The central issues in this dispute are forced overtime, violations of seniority rights, replacement of 16 percent of union jobs with nonunion contractors, and pensions below industry standards.

The rally site was a sea of union jackets, buttons, and picket signs. Union members and their families from dozens of USWA locals around Ohio came out, as well as from the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), International Association of Machinists, Communication Workers of America, Teamsters, public employees, carpenters, bakers, bricklayers, painters, firefighters, and others. Members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 549 at the General Motors plant in nearby Ontario, Ohio, have donated more than $16,000 to Local 169 through several plant gate collections as well as giving a Thanksgiving turkey to every locked-out family. UAW Local 1239 in Wooster, Ohio, donated their Christmas money to the struggle. Many of those present have visited the picket lines since this lockout began August 31. In the course of the rally, a long line of union representatives were welcomed up on stage to turn over checks ranging from $50 to $5,000 to the AK Steel workers. One rally participant who won a sizable amount of cash at the 50-50 raffle donated his winnings back to the union.

A number of those in attendance have been or are part of bitter contract negotiations, lockouts, or strikes in recent years, and feel they have a deep stake in the outcome of this battle. One member of International Union of Electronic Workers Local 1719, after donating $585, said, "We got a contract because of what you have done."

Christo described the five-week strike against Mansfield Foundry last summer. "It took a lot of courage to stand behind the union. Ours was a victory primarily because everyone stood together; the company gave into us, we didn't give in to them." Workers from the foundry have been active supporters of the AK Steel pickets.

Workers from Ideal Electric, who were on strike in 1991, gave $2,040 to the strike fund. Other participants included unionists from Magnetic Specialties Inc. in Marietta, Ohio, who won a contract after an 18-month strike last year; from Ormet Aluminum in Hannibal, who are in an ongoing fight for a new contract; and a worker involved in a UNITE organizing drive at Dreisen in Cleveland. Steelworkers locked out at Kaiser Aluminum in Newark, Ohio, and aluminum workers from Ravenswood, West Virginia, who waged a hard-fought strike in the early received warm applause when their presence was announced at the rally. There were also unionists from Ashland, Kentucky, and Logan, West Virginia.

The presence of hundreds of jackbooted, armed guards and scab workers, who are occupying several area motels, is the source of a lot of anger among locked-out workers and town residents. One rally speaker described how these company agents harass people at their homes and around town, saying, "They are trying to provoke us but we have unity and we are solid. We are going to win this."

Joyce Paige, one of the locked-out AK Steel workers, described the atmosphere of harassment and intimidation inside the plant leading up to the contract. She and four other women from the plant, along with 200 others, had just returned from a Women of Steel conference in Columbus, Ohio. Other members of Women of Steel, an organization that encourages women to be active in the USWA, were at the rally, including two workers from the 18-inch mill at Republic Steel in Massillion, Ohio. The District 1 Ohio chapter donated $1,300 to the strike fund.

Dave Beverage, 19, and Jeff Yates, 23, Steelworkers at National Material in Mansfield, came to the rally to "help out as much as we can. We are behind them 100 percent," Yates said. Beverage explained how important unions are and described his family's fight to prevent a freeway from being built through their farm in Crestline, Ohio. When asked what he thought was behind the AK Steel lockout, Yates answered "company greed."

Eva Braiman is a member of UAW Local 2400 in Cleveland. Henry Hillenbrand, a member of USWA Local 185, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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