A feud among organized labor leaders at the Sparrows Point steel mill has led to a federal lawsuit and pitted employees against one another, adding to an already tense atmosphere at the plant, which faces potential layoffs by its Russian owner.
The Department of Labor has intervened with a lawsuit against the United Steelworkers Local 9477 union, which represents 2,500 workers at Sparrows Point. The union has been fragmented by different groups vying for leadership positions, and federal officials are seeking to void last year's election of high-ranking officers and to order a new vote supervised by the department. The lawsuit is awaiting a hearing in U.S. District Court in Maryland.
The lawsuit stems from complaints by the losing ticket in the election, the United Steelworkers for Action, that the incumbent party used dirty tactics to win the election. The allegations range from uncounted votes to misuse of company property for campaigns. The current leaders from the Red, White and Blue ticket vehemently deny the charges and have no plans of stepping down as the case moves through court.
The case comes amid shaky times for the Baltimore County steel mill and its workers. Severstal, the mill's Russian parent company, is almost certain to downsize as it tries to revive its underperforming North American properties, union leaders have said. The company laid out a draft proposal last year to cut as much as a third of the workforce, though those numbers could change as the economy begins to rebound. A number of employees have been laid off in recent months, but the company has declined to say how many.
Adding to the uncertainty, United Steelworkers International has spent more than a year negotiating without success a new contract for Sparrows Point workers that will address any cuts to jobs, salaries or health care benefits. With no agreement in sight, they have been working under an old contract extended month to month.
John Cirri, local union president since 2000, said it is the wrong time for divisiveness among employees.
"Right now, we're in the middle of still trying to secure a contract; we're in the middle of some major restructuring," Cirri said. "The company wants to permanently reduce our workforce by hundreds. With all this going on, it doesn't need to become so political. It weakens our hand against the company. It hurts your negotiating ability and divides your membership at a time when we need to be together."
The lawsuit calls for new elections for several positions including president, vice president, financial secretary, treasurer, trustee positions and members of the grievance committee. Employees vote for officer positions such as president, vice president and treasurer, and the plant is divided into zones so that members from each zone are elected to serve on a grievance committee.
A Labor Department spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the court records because the case is pending.
Sparrows Point spokeswoman Bette Kovach also wouldn't comment on the lawsuit, referring questions to the union.
Severstal owns five U.S. plants that have lost significant business in the recession, fueling speculation the plants might be closed or sold. The company has denied plans to sell its U.S. assets.
One labor expert said the turmoil and uncertainty at the Sparrows Point plant might make workers more willing to raise complaints.
"I think the mood down there is very unsettled," said Bill Barry, the head of the labor studies department at the Community College of Baltimore County. "This often reflects itself in election challenges."
Employees upset with the election results said Cirri and his party have used their positions to give themselves an advantage. Union officials work from a satellite office on company property, which might give them access to more resources, they said. The union leadership also has influence over union office jobs that can be used as bargaining chips, workers said.
"We just want to make sure we are all playing on the same field," said Chris Paul, an operating technician who works with heavy equipment at the plant. He ran for a position on the grievance committee and lost as an independent candidate with no party affiliation.
Most of the Labor Department allegations stem from one voter, James Matthew Sr., according to court records. Matthew was given the wrong voting card and put on a list of ineligible voters so that his vote didn't register, according to the lawsuit. One of the candidates in the zone where Matthew votes lost by one vote.
The incumbent ticket also is being accused of using Sparrows Point fax machines, copiers and the e-mail system to distribute campaign literature, which would be against company policy and a violation of federal law. The lawsuit alleges that because of this, the ticket was given an unfair advantage that could have affected the results.
"They used every company computer and fax," Paul said. "Whatever they had, they had carte blanche."
Cirri said there is evidence other candidates used company equipment to create campaign material as well, and he complained that the lawsuit is unfair.
He contends the law is inherently unfair because it only dictates that federal officials prove violations could have "possibly" affected the election outcome and not that they actually made a difference in the results. And he contends that federal officials unfairly singled out the seats his party won for new elections and didn't investigate the entire election, instead focusing only on complaints it received."If it comes down to whether there has to be a new election, it should be a whole new election for all positions and not just for members of my party," Cirri said.
The international is challenging the lawsuit in court using union funds - another point of contention with the United Steelworkers for Action who don't want their dues used. But Cirri said the challenge won't be funded with local union money.
At least two Sparrows Point employees, Joseph McDermott and Jim Blankenship, whose complaints are cited in the federal lawsuit, protested the election results last May, about a month after the election. The membership opted in voice vote not to protest, proof in Cirri's eyes that the issue should have been dropped.
McDermott said he believes even that vote was stacked in favor of Cirri's ticket.
"When you are the governing party, usually all of your people are there," said McDermott. "And when you're the other party, when you're not part of the regime, unless you can bring a large number of people, you're not going to win. They discredited my protest with those empowered to control the people on the floor."
Blankenship and McDermott, as required by law, appealed the decision made by voice vote to the International Steelworkers Union and then with the Labor Department when the union didn't respond within the one-month time period required by law. DOL said it oversees about 35 re-elections nationally in a given year for various reasons.
McDermott and others accuse Cirri's party of other election violations. For instance, they said a van was used to ferry employees who were friends of the incumbent ticket to vote at the election hall at union headquarters in Dundalk. The pickups were done during the workday on company time.
Cirri said "there was no violation found," regarding the van and that people can pick people up from home to vote. When asked by a reporter if people were picked up from work he said, "There was no directive by me to do so." He also said there were many allegations made that DOL was not able to prove and that "politics" has tainted the issue.
Those challenging the election say they hope the federal lawsuit will bring fairness back to the process. "The local union down here got cheated out of a fair election," said Bob Burns, an electrician at Sparrows Point.
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