BY TONY DUTROW

PITTSBURGH - Some 4,500 determined steelworkers at eight mills in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania hit the picket lines at 12:01 a.m. October 1. Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel is the ninth largest integrated steel producer in the United States.

WHX Corporation, the parent company that owns the steelmaker, forced the strike when it refused to consider the union's proposal for a better pension plan. The current plan is inferior to that of all the other integrated steelmakers.

At the heart of the union's proposal is a "defined benefit plan" which guarantees a fixed retirement income based on each year worked. The current plan ties benefits to employer contributions, and profits from investments of those contributions.

The substandard retirement plan that WHX merely wants to "enhance" has been in effect since 1986. In 1985 the steel company declared bankruptcy and workers struck for 98 days.

According to the October 2 Pittsburgh Post Gazette, WHX is sitting on a nest egg of $406 million in cash and stocks that it will use to operate during the strike.

Members of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 1190 in Steubenville, Ohio, flocked to the union hall to sign up for picket duty as the strike began. Union members had recently organized a rally and picnic attended by over 2,000 workers and their families, September 22, which helped prepare for the strike.

At the Allenport mill near Charlerois, Pennsylvania, USWA Local 1187 members organized a protest in front of the plant to highlight their demands, they wore T-shirts that said, "No pension. No contract."

Supporters of the Socialist Workers campaign will be heading to the Wheeling- Pitt picket lines to support the striking unionists, and to sell the Militant and Pathfinder books. Anyone who would like to participate in a campaign team should call the campaign offices in Pittsburgh or Morgantown (see listings on page 12).

Tony Dutrow is a member of USWA Local 1557 in Pittsburgh.  
 
 
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