First Global Union Being Created to Build Bargaining Power

USW Pres. Gerard Delivering Keynote to 3,500 leaders from U.S and Canada

PITTSBURGH, June 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United Steelworkers (USW) top international officers, executive board and 3,500 elected local union leaders from North America's steel, paper, rubber and tire, mining, oil and service sector workplaces will meet for an International Convention, Jun. 30-Jul. 3 at the Paris-Bally's Conference Center in Las Vegas to create the first global union and build trans-Atlantic bargaining power.

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Leo W. Gerard, USW international president, will deliver his keynote address: 'Seize the moment, this is our time,' at the 10:00 am (PDT) convention opening.

The formal signing of the agreement creating the first global union with Derek Simpson, general secretary of the UK-based international union Unite the Union (Amicus Section) will be on Wednesday, Jul. 2 at approximately 11:30 am, PDT (2:45 pm, EDT; 7:45 pm, BST in London). The signing and remarks by Gerard and Simpson, and a video roll-in by Tony Woodley, general secretary of Unite (T&GWU Section, the Transport and General Workers Union) will be transmitted via live webcast linked on union's website: www.usw.org/.

The name and structure of the new global union will be announced to USW convention delegates. The new union will have a combined total membership of more than three million active and retired workers from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Ireland. Further information concerning the new global union will be available after the agreement is signed on the websites of the USW (U.S.