Lourenco Goncalves

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. workers stand to gain a bonus of either $1,500 or $3,000 for having their COVID-19 shots, depending on the mill's total vaccination rate.

Company CEO Lourenco Goncalves said each employee who presented their vaccination card by Aug. 21 will receive $1,500.

If the plant reaches a 75% vaccination rate, employees will get $3,000.

In an email to workers, Goncalves called the bonus “the most generous vaccine incentive program in the world.”

A recent article in the Northwest Indiana Times stated about 60% of Cliffs' approximately 25,000 employees have gotten vaccinated.

The article said 19 of the company's 46 workplaces had reached the 75% threshold and qualified for the $3,000 bonus.

“I am a guy who believes the American person is intelligent,” Goncalves said in the article. “I also believe a lot in peer pressure. If we're in an environment where the collective stupidity is not getting vaccinated, even someone that's vaccinated will not confess. But then, I put out $1,500. I want those folks to go ahead and show their vaccination card.”

Goncalves said reaching a 70% to 75% vaccination rate would mean a safe working environment for everyone.

“The ones I'm concerned about are the kids at home or the pregnant wives, or the person that's going through chemo,” he told the Times.

Jim Panei, president of United Auto Workers local 3303, which represents employees at the Butler works, applauded Goncalves for offering the bonus.“It's something he believes in,” said Panei, who has registered his vaccination card with the Cleveland-Cliffs human resources department. “I think a lot of it has to do with what happened to the company last year.”Panei was referring to the issues faced by Cliffs during the pandemic before the vaccine was available.He said every Cleveland-Cliffs plant except the Butler Works either totally shut down for two to four weeks or had units shut down because of cases of COVID-19 or workers in quarantine because of exposure to a case.“We just soldiered on, wearing our masks and sanitizing,” Panei said of the Butler Township plant. “We were the ones that kept them afloat.”He said Goncalves approved 10 paid days of COVID-19 pay early in the pandemic for workers who tested positive or had to quarantine.“Which he didn't have to do,” Panei said. “I have a lot of respect for him for that part of it.”

He said the company provided personal protection equipment to workers such as masks and sanitizer as soon as it became available.Workers wore their masks and followed all possible guidelines at the Butler plant, although many jobs preclude workers from social distancing protocols.“They masked up, even in the heat,” Panei said. “I give them a lot of credit for working through it and never slowing down.”Panei did not know what percentage of workers at the Butler plant have been vaccinated, but he said a healthy number have strong beliefs against it.He said many workers fear the long-term affects of the vaccine and were leery of its emergency-use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration.

Panei has heard some workers say they'll get the vaccine in light of the bonus, while others are saying they might as well get it now in anticipation of it being mandated for Cleveland-Cliffs employees.“I don't think he could mandate it,” Panei said. “I believe it's a negotiated item, since we're unionized.”He expects another tough year in which even vaccinated workers will continue to deal with COVID-19.“I wish it was over and we could move on,” Panei said.He said the bonus payments are expected to begin within a month.