Energy Workers Union to Merge with Steelworkers
Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:13 AM ET
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The United Steelworkers of America and the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE) said they will ask their members to approve a merger of the two organizations, which would form the largest industrial labor union in North America.
The merger, if approved at votes scheduled for April, would create a single union with a membership of 850,000 workers and an annual income of $623 million representing most U.S. steelworkers, paper mill employees and refinery workers, the unions said in a statement issued Tuesday.
The Steelworkers union is the larger of the two organizations, representing 575,000 workers. It had an income of $561 million in 2003.
The first step toward a merger was taken 10 months ago, when the two unions agreed to work together on safety issues and political campaigns. Preliminary talks on a merger began in November.
PACE represents 275,000 workers and had income of $62 million in 2003. The union represents 30,000 oil refinery workers, the most of any U.S. labor organization.
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