BY DAVID SALNER
YORKVILLE, Ohio -We arrived at the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 1223 union hall early on a Saturday afternoon, February 22, and found it to be a beehive of activity and discussion. The unionists, who are on strike against Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp., circulated between the union hall and the two main picket shacks, which are all within a block and a half of each other on Public Road in downtown Yorkville.

One of the union officers introduced us to strikers by pointing to the support that had come from a gate collection among Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers (OCAW) union members at the plant where I work.

The Yorkville strikers had other visitors that day as well. Two members of USWA Local 1010 in Gary, Indiana, had just delivered $5,700 from a single gate collection. A busload of workers from Local 1010 had attempted to make the trip, but were turned back by bad weather. The contributions as well as the physical presence of these two workers added a positive note to the discussions about the strike - now five months old -here and at seven other Wheeling-Pitt mills in the region.

Strikers were also discussing company moves in response to the union strength they had displayed on the picket line February 4. The Yorkville union local mobilized 150 pickets at the main gate within 20 minutes to stop a rented truck from crossing the picket line with compressor parts to be rebuilt.

Joe Tost, the plant manager at the mill, was the driver of the rented truck. He failed in his mission to sneak the work across the picket line.

Tost further undermined the company's cause when he admitted that "no actual acts of violence" were committed by the Steelworkers, a statement picked up in the Martins Ferry Times Leader. Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla was also quoted in the newspaper, saying that "nothing I know about the situation would merit" the filing of charges.

Despite these statements, two weeks later on February 18 the company obtained an injunction that bars union pickets from interfering with "anyone who wishes to do business with Wheeling-Pitt." This matches the language the company has already won at its Steubenville, Ohio, plant. Previously the company's injunction at Yorkville barred the union only from "interfering" with company personnel.

Strikers speculated that Wheeling-Pitt's broadening of the injunction could indicate either preparation for bringing in scabs or a desire on the part of the company to speed up maintenance in preparation for settling the strike.

The company also moved to intimidate strikers by firing Frank Rico and John White, both of whom had been on the picket line during the February 4 rally. Rico and White are prominent strike activists who have spoken out publicly in support of the steelworkers' cause.

Rico pointed out to us that by Tost's own admission quoted in the press, there was no violence at the rally. "They don't have a leg to stand on," Rico said of the firings.

Strikers were also eager to protest a so-called poll of steelworkers that purportedly showed support for a vote on the latest company offer, which in fact represents no progress on the key issue of pension rights and other important questions. The poll was carried out by the Times Leader. Wheeling-Pitt has run daily ads and statements in the paper aimed at demoralizing strikers. The paper has also given prominent coverage to appeals from politicians and religious figures pushing the union to settle. As one striker, Ron Perperi, put it, "In my mind the poll is suspect because I don't know of a single steelworker they contacted."

David Salner is a member of OCAW Local 3-276 in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Maurice Peret contributed to this article.  
 
 
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