Roy Williford

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  KFDM.COM - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 2/6/2002    Last Visited: 2/9/2002  

  Union member Roy Williford said Wednesday that the workers have not had a pay raise since 1995.
  
  He says they are also concerned about a company proposal that would eliminate seniority when it comes to any layoffs.
  
  The steel workers will meet at 7:30am at the Pace Union Hall on 11th Street in Beaumont.
  
  Meanwhile, union workers for one of the largest employers in Beaumont have a new contract.
  
  Members of the Pace union who work at ExxonMobil have voted unanimously in favor of a new contract.

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  NEPA News - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/29/2005    Last Visited: 6/30/2005  

  Roy Williford, a welder for 28 years, said he and his colleagues were anxious too when Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau bought the North Star Steel plant in Beaumont, Texas, last November.
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  Williford, 52, vice president of United Steelworkers Local 8586, said the lockout is exactly what workers feared when globalization hit home.
  
  "We understand that this is a global company and it's not all American anymore," he said.

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  The Beaumont Enterprise - Business &Technology -... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/23/2005    Last Visited: 6/24/2005  

  But full coverage, supplied by Gerdau Ameristeel, is being worked out, said Roy Williford, vice president of the local.
  
  Workers with existing health problems will enroll in a plan available to employees when their insurance expires, Williford said.
  
  The premium is costly, and the union is helping workers cover the cost, he said in a telephone interview.

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  The Beaumont Enterprise - Business &Technology -... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/13/2005    Last Visited: 7/14/2005  

  "I would describe the negotiations as very tense," said Roy Williford, vice president of Local No. 8586 of the United Steel Workers union, who is a part of the union's negotiating team.
  
  "Their attitude is we gave our last, best and final offer, and unless you accept it, it's going to stay down," Williford said in a telephone interview.
  
  He referred to the company's lockout of 270 union workers that began in late May.
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  "Totally false," Williford said."We wanted to have this settled last March.We have no intention of coordinated bargaining.We're not trying to whipsaw anybody."
  
  Williford said Gerdau's negotiators won't discuss certain items such as overtime and pay issues because their attitude is that they have already talked about it.
  
  "We're not going to get a contract if we can't discuss issues," Williford said.

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  The Beaumont Enterprise - Business &Technology -... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/24/2005    Last Visited: 7/25/2005  

  The local also is arranging to pay $150 toward utility bills for each member, said Roy Williford, the local's vice president.
  
  Williford said the local will begin to assess individual situations starting this week.
  
  "We want to help people who might be losing a house or a car," he said.
  
  "We have a committee of members set to do that.The committee will call banks and credit unions to see if they can delay some bills or just pay the interest on them."
  
  To help boost employee morale and to convey a sense of togetherness during the lockout, the union members were to have a picnic Saturday in Claiborne Park in Orange County, Williford said.
  
  The impact of the lockout is not confined to Gerdau or to the union members -- and by extension the salaried employees at the mill.
  
  Williford estimated there are more than 250 union members who each earn a base salary of about $45,000 without overtime, which adds to the paychecks.
  
  It's not unrealistic to compute a $12 million annual payroll to the steel mill, which was owned by Cargill Inc. until last November.Cargill sold its steel interests to Toronto-based Gerdau, which is 70-percent owned by Gerdau S.A., a Brazilian company.
  
  That means in the two months since the lockout, $2 million has gone missing from businesses in the region.
  
  "Everybody is getting close to it," Williford said, referring to a danger point in individual finances.
  
  Williford said more than 90 percent of the workforce at the mill has more than 25 years of service there.
  
  He said a layoff in 1998 fell mostly on those with less than 25 years of service.
  
  "We're hoping to get this resolved before too long," said Williford, who has been in the contract negotiations with Gerdau since the start in January.

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  The Beaumont Enterprise - Business &Technology -... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/20/2005    Last Visited: 10/21/2005  

  Union vice president Roy Williford said Wednesday negotiations between the bargaining unit and the steel mill owner have continued at the Houston office of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service since Hurricane Rita struck Southeast Texas.
  
  Gerdau, which acquired the former North Star Steel mill in Rose City almost a year ago, locked out the 260 members of Local No. 8586 in late May, preferring to shutter operations instead of continuing to bargain while members worked.
  
  Negotiations had begun in January.
  
  Williford said a dispute in the negotiations arose over compensation for about a third of the members who are in some of the lower job classifications.Another point of contention is retiree health benefits, Williford said.

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  The Beaumont Enterprise - Business &Technology -... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/25/2005    Last Visited: 10/25/2005  

  Roy Williford, Local No. 8586's vice president, said he hopes Gerdau will reopen the mill, though he said he has seen little indication of it.
  
  "Every time we get close (on a contract), they bring up something else.They've done that three or four times," he said.
  
  He said the most recent bargaining session, at the Houston office of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, ended with promises that insurance representatives from both sides would compare notes on retiree health benefits.

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  The Beaumont Enterprise - Business &Technology -... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 11/3/2005    Last Visited: 11/4/2005  

  Local No. 8586's vice president, Roy Williford, said the steelworkers refused to give in on raising out-of-pocket insurance costs for retirees to what he called a "composite" of $600 per month in some cases.
  
  Williford also said the company still intended to cut vacations and overtime pay provisions.
  
  The union had agreed to accept a four-year contract instead of a two-year pact, and had moved closer to accepting lower wages for newer hires at the plant, which Williford called an accommodation on the union's part.
  
  "They want everything their way," he said of the company.

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  The Beaumont Enterprise - Business &Technology -... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 11/18/2005    Last Visited: 11/20/2005  

  Roy Williford, vice president of Local No. 8586 of the Steelworkers union, said he did not know what was on Monday's agenda with Gerdau in Houston.
  
  "Apparently, this meeting was called by the company.When we left the last meeting, they said they weren't going to move anymore," Williford said.
  
  Williford said he will have a conference call with other steelworkers in contract talks with Gerdau in Iowa and Minnesota for updates on their situations.
  
  Beaumont negotiators have agreed to a four-year pact after giving up its preference for a two-year contract.

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  The Beaumont Enterprise - Business &Technology -... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/13/2005    Last Visited: 12/13/2005  

  Roy Williford, vice president of Local No. 8586, said he would have gone back to work Monday but had to wait on results of the physical examination Gerdau is requiring.
  
  "I'd already quit my other job and was ready to go back to work," Williford said, who was working at Air Comfort Inc.

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