Brown is not alone in his thinking. This fact is driven home miles before you reach the sprawling Ormet complex on Route 7 along the Ohio river. Signs like "USWA wants a contract" and "COLA" begin to appear along the roadside, along with "Welcome to Greedsville."

Each day at shift change, several hundred workers march together in and out of the plant. After marching out of Ormet, members of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) locals 5724 and 5760 organize informational pickets at both plant entrances during shift changes. Whistles and honking fill the air. Fists shoot up as workers drive in and out of the plant.

Most cars and trucks whizzing by have union slogans scribbled on them: "No COLA, No Contract," "USWA 5724, 5760," and "We will win." People from the community driving by also join in. The loudest noise comes from over-the-road trucks with their powerful horns.

Between the two gates, workers have built a shelter in direct sight of Ormet plant management offices. The unionists are particularly proud of the shanty, which was constructed with donated wood, because it symbolizes what many describe as their "hatred" of the company and its chief executive officer, Emmet Boyle.

In August the company destroyed the union's shanty in broad daylight. This backfired, however, and the aluminum giant was forced to apologize. Trying to save face, the company said the person who ordered the removal was unfamiliar with a permit obtained by the union. The Steelworkers rejected the apology.  
 

Unions demand COLA, eight-hour day

Since the contract expired there has been no progress in negotiations with the two union locals. Recent talks broke off in September. The central issue for USWA Local 5724, which organizes the 1,200 workers in the reduction plant, is to win back the cost-of-living adjustment, lost in 1986 as a concession to allow Boyle to purchase the reduction plant.

The adjustment would give the workers a $1.18 per hour wage increase. The company's counteroffer is a three-year deal with no COLA, a $1,000 signing bonus the first year, and 75 cents in wage increases over the next two years.

The main sticking point with Local 5760 is opposition to Ormet's proposal to impose 10- or 12-hour shifts at the rolling mill. Workers there now work eight-hour shifts, although most are forced to work many hours of overtime.

After a four-month strike in 1986, workers agreed to big concessions. At the time this was trumpeted by Boyle as "equality of sacrifice." Workers were told that after the company got on its feet financially they would be able to get back what they gave up. But it hasn't worked out that way.

In the mid-1980s, Ormet workers were among the highest paid wage workers in the Ohio valley. Since then their wages have risen a paltry $1.28. In addition, the company has slashed jobs through combinations and intensified speed-up on the job.

Some recent developments have raised the tension level. Workers learned that Ormet is the leading candidate to purchase a Southwire Co. aluminum plant near Louisville, Kentucky. This report came just days after the company suspended a $170 million modernization project from the bargaining talks.

Outraged by this move, some 200 workers from both locals held a protest in front of Ormet's corporate headquarters in Wheeling, West Virginia, September 24. In response, the company obtained a temporary injunction limiting the number of people who can demonstrate to six at any time. A hearing October 15 will determine if the injunction will be permanent.

"Boyle has bought six plants and is now talking about buying the Southwire plant for $500 million," said Bill Brown, a longtime member of USWA local 5724. "What's more the workers there I'm told are locked out." Two years ago, the USWA was voted in at Southwire and in June 1998 the workers went on strike. Early this year the company locked out the workers and brought scabs into the plant.

Brown spends most of his time off the job at the union shelter. "I'm 43 going on 65 years of age," he said. "Most of the guys my age are pretty banged up. A lot of bad shoulders and knees. We've lived with forced overtime, job combinations, and the company runs shifts short of men all the time. Ten, fifteen years ago we used to have 2,000 people in the foundry, now we have 1,200."

"I'd go back in the mines any day over working in there," he added. Brown, who worked at Powhatan 4 mine in the 1970s, said about 20 percent of Ormet workers are former miners.

"What keeps us going is the tremendous support," said Brown. "We've seen support from steelworkers at Wheeling-Pitt [who gave $2,000] and MSI , from coal miners at UMWA Local 1785, from chemical workers, from all kinds of truck drivers — it's been great, really lifts our spirits."

Brown and other Ormet workers spoke about the struggle by steelworkers at Century Aluminum in Ravenswood, West Virginia. Many noted that they wouldn't be where they are today if the Ravenswood workers hadn't waged a 20-month fight in the early 1990s.

One of the older workers, Larry Boger, a 32-year veteran, declared, "I can't retire because my pension is only $900 a month and that's before taxes. You can get by on that but you can't live on it," he said.

Several of the more vocal union supporters have been singled out for company attack. To date some 32 workers have been disciplined, eight of them fired. To bring attention to these workers, the union erected a tall structure outside the gate listing all 32 names, putting those fired in red paint.  
 

Ormet workers reach out for support

Throughout the summer and early fall Ormet workers have marched in several parades in the surrounding communities in Ohio and West Virginia, held rallies and expanded picket lines in front of the plant, and used the union hall to sponsor fund-raisers to aid the fired workers. A Wives Support Group organizes food for the informational pickets.

"Despite pouring rain, about 500 of us marched in the Labor Day parade in Paden City, West Virginia," said Brown. The parade in Shadyside, Ohio was particularly satisfying because several "company people live there and tried to stop us from marching," said Brown. "We were told not to march. But we used our constitutional rights and marched anyway."

The night the contract expired the company had two busloads of scabs ready to enter the plant. At this stage, the union has decided not to organize a strike, but to continue to pressure the company by building support in the labor movement and in communities throughout the valley.

When asked if Ormet workers had been involved in actions like this before, Brown responded, "No, this is the first time. This is all new. It is something new in this country.… Many of us feel that there will be no labor movement in the Ohio Valley if we don't stick together."  
 
 
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