BY MIKE FITZSIMMONS

CLEVELAND - The street in front of Alcoa Forged Products has been full of the noise of car and truck horns since members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 1050 rejected the company's last contract proposal and walked out. Some 1,100 UAW members make forged aluminum wheels and aircraft parts in the plant, located on Harvard Ave., a busy four-lane industrial street, across from an entrance to the sprawling LTV steel mill. The union put up pickets shortly after midnight September 5, after workers voted 509-323 to reject the contract.

Dozens of pickets blocked the gates during the first day of the strike, making it hard for the cars of managers and others to enter the plant. Several small groups of strikers gathered in front of the union hall across the plant discussing their experiences. They had just been informed that Alcoa had gone to court and secured a restraining order, limiting pickets to five per gate.

Don Slaughter, president of Local 1050, said the contract was rejected because it would last for five years. "We proposed a three-year contract." Last May, Alcoa said it had reached six- year agreements with the steelworkers and aluminum workers unions in some of its other facilities.

"We also proposed an increase in COLA," the provision for cost of living raises, Slaughter said. Every worker on the line pointed to the hours of work as a major issue, one that the company's contract proposal failed to address. Overtime for production workers is mandatory and some have been forced to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week for three years.

No new contract talks have been set.

Mike Fitzsimmons is a member of UAW Local 420 in Cleveland.  
 
 
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