Updated: David McCall succeeds late Conway as USW International president

PITTSBURGH—“A rising tide floats all boats.”

Incoming United Steelworkers International President David McCall said the quote from President John F. Kennedy aptly describes the late Tom Conway, McCall’s predecessor and eighth president of United Steelworkers International.

Conway died Sept. 25 at 71. 

McCall, former USW International vice president of administration, was appointed by the executive board to the post Sept. 26. He will complete the remainder of Conway’s term, set to expire in 2025.

McCall said his close friend of 45 years had “a quick wit and a strategic mind.”

“Tom understood that what helps the worker helps the entire community, whether they are union or not,” McCall told Rubber News Sept. 28. “That goes for the employment sector, retirement sector and the economy.”

Known as a fierce worker’s advocate from the community level to the halls of Congress, McCall said Conway leaves a legacy of strength.
“We are all mourning a great loss,” McCall said. “But even in our sadness, our union is strong, thanks in large part to Tom’s leadership and vision. Now, we’ll move forward the only way we can: together.

“Together, we’ll honor Tom’s legacy, as together we fight for justice and fairness for working families.”

McCall and Conway have remarkably similar pedigrees. 

Both served as USW International vice presidents of administration, the role that McCall held since 2019.

The two joined Local 6787 in the 1980s with Bethlehem Steel, along the shores of Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana, where they cut their teeth on union advocacy at the sprawling Burns Harbor integrated steel facility. 

Both served as grievance chairmen and millwrights while they were there. 

In particular, McCall established unemployment support committees and the Local 6787 food bank.

And both he and Conway made their reputations as tireless worker representatives.

“Our union is changing,” McCall said. “We’re organizing new members in new industries in both the U.S. and Canada, even as we bargain cutting-edge agreements for members in our traditional sectors. 

“I am humbled to lead our union as we continue to fight for a better future for all working people.”

From his earliest time making steel to his steady hand leading unions through the darkest days of the pandemic, Conway followed two simple guiding principles: the dignity of work and the power of working people, McCall said.

“Tom was never afraid of a fight, and thanks to his ingenuity and determination, generations of workers can enjoy better jobs and brighter futures,” McCall said.
Conway joined the international staff of the USW in 1987 and was appointed as vice president of USW International in 2005.

His adept negotiating skills, especially as they concerned contracts in the rubber, steel, aluminum, oil and other major industries, elevated him within the USW. 
He relished going “toe-to-toe” with big companies and billionaire owners, McCall said.

One of Conway’s more recent victories came in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, as a case filed against Goodyear in April of this year by an independent union—alleging a denial of labor rights at the central Mexico passenger tire production facility—was resolved.

The July 19 ruling came down in favor of the independent union, with several specified mandates for Goodyear moving forward in the matter.

“As the union representing Goodyear workers in the United States, the USW supported the Mexican workers’ fight to win democratic representation over the past five years,” Conway told Rubber News earlier this summer.

“All workers deserve to choose their union in a free and fair election. The USW thanks all the members of Congress who fought for strong labor rights enforcement in the USMCA and who supported the Goodyear workers and all Mexican workers who are fighting for democratic representation.”

In August 2022, labor contract agreements covering nearly 12,000 workers across three major tire manufacturers in the U.S. were ratified by the United Steelworkers, due in large part to Conway’s relentless CBA negotiating.

Collective bargaining pacts with Michelin/BFGoodrich (about 1,800 workers) and Bridgestone Americas (about 4,000 workers) were ratified Aug. 19, 2022, while a new CBA was ratified by union workers with Goodyear (about 6,000 workers) Aug. 24, 2022.

Conway’s legacy at USW International includes initiatives to organize more workers into the labor movement, extending the benefits of union representation to employees in a variety of fields, from manufacturing to higher education.

His influence and leadership, USW members say, gained some of the movement’s most significant organizing victories.

“Tom was an extraordinary leader, possessing the ideal combination of vision, commonsense, good nature and resolve,” Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said in a statement. “He always had the backs of his brothers and sisters at the USW and understood firsthand the struggles of America’s working people. 

“His values and ideas—putting workers first, scrapping flawed free trade deals, boosting manufacturing, investing in our nation—are now front and center in American politics. And it isn’t an accident.”

Conway relentlessly advocated for fair trade, demanding that the government enforce laws to prevent importation of illegally subsidized and dumped products that damage domestic industries and destroy good-paying jobs.

In March of this year, his advocacy was rewarded as he was named to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, a key White House trade board.
“We will all miss Tom’s passion, his integrity, his gift for strategy and not least of all, his sense of humor,” McCall said. “His time as USW president was too short, but it’s clear he will leave an indelible impact on our union and beyond.”

McCall himself has bargained contracts with some of the union’s largest employers in steel, aluminum, rubber and other industries.

Today he chairs USW master contract negotiations with Cleveland-Cliffs, ATI, Goodyear and several other industry-wide bargaining committees.

Before his election as vice president of administration, he served for more than two decades as director of USW District 1 (Ohio), a job in which he represented 70,000 USW members and retirees throughout the state.

Between 1998 and about 2002, a crisis in the American steel industry caused at least 50 companies to declare bankruptcy. Many mergers and buyouts also occurred at this time as the industry constricted.

According to the USW, McCall was instrumental in fighting to restore benefits to “tens of thousands of retirees who lost their insurance in federal bankruptcy court through innovative Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association trusts.” 

In addition, McCall’s recent leadership during the global economic recession helped enable the USW to preserve thousands of jobs “with a focus on long-term viability and sustainability,” according to McCall’s bio on the USW website.

McCall is a graduate of the Labor Studies Program at Indiana University-Northwest (1973); and the Harvard University Trade Union Program in Cambridge, Mass. (1990).

The USW represents 850,000 workers in North America, employed in the metals, mining, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, the service, public and health care sectors, and higher education.