BY TONY PRINCE
NILES, Ohio - The first group of workers at Reactive
Metals Inc. (RMI) Titanium reentered the plant here April 19,
after more than six months on strike. They had voted one week
earlier to end their strike, which began October 1, by a vote
of 370 to 67. The workers are members of United Steelworkers
of America (USWA) Locals 2155 and 2155-7, which together have
513 members.
The group of 160 going in was cheered on by about 35 other RMI workers who stood by the plant gate at 6:30 in the morning and discussed some of the lessons of the strike. WASN radio personality Chris Montgomery, who had supported the strike on the air, broadcast live from the front porch of "Aunt Ruth," a woman who lives nearby and who supplied electricity to the strikers' trailer during the strike.
One of the main topics of discussion was how to win the reinstatement of 11 workers the company fired during the strike. The company threatened to press federal charges against the 11 fired workers if the Steelworkers did not ratify the contract. Under the agreement their cases are referred to arbitration. Some workers felt that they should refuse all overtime and "special assignments," and work to rule until their co-workers are rehired. Others predicted that there would be more grievances now. One worker who voted for the contract said "I liked the economic package but I feel terrible about the 11."
Under the terms of the new contract RMI's parent company RTI will be a signatory to the agreement. The contract includes a successorship clause, which means it will remain in force even if the company is sold. Additionally, the pension will increase, the profit sharing plan will continue, and there will be a $2.50 per hour wage increase over the life of the four-and-a-half-year contract. One significant concession by the union is that the length of time required to get up to full pay has been increased from 6,000 to 9,000 hours, and the number of pay steps in this progression has increased from 7 to 10. The contract will expire Oct. 15, 2003.
Heather Barrass, one of the fired workers, told the Militant, "Many of my fellow union members are mad about our not getting our jobs back right away. The company is trying to force the union to sacrifice us to get a settlement. But I'll fight to clear my name and join the union's effort to win our jobs back. I think the union is in a stronger position back in the plant now to fight for our jobs, even if it takes a while."
Strikers won solidarity, backed others
In the course of their battle, the RMI workers fought
their way through attacks by the police, the courts, the
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and the media. They
won solidarity from unionists throughout the Mahoning Valley,
which includes the cities of Niles, Warren, and Youngstown,
Ohio, and beyond. The RMI strikers in turn built support for
other workers on strike, like the nurses at Trumbull Memorial
Hospital in Warren and Teamsters at East Manufacturing in
Randolph, Ohio.
The strike was provoked when the company tried to use a change in ownership to call into question the profit sharing plan, which was a major source of income for the workers in the recent, profitable years of the company. The workers also wanted a successorship clause in case the company is sold, and a pension plan on a par with other major USWA plants in the area.
RMI hired a security outfit specializing in antiunion attacks, and put up new fencing, cut down trees at the plant entrance, and installed high-powered lighting and video cameras.
But the workers demonstrated their readiness to defend their union. They mobilized in the early days of the strike to push the antiunion thugs back from the plant entrances and back into the plant buildings, which is where they stayed from that point on. They held two rallies of hundreds of workers in the first weeks of the strike, winning support from a number of the unions in the area, including USWA Local 1375 at WCI Steel and International Union of Electronic Workers Local 717 at Delphi Packard, both in Warren.
The union formed several committees to involve workers in carrying the strike forward. There was a Women's Action Committee for the wives of strikers, which evolved into the Spouses' Support Committee as husbands of female strikers also became involved. The Strike Assistance Committee provided financial help to strikers in need. The Outreach Committee traveled to plants and shopping centers to spread the word about strike rallies, and the Mobilization Committee organized the rallies. Several strikers pointed out during the course of the six-month fight one of the big strengths of the strike was the high degree of involvement of the ranks.
Suzanne Jones, a member of the negotiating committee from Local 2155-7, said the RMI strikers got out to every strike they heard about. In addition to the strikes at Trumbull Memorial Hospital and East Manufacturing, this included conflicts at Applewood Nursing Home in Austintown, Ohio, and Mercer Forge in Mercer, Pennsylvania. Several RMI workers plan to go to the April 24 rally in Newark, Ohio, for the locked-out Steelworkers at Kaiser Aluminum.
Attacks from cops, courts, and media
As the months passed the attack against the union stepped
up. On February 12 about 100 cops attacked 300 steelworkers
and their supporters who had mobilized in front of the plant
because of rumors that the company was bringing in scabs. The
cops arrested seven workers, some from RMI and some from WCI.
In the wake of the attack the Weathersfield cops forced the
union to take down its picket shack across the street from
the plant. The plant is in the town of Weathersfield; the
other side of the street is in Niles.
The police attack took place in the context of a campaign of violence-baiting against the union by the Youngstown Vindicator and local police officials. The Vindicator printed a full-page ad by the company on February 12 charging the union with violence; it refused to publish two paid ads from the union responding to RMI's claims.
A week later a federal judge handed down an injunction limiting the number of workers on the picket line and prohibiting cameras and the writing down of license plate numbers of vehicles entering and leaving the plant. The NLRB asked U.S. Marshals to enforce the injunction. Meanwhile, the company continued to videotape the picket line.
Rather than driving the workers back, these attacks increased the unity and determination of the union. The strikers got a permit from the city of Niles and put their picket shack right back up. They held a rally of 500 people on February 21 to protest the cop attack. About 150 rallied in Pittsburgh in front of the headquarters of USX Corporation, a major shareholder in RMI, on March 10. The outreach committee went to steel mills in Cleveland, Steubenville, Canton, and Lorain to get out the word about a March 28 solidarity rally. Over 100 Steelworkers held a "Sock Hop and Family Fun Day" fund-raiser on March 21 at the WCI steelworkers hall in Warren.
On March 16, RMI fired 11 of the strikers for action "against the company and/or its employees during the ongoing strike." One of the strikers pointed out that she wasn't even on the picket line at the time the alleged actions took place.
The morale and level of organization of the strikers was evident at the March 28 rally, which attracted about 750 people. The Local 2155 Safety Patrol, dressed in orange T- shirts, directed traffic and provided security for the rally. The Spouses Support Committee organized a cookout after the rally was over. Donations were announced from unions all over the state and beyond. Workers came to the rally from plants in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. The strikers vowed to stay out "one day longer" than RMI.
On April 8 the company and union officials reached a tentative agreement. Hundreds of strikers turned out to discuss the contract proposal April 10 at a mass meeting at the McKinley High School gym in Niles. The main issue that the workers expressed concern about at the meeting was the fate of the 11 fired workers.
Some of the first workers coming out of that information meeting were angry that the 11 were not coming back with everyone else. Larry Bundy declared, "I don't want any part of it. I don't like the way they're dealing with the 11. The company is threatening federal charges against these 11 if we don't accept the contract."
Roger Carey expressed the mixed feelings many workers had about the proposal. "They're saying it's best if they drop all the criminal charges, but they're still fired," he said. "It's kind of like blackmailing us to accept the contract. I think it's a decent contract, the successorship language is good, but it leaves a bad taste in a lot of our mouths. If we don't okay it they say they'll charge a bunch more workers with criminal charges.... Do we help them more by going back or by staying out? I don't know."
Some of the members were swayed by the fact that several of the fired workers urged ratification of the contract. According to Barrass, the 11 met before the April 10 meeting and decided unanimously to support the contract and to speak in favor of it.
`No doubt we're stronger' from strike
Several strikers expressed pride in the fight the union
has carried out, despite their anger over the 11 fired
workers. "For the length of time we were out, we did good,"
said Steve Bright, one of the 11.
Maintenance worker Tim Shannon added, "We'll go back with our heads high."
"There's no doubt in my mind that we're stronger now. I don't think we were a union before the strike. We're strong now. We're like one big family," said Suzanne Jones.
Russ Jones said that one of the union negotiators had told him that as the negotiations were winding down one of the negotiators for the company told the union side, "We never thought you'd make it past the second month. But then two months went by, then three, then four, then five, and then in the sixth month you had that big rally across the street from the plant, and we knew we had to settle this thing."
Tony Prince is a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees in Cleveland, Ohio.