(TONAWANDA, NEW YORK) – A 33-day Strike has come to an end at the Unifrax Manufacturing Plant in Tonawanda after its nearly 200 United Steelworkers (USW)-represented Workforce quickly ratified a new three-year agreement that provides a wage increase - and, the hiring of 30 new and additional Union-represented positions, which could rise to as many as 50, according to a USW Representative who spoke with WNYLaborToday.com.

The contract passed by a 2-to-1 margin on Friday (June 18th), said USW Staff Representative Valerie Thomas: “I’m ‘really proud’ of this group.  They went out on Strike ‘and did a phenomenal job.’  It was a ‘dangerous’ picket line (located near the entrance to the plant), ‘but they showed up - every day.’  ‘They should be proud of themselves.’  ‘And they showed they were not all talk.’  (The Workers) ‘reacted when they were put in a corner’ (by the company).”

The Unifrax Workers, represented by USW Local 4-2058, began returning to their jobs on Sunday (June 20th).

The three-year deal, which runs through February 2024, calls for wage increases of 2.5% in the first year and 2.8% in each of the remaining two years.

But USW Rep Thomas said the contract was unique in the fact that the company agreed to create 30 more jobs that will be Union-represented inside the plant that is located just outside Buffalo where specialty fiber and advanced materials are produced for use by the auto industry.

And, that figure could rise to as many as 50, she added, as word came back to the Union from Unifrax management when they surveyed the production floor landscape after the Strike ended.

Those new positions would be considered entry level - and their salaries would start as high as $19-an-hour, Thomas said.

“They are hiring (now),” she added.

The newly-ratified contract came a week after the 197 USW Members turned down a previous deal by a slim four-vote margin. 

“But ‘we kept trying,’” Thomas said.  “I know our Members ‘wanted to get back to work, but they wanted some health care benefit issues and the hiring process addressed first,’ and (the USW still) ‘had not yet gotten’ a decision on a ULP (Unfair Labor Practice) Charge (involving bad faith bargaining that was filed with the National Labor Relations Board against Unifrax).”

After the negotiating dust settled, there were some agreed-to changes made to the health care and retirement plans, Thomas said.  Unifrax agreed to cover the entire cost of deductibles for the existing workforce, but not for new hires and the USW Members are also being given the choice of either keeping their existing pensions with a $2 hourly investment or foregoing that and opting for a 3% match in a 401k Plan. 

Unifrax’s USW-represented Workforce were deemed essential throughout the Coronavirus Pandemic.  During COVID, USW Local 4-2058 Reps told WNYLaborToday.com that at least a dozen of their Members tested positive for the Coronavirus, with “some becoming pretty ill,” and another two hospitalized.  Thankfully, no one died from the virus.