(TONAWANDA, NEW YORK) – 340 United Steelworkers (USW)-represented DuPont Workers employed at the company’s Tonawanda/Yerkes Plant in Western New York will take part in a ratification vote on September 22nd after the Union informed WNYLaborToday.com today (Thursday, September 14th) that a new four-year tentative contract agreement has been reached with management.

The deal comes just weeks after 20 pages of disparaging, Anti-Union and racist drawings were discovered by USW Reps following a bargaining session – said to be the work of two DuPont Management Employees – which were subsequently distributed to the company’s Unionized Workers at the plant by the USW.  Several of the drawings also depicted Workers inside the Western New York plant as “lazy,” as well as what Union officials describe to Your On-Line Labor Newspaper as a “racist” drawing of a Native-American, which had upset several Native-Americans employed at the Tonawanda facility that is located just outside of Buffalo.

The USW Local 6992-represented Workers at DuPont’s Yerkes Plant manufacture Corian (which is used in the manufacturing of counter-tops) and Tedlar (which is used in the Airline Industry) Products – both of which are made with the use of toxic ingredients. 

In a nutshell, USW Local 6992 President Gary Guralny told WNYLaborToday.com the contract features: A 1.5% wage increase in each of the four-year deal; Both offered health and retirement benefits remain the same; Layoff protection was procured for the entire Unionized Unit at the plant; and the Union was able to bring back five previously outsourced jobs.

However, USW District 4 Sub-District Director Jim Briggs underscored to Your On-Line Labor Newspaper that the Union Security Agreement negotiated and included in the agreement “was especially important.”  Briggs said it was his “belief” that “it is the first time a Union Security Agreement has ever been negotiated in a contract with DuPont.”

“This agreement will ‘protect’ Union Jobs and ‘bring back’ jobs that were recently contracted out - which are ‘two major positives,’” Briggs said.  “The ‘end result’ is a deal that will ‘protect’ Workers’ rights.  We are ‘really happy’ about the Union Security Agreement for the long term.”

Local 6992 President Guralny – who said the Union’s Bargaining Committee is “recommending” Members ratify the new contract, added: “Overall, it’s a ‘pretty good deal given this day and age.’  While there are ‘modest’ wage increases, there ‘is more’ job security.”

The Unionized DuPont Employees had been working under an old agreement that had expired on June 16th.  Local 6992 had held several informational rallies outside the plant entrance over the course of time to call public attention to the lack of a new contract agreement.  

USW Officials had told WNYLaborToday.com the company brought in a Union-busting law firm, Jackson Lewis, to sit in on negotiations, which apparently took a turn for the better after word of the disparaging, Anti-Union and racist drawings by management came to light.

(For More Read WNYLaborToday.com’s August 8th Labor News Report, Headlined: USW ‘Livid’ With DuPont Negotiators In Tonawanda After Discovering What’s Described As “Disparaging, Anti-Union & Racist” Drawings By Management Officials At The Bargaining Table - http://www.wnylabortoday.com/news/2017/08/08/buffalo-and-western-new-york-labor-news/usw-livid-with-dupont-negotiators-in-tonawanda-after-discovering-what-s-described-as-disparaging-anti-union-racist-drawings-by-management-officials-at-the-bargaining-table/)

“Things ‘changed after that’ and we reached a deal Wednesday (September 13th) afternoon,” Guralny said.

“We’re ‘happy’ to have a contract with the company,” Briggs added.  “The ‘issue that got us there was unfortunate,’ but it turned into ‘leverage’ to move DuPont ‘in the right direction.’  This company is ‘doing well financially’ and they’ve been ‘moving money’ to management, which is ‘not the case they have to, but they want to.’  I want to ‘congratulate’ the USW Bargaining Committee, the Local Union and our International.”

On another note, Briggs also thanked the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation, which had reached out to a number of elected officials in regards to what was going on at DuPont, as well as question as to whether the company was making good on its promises when it came to it receiving low-cost hydroelectric power in exchange for a promise of job creation and retention.  Briggs also thanked the Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, its Member Unions and Representatives for involving themselves in the effort.

The USW and DuPont have had a history of rocky roads when it comes to contracts.  It initially took 15 years for the USW to negotiate its first Union Contract and more than one year to come to agreement on its previously-expired four-year contract that replaced a previously expired four-year pact.  The process was sped up by the Local 6992’s high-profile public campaign that exposed unsafe working conditions and toxic chemical exposure inside the plant. 

On another front, Guralny said 50 “Scab Workers” who were brought in by management during the contract negotiations were “no longer employed” at the company.