Workers Struggle -United States

Texas aluminum refinery workers hold rally to mark one year of lockout
Hundreds of locked-out workers at the Sherwin Alumina plant near Corpus Christi, Texas rallied October 18 to protest the year-long lockout over cuts in overtime, retiree health care benefits, increased premiums, a pay reduction and the slashing of pensions for new workers. Sherwin, owned by Swiss commodities Glencore, first locked out workers on October 10, 2014. The following day, replacement workers were brought in and they have remained throughout the lockout.

The United Steel Workers, who represent the 450 locked-out workers, isolated the strike and sought to build up illusions in an appeal to the National Labor Relations Board charging the lockout is illegal. But on October 5, the NLRB issued a ruling that Sherwin did not violate labor law and at no time were the two sides at an impasse.

Sherwin insists that it will only end the lockout when a new labor agreement is in place. There were negotiations leading up to the one-year anniversary of the lockout, but no talks are taking place at the moment.