BY JAMES VINCENT
PITTSBURGH - The Socialist Workers candidates and their supporters here have been speaking out to oppose the "Stand Up for Steel" campaign being waged by the steel bosses and the officialdom of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA).

In late October, campaign teams handed out hundreds of statements explaining this stance at the gates of the LTV tin mill in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and at two plants owned by U.S. Steel Group (USX). The teams were headed by Cecelia Moriarity, the Socialist Workers candidate for governor and a worker at the USX/Clairton Coke Works, and Dorothy Kolis, Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Congress, who works at LTV. Both Moriarity and Kolis are members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA).

"The joint campaign by U.S. steel bosses and the officials of the USWA to impose import restrictions on steel produced in other countries is a trap for working people," said their statement (see complete text on page 14). "The steel mill owners claim their `Stand up for Steel/Stand Up for America' drive is aimed at protecting jobs of steelworkers in the U.S. This is a lie."

Since August the USWA officialdom has organized a national effort to pressure the government to impose protectionist measures against steel imports. In this effort they have received the backing of the largest steel companies. To date 12 steelmakers have joined, including USX, LTV, and Bethlehem Steel. The national campaign includes full-page news ads, radio and TV spots, and leafleting at mill plant gates.

Steelworkers coming out of the mills during shift change showed interest in what the candidates had to say. At LTV, as cars lined up at the gate, many workers waited to talk to Kolis, who works at the mill. "The biggest discussion was on imports and the fight for jobs," said Kolis.

`We need international solidarity'
Kolis said the best way to fight for jobs today is to "take steps to strengthen and defend our union. We need to focus on supporting steelworkers and other workers who are fighting the bosses' attacks. This includes the steelworkers on strike at Kaiser Aluminum, Titan Tire in Iowa and Mississippi, and Magnetic Specialties Inc., in Marietta, Ohio, and coal miners on strike against Freeman Coal in southern Illinois."

One LTV steelworker, responding to a campaign sign that read, "30 hours work for 40 hours pay. Fight for jobs today," said, "I like your slogan." Others did not agree with the socialist candidates, but wanted to talk about the ideas the socialists were raising. Ten workers bought copies of the Militant.

The following day campaign supporters set up a campaign literature table at the entrance to USX/Clairton Coke Works. Steelworkers at shift change stopped to look at the literature and to meet and talk with Cecelia Moriarity, who works at the coke plant. Many shook her hand and wished her luck. Three bought issues of the Militant newspaper.

In response to the protectionist campaign of the USWA officials and steel bosses, one steelworker said, "The company is going to use this come contract time next August."

The Socialist Workers statement shares this viewpoint. "The fight for jobs has to start with international working-class solidarity.. Joining with the bosses in their protectionist campaign will lead us to accepting even more concessions in upcoming negotiations. This is not `our' industry. It is owned by the steel barons and run to enrich them through our labor power."

A Teamster and former United Auto Workers member who worked at Volkswagen until it shut down in the late 1980s, stopped by the campaign table to talk. Later in the week he attended a public meeting at the Pathfinder bookstore, the location of the Socialist Workers campaign headquarters, and bought an introductory subscription to the Militant.

While the socialists were campaigning at LTV, organizers of the "Stand Up for Steel" campaign held a rally in front of the USWA Local 2227 union hall in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. Local 2227 organizes steelworkers at USX's Irvin Works facility. According to the organizers, similar rallies are planned in Alabama, Indiana, and Ohio - all centers of steel production. Two rallies had already taken place in Detroit and Weirton, West Virginia.

Bosses, union tops hold chauvinist rally
About 1,000 steelworkers, some still in their work clothes, attended the West Mifflin event. A group of 75 rail workers from Lorain, Ohio, members of the United Transportation Union (UTU), came after picketing USX's national headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh earlier that day. They were in town to protest USX's plan to outsource all 170 of their jobs and to bust their union. There was also a noticeable layer of steel bosses dressed in suit- and-tie at the rally. Several mayors were present, including Pittsburgh mayor Tom Murphy.

Entering the rally site, people were asked to sign a pledge "Protect our Jobs -Stop the flood of Foreign Steel into the U.S." The central theme of the rally was "Stand Up for Steel, Stand Up for America," a slogan prominently displayed on the speakers stage and on T-shirts worn by about half of the crowd. Patriotic music blared from the stage sound system.

USWA official Andrew Palm chaired the rally. In his opening comments, Palm said, "We need to lock arms with steel management for a common cause." He talked of the need to "save our steel industry, which is at the edge of a cliff." Later in the program Palm called for "shutting down the borders," marching on U.S. ports to physically stop imports, and for a "one-year ban on foreign imports."

Three Pennsylvania U.S. Congressmen - Michael Doyle, William Coyne, and Frank Mascara - spoke to the crowd from Washington, D.C., via a telephone hookup. Their message: Don't let America be a dumping ground for cheap imports. All three spoke in favor of a resolution introduced in Congress by James Traficant, a U.S. Congressman (D), who has demanded a year's cutoff of steel imports from any country that supposedly violates U.S. anti-dumping laws. Ultraright politician Patrick Buchanan, in a recent column titled "Steel Yourself for the Dump," championed "populist Democratic James A. Traficant's" resolution as an "America First" trade law.

USWA vice president of human affairs Leon Lynch spoke on behalf of USWA president George Becker, who was not present. Lynch said the steelworkers union and management must stand together and speak with one voice. The problem, he said, was the inaction of the Clinton administration.

The keynote speaker at the rally was Paul Wilhelm, president of USX, who has been addressing audiences around the country. Wilhelm said U.S. Steel was "under siege" by "foreign predators. In particular, he singled out Japan, Brazil, and Russia. "This import crisis is like a dagger aimed at the backs of the 4,200 people who work at our Mon Valley Works and Clairton Works," said Wilhelm.

Wilhelm said the crisis facing steel had nothing to do with the "market" because the demand for steel was still high. Rather, the problem is "illegal dumping" by "foreign steel companies," and cheap foreign steel is "the cause of recent layoffs in the industry." He said 100,000 jobs are at stake, out of a work force of 170,000. So far, layoffs have been limited. USX has laid off 100 workers in Monongahela Valley, just outside Pittsburgh.

"We" face a "trade war," said Wilhelm, a "war that we are losing." Wilhelm spent time on the crisis facing the "hot roll" segment of the industry. In 1997 a ton of Russian steel was $294, now it is selling for as low as $220, he said.

Steel imports are running 24 percent ahead of last year's record pace. According to the American Iron & Steel Institute, the amount of steel production capacity being used fell to a low for the year at 78.3 percent. Earlier in the year it was up around 90 percent. Acme Metals, a steelmaker in Illinois, filed for bankruptcy protection on September 29. USX, LTV, and Geneva Steel bosses say they are closing down blast furnaces.

Wilhelm demanded that the industry get help from the government. In late September the U.S. steel industry filed anti- dumping cases against the governments of Japan, Russia, and Brazil. With Washington's help "we plan to win these cases," said Wilhelm.

Most of the steelworkers at the rally site politely applauded the speeches. But the attempt to drum up a rah-rah rally atmosphere came off flat.

A few days after the event, USX announced a 62 percent drop in third-quarter profits, which it blamed on record steel imports and the General Motors strike.  
 
 
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