This rally debunked the claims by the Wheeling-Pitt bosses that little support exists - among strikers or in the mill towns and cities in the Ohio Valley region - for the central demand of the strike: to restore a guaranteed pension plan taken away following a 1985 bankruptcy ruling and subsequent 89-day strike.

Rocky Lewis, a pipe-fitter and welder at Wheeling-Pitt for seven years, pointed to the main banner behind the speakers platform that read: "The Company Will Give in the Day They're Convinced WE NEVER WILL!"

"What we're interested in is getting back to work. The pension is the main thing in the way, other things we can take up when we get back to work," Lewis, a member of USWA Local 1190, said. "The company claims we're not capable of sticking together, this is our answer: We're here today, aren't we?"

Unionists turn out from across region
The rally drew steelworkers from throughout the region. Several busloads came from Cleveland, organized by USWA District 1.

Butch Murto, a steelworker from WCI Steel in Warren, Ohio, said they brought two busloads of members from Local 1375, which won a guaranteed pension plan following a long strike in 1995. "We've taken up a bucket collection already, and donated $5,000 to the strike," he added with pride.

As unionists filed in the arena from the buses, others caravaned in cars, vans and pick-ups, quickly filling the gravel parking lot. A pick-up truck full of 100 frozen Christmas turkeys pulled up. The turkeys were donated by workers at the Whirlpool Appliance factory near Finley, Ohio. Those workers recently lost a union recognition election, according to volunteers unloading the truck.

Melissa Saunders, 25, explained why she came. "My dad worked all his life for this company [Wheeling-Pitt]. With all the concessions they had to make in the bankruptcy, it's only fair that he should be able to retire in comfort," she said.

Jack West, a water filtration worker for the city of Steubenville for 17 years, and a member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, explained the sentiment of many workers in the surrounding communities. "We're all from the same area, and in the last negotiations they [the city] tried to take everything we had," he said. "They don't want to give us anything, they don't want to be fair. It would hurt us too, if they [the steelworkers] would lose. The city would start cutting back right away."

"We need all the union support we can get. Solidarity, sticking together, this is the only way we're going to beat the companies and the U.S. government" said John White, a member of Wheeling-Pitt's Yorkville Local 1223. White explained that this rally is a big step forward. He's been active in reaching out for solidarity for the strike. He and his wife were able to speak to International Association of Machinists Local 1976 members at Pittsburgh International Airport and urge them to support the strike and attend the rally.

The union's chief negotiator, James Bowen, chaired the rally. He pointed to the outpouring of contributions from the area.

Members of USWA Local 5668 at Ravenswood Aluminum Corp. attended the rally. They've collected $7,000 at the plant for the strike. A member of the women's committee said her group raised $1,200. Local 5668 battled Ravenswood Aluminum through 27 months of a lock-out that began in November 1990.

Bowen also pointed to members of the Independent Steelworkers Union at nearby Wierton Steel who pitched in to support the strike. That union, which is not affiliated with the USWA, is in the midst of negotiations.

"Members of United Mine Workers of America District 6 have delivered thousands and thousands of dollars in donations, and helped collect Christmas gifts for the strikers' children," Bowen said. Several UMWA-organized mines are clustered around the mill towns along the Ohio Valley.

Speakers and guests on the platform included all eight Wheeling-Pitt local presidents, USWA international president George Becker, and district USWA officials. Also speaking were the Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia State AFL-CIO presidents. The featured speaker at the rally was Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, and former president of the UMWA.

Cutthroat competition in steel industry
Several speakers at the rally echoed the theme that the chief problem facing Wheeling-Pitt workers is that the bosses are calling the shots "out of their offices in New York City," referring to WHX Corp., the parent company of Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel. In a similar vein, others referred to the fact that WHX president Ron LaBow resides in New York City.

While the steel industry is operating near full capacity at an upturn in the business cycle, intense price competition between integrated steel producers is driving down the rate of return on their steel.

Wheeling-Pitt jumped into the breach, coming out of its 1985 bankruptcy with a significant cost advantage over its competitors. Today it enjoys a much lower cost of producing the steel because it doesn't have to pay into a guaranteed pension plan that offers retirement after 30 years on the job.

Two events that took place the week before the rally illustrate the intention of the Wheeling-Pitt bosses to take a long strike if necessary to hold back that type of pension plan, now in place at all other unionized integrated steel mills.

The Wheeling Intelligencer reported December l8 on abruptly ended talks held in Pittsburgh between the USWA chief negotiator and Daniel Keaton for Wheeling-Pitt management under the auspices of Joe Pinto, a federal mediator. The session ended in a little over an hour.

"There was a frank discussion of the issues, but regrettably, the USWA International did not move at all from the position they have held regarding pensions since early September," Keaton said in a press release.

"It's amazing to have a company saying they have a principle in not granting a DB [defined benefit pension plan]," USWA negotiator Bowen was quoted as saying in the article. "They told this union that if they acquired Teledyne they would give us a DB." Wheeling-Pitt failed in its attempt to acquire Teledyne Inc., following negotiations that began in April. "That clearly denotes that the principle is money," Bowen said.

On the same day the mediator came to Pittsburgh, the Wheeling News Register interviewed Joe Matello a Wheeling- Pitt worker with 33 years at the Mingo Junction mill. He circulated petitions signed by 1,100 Wheeling-Pitt workers calling for the international union to negotiate with the company. No negotiations had occurred since well before the October l strike deadline. "Call it [the pension plan] anything you want to as long as its guaranteed," Matello was quoted as saying in the December 17 interview.

The Charleston Gazette December 19 quoted from the vaguely worded petitions that call for "an improvement in our pension plan." Other parts of the wording echo the company media blitz that saturated the regional media for six weeks, falsely asserting that the union has been unwilling to negotiate.

Following the swift conclusion of the talks put together by the mediator, it is clear the company continues to refuse to discuss a guaranteed pension plan with the union.

When asked why the talks failed, Elizabeth Phillips, public relations director of the Federal Mediation Service in Washington, D.C., ducked the issue to protect the company. "Our mission statement is to promote sound and stable labor-management relations" and has no authority over negotiations. As for the mediator, Pinto, "He's a third-party neutral," she said.

Meanwhile, the West Virginia Department of Employment held hearings December 17 on whether to grant unemployment benefits for the 629 Wheeling-Pitt strikers who live in that state. A decision is expected in two weeks. Ohio workers were denied jobless benefits in November; they are appealing that ruling.

Tony Dutrow is a member of USWA Local 1557 in Pittsburgh. David Sandor, a USWA member, and Mary Zinns, a member of the Aluminum, Brick and Glassworkers union, from Morgantown, West Virginia, contributed to this article.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home