Correction: This article was updated to correct the USW local number. SweetwaterNOW apologizes for the error.

GREEN RIVER – The United Steelworkers Local 13214 showed their solidarity with workers at Genesis Alkali early Friday morning.

The union and the company are involved in contract negotiations, with June 30 as the deadline to reach an agreement. As many as 70 union workers stood at the intersection of Westvaco Road and County Road 3 leading to the Genesis Alkali facility, holding signs supporting the union and promising a strike should an agreement not be reached. 

According to Bill Madura, past vice president of the union and is both the chairman of the safety committee and serves as a member on the bargaining committee, said the union is working to ensure hourly workers get a fair compensation for their work, as well as ensure high safety standards are met so miners can do their jobs without being concerned about getting injured.

“That’s the biggest goal – maintaining the standard of safety and the standard of living,” he said.

Both Madura and Will Wilkinson, the staff representative for the union, said the workers have a vested interest in making sure the company is successful, but say the company does not have a good safety relationship with its employees, with Wilkinson saying the company hasn’t been receptive to safety requests spelled out in the contract. 

Madura said workers deserve to go through their careers being healthy and not worn down by the time they retire, as well as deserve safety considerations that allow miners to work and not get injured on the job. 

A second gathering to show unity amongst workers will take place at 3 p.m. today, with union members and their families expected to have a larger gathering than what took place this morning.