Service & Solidarity Spotlight: Ashland Specialty Chemicals Workers Ratify New Contract; Secure Raises, Other Benefits

Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

The Texas City Metal Trades Council reached a new agreement with Ashland Specialty Chemicals, ending a 42-day unfair labor practice (ULP) strike.

“Our Texas City Metal Trades Council members showed up for each other, every single day,” said Lewis Crawford, Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 564 business agent and lead negotiator for the Texas City Metal Trades Council, AFL-CIO. “A strike is never easy. It asks everything of our members and their families, and this one asked more than most. We didn’t win every fight at that table—but we won something no contract can put a price on: trust, unity, and a brotherhood forged on that picket line. We’re not just going back to work. We’re going back stronger, together, than the local that walked out 42 days ago.”

The new contract includes: a 9.25% wage increase over three years, 80 hours of paid incidental sick leave, 25 weeks of short-term disability leave, limited incidental craft work, increased vacation days, restored packager bidding rights and restored seniority for bidding on new positions.

“We’re proud of the union members who put it all on the line to guarantee safety for themselves and their community,” said Texas AFL-CIO President Leonard Aguilar. “The labor movement joined together to support the Texas City Metal Trades Council. Their new contract sends a powerful message to working people across Texas: when workers stand united, they win and build a stronger future for themselves and their families.”