Steelworkers Negotiate Deal to Create Hundreds of Green Jobs

TRENTON, NS, March 5 /CNW/ - The United Steelworkers union has reached an agreement with a South Korean firm that will create hundreds of new, green energy jobs in Nova Scotia, USW District 6 Director Wayne Fraser announced today.

The agreement with South Korean shipbuilding giant DSME (Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Ltd.) and the Nova Scotia government will see wind turbine components built at the former TrentonWorks railcar operation in Pictou County.

"This agreement will provide hundreds of new unionized jobs, bringing new technologies and economic development to the area," said Fraser, who this week accepted the oath of office as the re-elected Director of USW District 6, which covers Ontario and the Atlantic provinces.

"Wayne Fraser and the United Steelworkers leadership understand the significance of this project to this area and what hundreds of new jobs will mean to local economic development and to the province of Nova Scotia," said Lawrence McKay, USW Area Co-ordinator for the Atlantic provinces. McKay assisted Fraser during the negotiation process with DSME.

Fraser and McKay travelled to Korea in late February to wrap up the negotiations with DSME.

"These new jobs, in the new field of alternative resource energy, represent just one of our union's proactive approaches to the economic downturn," said Fraser.

"With the assistance of the union and the company's commitment to the people of Nova Scotia, new opportunities are now available."

The new project was announced today during a signing ceremony in Trenton, N.S.

The former TrentonWorks railcar plant was closed by Oregon-based Greenbrier Inc. in April 2007.

For further information: Wayne Fraser, USW District 6 Director, [phone], [phone]