BY KEVIN DWIRE
WARREN, Ohio - Steelworkers on strike against RMI Titanium
here and their supporters attended a spirited "Sock Hop and
Family Fun Day" fund-raiser March 21.
The event was sponsored by WASN, a local talk-radio station that has supported the strike, and was held at the union hall of United Steelworkers of America Local 1375, whose members work at the WCI steel mill. The spirit of the strikers and supporters showed during two auctions. Workers gathered to pool their money in an auction for a "night on the town" with one of the WASN radio personalities. People gathered in a large circle, tossing their cash on the floor until the winning bid of $750 was reached.
Striker Paul Moore, one of seven strikers arrested during a February 12 police assault on the picket line, donated the hat he was wearing that day, a civil war replica cap covered with union buttons. It brought $375.
Mike Mignogna, a 27-year-old striker who is on the outreach committee of the striking USWA locals 2155 and 2155-7, told the Militant that over the previous week strikers had hit the road across Ohio to build the March 28 solidarity rally called by the union.
They took flyers on the rally to union members at Republic Steel in Canton, USX-Kobe Steel in Lorain, Wheeling Pitt Steel in Steubenville, and to the plant gates of LTV Steel in Cleveland. They addressed the meetings of the Lorain County AFL- CIO central labor council, and Jobs with Justice in Cleveland. Mignogna also said that steelworkers from USX in Gary, Indiana, are planning to go to Niles March 28.
Eight RMI strikers recently visited the picket lines of Teamsters striking East Manufacturing in nearby Randolph. One striker at the fund-raiser told the Militant, "The reason this strike is so strong is that 99 percent of the membership is involved."
These outreach activities follow a March 10 rally the strikers held at the Pittsburgh headquarters of USX steel, which is a part owner of RMI.
Members of the Laborers Union on strike for two years at Monarch Rubber in Spencer, West Virginia, have a flyer for the rally posted in their picket shack. Strike leader Randy Whytsell says that they are working to get some strikers to Niles. He also said that steelworkers who just ended their strike against INCO in Huntington, West Virginia, were organizing to get to Niles. Steelworkers at MSI in Marietta, Ohio, who recently won a two-year strike for their first contract, are also organizing to get to the rally.
Members of the Alejandro Ramírez Defense Coalition in Cleveland heard a report on the RMI strike and rally at their regular meeting and several immediately made plans to car pool to Niles to get out information on his case. Ramírez is a Mexican farmworker who was framed-up on a murder charge in Painesville, Ohio, and is now serving time in prison.
Kevin Dwire is a member of United Auto Workers Local 1196 in Cleveland.