“This is truly a great moment in our union’s history,” said PACE President Boyd Young. “Our members have voted to secure the future for themselves and the next generation of workers.”

  “This merger rings in a new day for the labor movement in the U.S. and Canada ,” said Leo Gerard, president of the Steelworkers. “Our members’ hands will be greatly strengthened in bargaining with multinational employers, and politically we’ll have considerably more clout in combating the assault on workers’ rights that is threatening to undermine decades of social and economic progress in both countries—especially among the thousands of unrepresented workers we’re determined to organize in both countries.”

The new union will be called the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers Intl. Union or the USW for short.

The combined union will have over 850,000 active members in over 8,000 bargaining units in the United States , Canada and the Caribbean . It will be the largest industrial union in North America , and will be the dominant union in paper, forestry products, steel, aluminum, tire and rubber, mining, glass, chemicals, petroleum and other basic resource industries.

“By joining with the Steelworkers, we will have greater resources to organize in our key sectors, influence bargaining and create cooperative partnerships with companies that recognize the benefits of a productive labor-management relationship,” said Young. “This merger gives our members much more power in the workplace.”

USWA President Leo Gerard will be the president of the USW.  Young will be the executive vice president.

Under the merger agreement, PACE will continue to have an office in Nashville , Tenn. , for the next ten years.

Contact:

Lynne Baker, PACE associate director of communications, (cell) 615-828-6169

Gary Hubbard, USWA public affairs director, (cell) 202-256-8125