Building & Construction
May 26, 2026
USW to resume talks with Alcoa in June
Written by Stephanie Ritenbaugh
United Steelworkers representing Alcoa workers plan to resume negotiations with the Pittsburgh-based aluminum producer next week after rejecting a tentative agreement with the company.
“Alcoa is agreeable to go back to the bargaining table to try and resolve the concerns of our membership on the tentative agreement,” the union wrote in a Facebook post on May 13.
“We are looking at getting back together the first week of June,” it continued. “If we cannot resolve the issues, we will take our next steps. We have agreed to a 30-day extension to protect all terms of the agreements while we try to resolve the issues.”
Alcoa operates under a master agreement covering its US smelters in Massena, N.Y., and Warrick, Ind. That three-year agreement was ratified in May 2023.
The Massena facility has about 550 employees. About 360 of them are represented by USW Local 420-A. The facility produces aluminum sow, rod, and billet to supply the automotive, aerospace, military, construction, electronics, and packaging industries.
The Warrick, Ind., facility is represented by USW Local 104. Warrick’s three operating smelter potlines consist of 150 pots each that make up to 156,000 metric tons annually of pure aluminum.
The agreement also sets wage and benefit terms for certain USW-represented employees at Alcoa’s Lake Charles, La., calcining facility, while reserving other provisions for separate local negotiations.
On May 16, USW reached a tentative agreement with Arconic on a three-year master agreement covering workers at four facilities.
The next step: Each local union—in Alcoa, Tenn.; Davenport, Iowa; Lafayette, Ind.; and Massena, N.Y.—is expected to vote on Wednesday, May 27, to ratify the agreement, which has been recommended by the bargaining committee.
