At least half the participants came from Pueblo, Colorado, where 1,000 workers from United Steelworkers of America (USWA) locals 2102 and 3267 have been involved in a fight with Oregon Steel to get their jobs back for the past 33 months. Also present were miners from southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, many of whom have faced layoffs and mine closings in the last few years.

On the morning of April 20, 1914, Colorado National Guard troops opened fire on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow. The miners were striking against the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. The shooting continued through the day and evening. The tents the miners lived in were set afire. When the smoke cleared, 18 to 20 people were found dead, including two women and 11 children. Most had suffocated when the tents collapsed during the fire.

Today the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) maintains the Ludlow site as a monument to the struggle of organized labor in the United States. An archeological dig is now under way at the site to help get out the facts about the conditions working people in the area faced before, during, and after the Ludlow massacre.

Ernie Hernandez, president of USWA Local 2102, reminded the crowd that the struggle continues today in Pueblo. Several speakers spoke of the long-standing bonds of struggle between the USWA and UMWA.

International UMWA president Cecil Roberts called on working people to support the miners on strike at the McKinley mine outside Window Rock, Arizona, and the Kemmerer mine in western Wyoming. He said Chevron, the owner of both mines, is "not big enough to beat the UMWA."

A collection after the rally netted almost $500 for the striking miners of locals 1332 at McKinley and 1307 at Kemmerer. Workers gathered at tables to enjoy a barbecue and discuss common issues they face in their union battles. Much of the informal discussion centered on the labor battle in Pueblo.

Strikers and their relatives exchanged information about their solidarity-building trips, especially to the company's headquarters in Portland, Oregon, to promote the union's corporate campaign.

They pointed to the $5.5 million the company is losing on the scab-run plant, the inferior steel being produced, and the unsafe working conditions.

Since the dispute began, three workers have been killed on the job. There had not been a death in the plant for more than 20 years when it was unionized.

Strikers and other workers interviewed by the Militant were unanimous in their conviction that they will win.  
 
 
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