BY DAVID SANDOR
MORGANTOWN, West Virginia - In the aftermath of failed negotiations between Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Co. and the United Steel Workers of America (USWA), the company has launched a propaganda campaign against the union, attempting to intensify pressure on the strikers and break the unity of their walkout.

Negotiations broke down January 17 after several days of bargaining, with no future talks scheduled. That was the 109th day of the strike by 4,500 steelworkers at eight Wheeling-Pittsburgh plants in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The talks were overseen by John Pinto, a Pittsburgh-based federal mediator. The workers struck over the company's refusal to discuss restoration of the pension plan that was taken away after Wheeling-Pitt's bankruptcy and a subsequent 89-day strike in 1985.

That pension, called a defined benefit pension, requires the employer to guarantee a monthly benefit amount for retirees according to years of service and the right to retire after 30 years of employment. This is the type of pension now in effect at all other unionized integrated steel companies in the United States.

The company wants a pension system where the amount of the monthly benefit would be based on the level of returns from the stock market and other investments. In addition, company officials say that their cost of funding the pension should be renegotiated each time a contract expires.

Company escalates threats
Commenting on the failure of negotiations, WHX chairman Ron LaBow stated, "We can sit indefinitely, a year or two years. There is no time limit. They have the right to strike and we have the right not to give in to their demands."

Wheeling-Pitt bought a two-page advertisement in the Wheeling News-Register and other newspapers throughout the strike region, attempting to sell their pension offer and calling on rank-and-file steelworkers to accept the company proposal. The ad demands that the union organize a vote on the company's latest offer and says, "Let's settle this strike the American way. Free men and women voting their consciences in a supervised, secret ballot election." The ad also touted the company's "improved" pension offer: retirement at age 60 with 42 years of service, instead of age 62 with 44 years, as in their previous offer.

James Wareham, chief executive of Wheeling-Pittsburgh, made a veiled threat against the strikers. "We're at a point, now, where we have to begin considering more drastic steps to gird ourselves against the negative impact of what, at this point, appears will be an extraordinarily prolonged strike."

These statements are consistent with the pattern of threats, intimidation, and pressure that the company has used during the strike. In November, the company canceled payment of an annual bonus for widows who receive less than the minimum pension, which was provided for in the previous contract. The company has obtained injunctions to limit picketing at the plantgates and argued against the strikers' claim for unemployment benefits, which have been denied in all three states where the strikers live and work.

'We have to get a better offer'
Strikers emphasize that Wheeling-Pitt, the ninth largest integrated steel producer in the U.S., is profitable and has a significant cost advantage over its competitors. The company has a lower cost of producing steel because it doesn't have to pay into a guaranteed pension plan with retirement after 30 years, unlike other producers.

Ed Babel, who works in the Steubenville, Ohio, mill and has 24 years at Wheeling-Pitt, explained, "Truthfully, this guy [LaBow] is trying to do what all the others [integrated steel producers] want to do. The flatrolled steel we make here gets $16 per ton; all the rest get $8 per ton."

Speaking of LaBow, striker Ron Moran pointed out, "Everybody thought he was a great guy. We saw him as the savior of the company." Babel said LaBow, who took over the company in 1991, "promised us then that we would get it [the guaranteed pension plan] back in the reorganization plan."

Ed Jones, who has worked 25 years at Wheeling-Pitt, stopped for lunch at the union hall in Steubenville on his way to do picket duty at the Mingo Junction gate. He summed up the resolve that is driving the strikers to fight for the pension. "I'm looking for a secure retirement. I don't want my family in hock. We have a right to a happy retirement without fear. We have to get a better offer from the company before returning to work."

David Sandor is a member of United Steelworkers of America, Local 3403 in Morgantown, West Virginia. Tony Dutrow, a member of USWA Local 1557 in Pittsburgh, and Dan Fein, a member of USWA Local 4347 in Salt Lake City, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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