BY MARGRETHE SIEM
NEW YORK - Hundreds of steelworkers and their supporters rallied in front of the mid-town Manhattan offices of Merrill Lynch July 22 to support the 11-month-old strike by 4,500 workers at Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. Forty-five Wheeling-Pitt strikers greeted rally participants with a hand-shake and thank-you, and distributed red t-shirts and hats with the slogan "..strong as steel." The rally was called by the New York City AFL-CIO Central Labor Council. The strikers were visiting New York City after a similar event in Boston.

T-shirts and hats were prominent from the Teamsters, Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, United Steelworkers of America, and other unions. Steelworkers international vice president George Becker and AFL-CIO president John Sweeney were among the speakers who called on Merrill Lynch to end its backing for Wheeling- Pitt.

The USWA had a table with information on an August 15 solidarity caravan from New York City to the picket lines in Ohio.

Margrethe Siem is a member of United Transportation Union, Local 1360.  
 
 
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