BY ARDY BLANDFORD
PUEBLO, Colorado - Some 1,100 members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) have been on strike against CF&I/Oregon Steel here since October 3. The strikers' main demands are an end to forced overtime; the right to have a say in work assignments; increased wages, health care, and benefits for retirees; job security; and improvements in the pension plan. During contract negotiations that led up to the strike, the company harassed workers for wearing union stickers, said it would close the plant for good if the union went out, and threatened to fire strikers. Two months into the walkout, workers on the picket line say morale is high, and the union hall is bustling with activity.

For many workers, members of USWA locals 2102 and 3267, this strike is about being treated with dignity. At a November 25 meeting at the Pueblo County Courthouse, workers described about the conditions at CF&I. The forum was called by state Sen. William Thiebaut. Dozens of strikers turned out to explain how they have been forced to work for weeks on end without a day off, including for up to 16 hours a day in 140-degree heat with just one meal break.

Ernie Madrid told of when he had a heart attack at work. "I crawled through the door of my supervisor's office and told him I was having a heart attack. He wouldn't call an ambulance until he got some one else to say it was OK." After returning to work following bypass surgery, he was forced to work double shifts for the first two days back, despite being on medical restrictions. "This is blood money," Madrid said, referring to overtime pay.

Ralph Edmond said he was forced to work 42 days straight, many of those 12-hour days. Many said they had been forced to work overtime on little or no notice. "A foreman followed one man home and told him he had to come back to work," said one.

Company spokeswoman Vicki Tagliafico asserted that not many workers put in overtime. Some 82 percent of the employees worked fewer than 55 hours a week, she said, and only 5 percent worked 65 hours or more. The legal workweek is 40 hours.

Since the strike began the company has hired 500 permanent replacement workers. Another 250 managers and some 100 workers who crossed the picket lines also are working. In 1983 Oregon Steel was able to break the union at its Portland mill. Ten years later, the company bought CF&I Steel and wrested $35 million in concessions from the workforce there.

Support for the strike is building. Around 800 people rallied in support of the strikers November 16. AFL-CIO president John Sweeney and USWA secretary-treasurer Leo Gerard addressed that rally. Among those who turned out were members of the plumbers, Teamsters, electricians, firefighters, communications workers, and other unions.

After the rally people marched to the CF&I headquarters chanting they would hold out "one more day" than the steel bosses. The USWA has also organized demonstrations in San Francisco and Portland at the offices of Wells Fargo Bank, which is the lead partner in a consortium of banks extending credit to Oregon Steel.

Other Steelworker unions, including members of a local from Rocky Flats, have shown solidarity by sending members to the picket lines. Other unions have been hosting solidarity dinners for the strikers, and members of the Teamsters, AFSCME, Electrical Workers, Postal Workers, Carpenters, Food and Commercial Workers, Communication Workers and Teachers have joined the picket lines.

The union is asking that contributions for the strike fund be sent to the USWA/CF&I Emergency Fund, USWA, 1414 Evans Avenue, Pueblo, CO 81005. For further information call USWA locals 2102 and 3267 at (719) 564-8600.

Ardy Blandford is a member of United Auto Workers Local 270 in Des Moines, Iowa. Dick Geyer contributed to this article.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home