnight Monday to protest what they characterized as unfair take-backs by the foundry’s management.
After talks broke down between the owners of Pacific Steel and representatives from Local 164B of the Glass, Molders, and Pottery Union, scores of workers set up pickets in front of the company’s plants on Second Street near Gilman and at a warehouse on Fifth Street.
“We are on strike as of today,” said Carlos Costa, the local rep for the GMP union. “The company gave us a proposition and it was a really bad proposition. The vote was 99 to 1 to reject the proposition and 99 to 1 to go on strike.” … Continue reading »
The Berkeley Wire: 11.3.09
Berkeley’s Corso Restaurant named a Top 10 East Bay foodie haunt [Diablo Magazine]
The audacity! And how did they lift them? The Elmwood’s traditional giant pumpkins are stolen [Daily Californian]
Berkeley’s Kermit Lynch on why he’s like Paris’ Gare de Lyon [The Oregonian]
Scott Rosenberg to speak about blogging, journalism and his new baby, MediaBugs [Wordyard]
West Berkeley residents living near steel plant to be tested for pollutants [Daily Californian]
[Photo of Halloween dragon on Russell Street: Tracey Taylor]
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