USW Local 5000

04/11/2021

In the past couple of weeks, we have had encounters with COVID-19 aboard vessels that are crewed by our members. We know that there are a lot of questions about the vaccine, workplace requirements, and return-to-work protocols. USW Local 5000's safety team is discussing ways to prevent another outbreak from occurring, and ensuring that our member's rights are protected during the pandemic. Learn more about recent developments and our plan to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our latest article:

In the past couple of weeks, two Great Lakes freight vessels experienced an outbreak of COVID-19 that necessitated an extended stay in port in order to quarantine infected crew members. Cases of the virus have fluctuated up and down over the past several months, and at the time of this writing, case...

03/12/2021

We are now accepting nominations for all offices of the USW Local 5000 Executive Board. Local Union members can visit www.usw5000.org/elections to download your nomination form and find out more information.

We will post regular updates about the election on this website.

Nominations must be sent to our Warrensville office, and be received no later than March 31, 2021.

For complete details, visit www.usw5000.org/elections.

USW Local 5000 will conduct the election of a new Executive Board in accordance with our Local Union By-Laws in the Spring of 2021. This page serves to inform our members of the election process, and any relevant information about the 2021 Executive Board Election. We encourage you to monitor this p...

03/11/2021

Our web address has changed! You can now find us online at www.usw5000.org.

The change will cause minor issues with some parts of the mobile app. We are working to resolve these issues and should have them fixed in the next couple of weeks.

This is one step in a series of changes our local union is making in response to member feedback to help improve the accessibility of our local union leadership. In the next couple of weeks, we will be using a brand-new phone system to handle calls from members and the public and will be implementing a new email service at the same time.

These changes were approved at the Winter Conference and allow our union leaders to be more available to our members despite the disconnected nature of our industry, and offer significant cost savings compared to our existing setup.

Video of The Centennial Celebration of the Jones Act

03/10/2021

In the next few days (expecting to happen Thursday, but could vary), our web address will be changing to www.usw5000.org.

We are implementing this change in response to a vote of our members in order to have better accessibility to our members, as the current web address (uswlocals.org/local-union-5000) was found to be too cumbersome to remember.

This change will cause interruptions to some features on our mobile app, and we will work to resolve these issues as fast as possible.

Contact Us  ·  Privacy Policy  ·  Log In Portions of this website are paid for by the United Steelworkers Political Action Fund, with voluntary contributions from union members and their families, and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. USW Political Action Fund - 60 B...

03/09/2021

Our skilled men and women will soon be returning to work, operating a fleet of bulk-carriers upon the Great Lakes - moving materials from the mines to the mills (and other places, too). Read more about what the 2021 season has in store in our latest article.

We are now just days away from seeing the vessels crewed by our members returning to service across the Great Lakes. Last year we saw our industry start off very strong, only to be broadsided by the COVID-19 pandemic just weeks after the season began, and several vessels laid up early in the season....

03/02/2021

Wow...

American Steamship Co. lays off 95 workers

3/2 - Buffalo, NY – American Steamship Co. has laid off 95 workers, according to a notice filed with New York state.

The company, which was founded in 1907, operates a fleet of vessels used to ship products from port to port on the Great Lakes. In a state WARN, the company cited lingering impacts of the Covid-19 crisis, the downturn of the U.S. economy and transformational changes that have impacted its customer base and increased competition from lower-cost carriers.

American Steamship said it made the decision not to operate five vessels in the 2021 sailing season and to charter them to other carriers. The company said the sailing season starts on March 24 and a portion of the workers laid off may not be recalled.

Employees of the company are represented by the Seafarers International Union and American Maritime Officers.

A message left for comment from Kevin McMonagle, American Steamship’s president, was not immediately returned.

Buffalo Business First

03/01/2021

Last week we completed our winter conferences in Cleveland, Ohio; Alpena, Michigan; and Duluth, Minnesota. We appreciate hearing from those who were able to make it to the meetings despite some challenges with inclement weather.

If you were unable to make one of the meetings, you are always free to visit our website where we have our contact information listed and share your thoughts or concerns at any time.

www.uswlocals.org/local-union-5000

Contact Us  ·  Privacy Policy  ·  Log In Portions of this website are paid for by the United Steelworkers Political Action Fund, with voluntary contributions from union members and their families, and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. USW Political Action Fund - 60 B...

02/22/2021

Due to a lack of interest in the 6pm - 8pm meeting in Alpena, we will no longer be holding this session. If you are still thinking about attending the meetings in Alpena, we encourage you to join us in the morning from 10am - 12pm.

The meeting from 2pm - 4pm is still on schedule.

We apologize if this creates any inconvenience.

02/20/2021

Here are more photos from the recent fire training completed by our members from Interlake Steamship Company.

Photo Credits: Northwest Regional Fire Training Center

02/20/2021

Seven of our members from Interlake Steamship recently completed Combined Basic & Advanced Fire Fighting at Northwest Regional Fire Training Center in Traverse City, Michigan.

Seven members of USW Local 5000 from the Interlake Steamship Company recently completed Combined Basic & Advanced Fire Fighter training at the Northwest Regional Fire Training Center in Traverse City, Michigan. The week-long course included three days of classroom instruction and two days of hands-o...

02/20/2021

MEMBERS: This is a reminder that our 2021 Winter Conferences will be taking place next week in Cleveland, Alpena, and Duluth.

This spring is also an election year for Local Union President along with the remaining 7 Executive Board positions. If you are interested in running, learning about the election process, or want to meet those running for re-election, you are highly encouraged to attend!

In addition to the election information, we will provide a regular update about Local Union business, and Tiffany McKee of District 1 will be at the Cleveland Conference to tell us about USW NextGen and Rapid Response.

If you are interested, click the following link to get details on the time/location of each conference and to RSVP here:

We are excited to announce our 2021 Winter Conference lineup. This year, based on member feedback, we have changed our routine schedule in an effort to better reach more of our members. Instead of two conferences, we will be hosting three; we decided to forego meeting in Ga***rd, Michigan in favor o...