BY SALM KOLIS AND KEVIN DWIRE
HEATH, Ohio - "USWA Local 341 -Go Steelworkers - 1 Day
Longer." That was the message that streamed behind an airplane
circling above 350 unionists and supporters as they rallied
here April 24 to back members of the United Steelworkers of
America locked out at Kaiser Aluminum.
The striking members of USWA Local 341 hosted the rally, which brought together supporters from Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Workers went on strike against Kaiser on Oct. 1, 1998, in Spokane and Tacoma, Washington; Gramercy, Louisiana; and Newark, Ohio. The strike became a lockout January 14 when Kaiser refused to accept the union's offer to return to work under the old contract while continuing negotiations.
"We're stronger now than the day we walked out. This has been a wake-up call," Kaiser worker Mollie Overbey told the Militant. "We realize that we have to be strong or we won't be a union or have a place to go back to, there won't be jobs worth working."
"This rally helps us get out our side of the story, especially here in Newark, where Kaiser's side dominates the media," said Annette Lindsay, who has worked at Kaiser for 25 years. "It was great to have workers come up to us on the picket line and shake our hands, especially workers who have been through their own strikes, because they know what we are going through. It was a big morale booster. We need more actions like this." Lindsay has participated in union sponsored trips to Houston and California to picket MAXXAM Corp., which owns Kaiser. "I enjoy going on trips, meeting other workers, seeing how they are doing things and learning about other struggles," explained Lindsay. "Before this strike I sat idly by and didn't do anything about injustice. Now I want to do something. We as workers should be involved in social struggles, like the fight for a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal. I hate that I couldn't be at the rally [in Philadelphia] for Mumia today, but I know there were other Kaiser strikers at the rally in California."
Veterans from recent union victories in Ohio came to throw their support behind the Kaiser workers. A group of USWA Local 3241 members from Marietta, who won a 23-month strike against MSI, brought a donation for the Kaiser workers. So did workers fresh from the recent strike at RMI in Niles. The first 130 workers went back into the RMI plant April 19 after approving a contract. RMI worker Patricia Williams of Local 2155 declared, "It was great to come and support the Kaiser workers and I want to do more of it and get others involved as well."
A group from USWA Local 5668 at Century Aluminum in Ravenswood, West Virginia, brought two truck-loads of food for the strikers. Retired 5668 member Johnny Lynch reminded the crowd that their plant used to be owned by Kaiser. "We were locked out for 20 months," Lynch said, referring to the 1990-92 fight at what was then Ravenswood Aluminum Corp. He recalled USWA Local 341 sent aid during their lockout. "Everyone gave us up for dead except the steelworkers. Local 341 is not going to die."
Marge Flanagan of the Women's Support Group at Local 5668 presented the Kaiser workers with donations totaling almost $1,800. The Ravenswood steelworkers, whose contract expires June 1, take up solidarity collections regularly.
Two members of United Auto Workers Local 1910 from Ashland, Ohio, came to the rally and said they also plan to attend a May 8 rally to support workers at MTD in Willard, Ohio, who are trying to organize into the UAW.
The rally also heard a message from Julia Hill, one of several activists "occupying" giant redwood trees in the Headwaters Forest in Northern California. Hill told the rally through a telephone link about the fight to stop MAXXAM-owned Pacific Lumber from clear cutting areas of the forest, and spoke about the need for unionists and environmentalists to work together to oppose corporate destruction of the environment.
Following the rally the crowd marched from the rally site to the Kaiser plant gate, holding a short rally on the picket line. They marched back to the rally site, and many went to the union hall to help unload the food donations from Ravenswood.
Kaiser worker Rod Foster told the Militant following the rally that morale is good. "It's a hardship on everyone, but we've hung tough." He said it was "good to see all of the out- of-state and local support."
Kevin Dwire is a member of UAW Local 1196 on strike against Central Brass in Cleveland. Salm Kolis is a member of the USWA in Pittsburgh.