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Vol.64/No.12      March 27, 2000 
 
 
Steelworkers in Ohio build rally for March 25  
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BY HENRY HILLENBRAND  
MANSFIELD, Ohio--Steelworkers locked out at the AK Steel rolling mill here have been aggressively reaching out to fellow unionists throughout Ohio and adjoining states to maximize attendance at their March 25 solidarity rally. They are building the action to involve other fighters engaged in struggles with the employers.

Armed with a 10-minute video, information sheets, buttons, and bumper stickers, a number of rank-and-file workers have spoken before numerous union locals and labor bodies, distributing the video and other materials as they go.

Some 620 members of the United Steelworkers of America (UWSA) are standing up the company's concession demands.

A team of locked-out workers who are women participated in the first USWA women's conference in early February, where they widely publicized the rally and met others on strike or locked out.

The Steelworkers explain that the company's demand for forced "doubles"--two eight-hour shifts back-to-back--is one of the issues in dispute.

They point to how the union offered to extend the old contract beyond the August 1999 expiration date, but the bosses instead erected a fence and brought in a couple hundred private security company "goon guards" to lock out the steelworkers. Other issues include the company's violations of seniority rights, replacement of 16 percent of union jobs with nonunion contractors, and pensions below industry standards.

Steelworkers say they expect workers on strike against Titian Tire in Natchez, Mississippi, and Des Moines, Iowa, to participate in the March 25 action. They have sought out opportunities to talk to other workers, such as at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, to support Teamsters fighting for a union at the Overnite trucking company. Activists and their spouses have handed out informational flyers at a series of auto shows in the region.

The Mansfield mill makes a specialty steel for automobile exhaust systems. There are reports that at least a dozen union buses are coming in from surrounding states. An over-the-road truck driver in Cleveland told this reporter that the highways he uses in the Mansfield area have long rows of lawn signs supporting the locked out workers.

For information about the March 25 rally, contact USWA Local 169 at 376 West Longview Avenue, Mansfield, Ohio 44903. Or call: (419) 522-9375.

Henry Hillenbrand is a member of USWA Local 185 in Cleveland.  
 
 
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