A massive cloud of thick black smoke could be seen for miles around. One worker, truck driver Douglas Oswald, 25, was killed instantly. Others were treated for smoke inhalation. Titan has been operating the plant with strikebreakers. The plant was evacuated following the outbreak of the fire.

A Bulkamtic Transport Co. tanker truck operated by Oswald was delivering a load of heptane when a leak occurred. Heptane is a highly flammable chemical used in building tires. A report by fire investigators on the exact cause of the fire is not expected for more than a month.

The Des Moines Register reported November 25 that Titan has failed to file legally required reports with state officials detailing its chemical inventory since 1996. Other emergency response paperwork was filed with county officials, according to a press report published two days later. Firemen nevertheless faced an extremely dangerous situation as they fought the blaze. Just 10 feet from the burning truck was a rail tanker car containing petroleum oil. The heat from the fire warped the metal skin of the tanker; if the oil had become too hot it could have ignited in a much more deadly explosion.

Initial media reports claimed that the blaze was ignited from a passing car outside the plant, where the heptane leak had flowed into the street. These reports served to cast suspicion on the USWA strikers. One of the unionists' sturdy picket shacks is located less than 200 feet from the site of the blaze.

Later reports rejected this claim. Strikers who witnessed the explosion say the fire erupted inside the plant, and followed the spilt chemical out to the street.

The determination of the strikers at Titan Tire has been sustained, in part, by their determination to fight against unsafe conditions in the plant. In April 1997, a year before the strike, union member Donny Baysinger was crushed in a tire-building machine that was known to have faulty safety devices. Before the walkout most workers were putting in 26 days in a row, often 12 hours a day.

Local 164 striker Denny Wicker, a 31-year veteran in the Des Moines plant, said, "Their safety record wasn't good when we were in there and now it's gone all to hell." Maurice Taylor, Jr., the owner of Titan, "has no regard for human life at all. He's exploiting anyone he can to get at the union. That's what caused the fire," Wicker added.

Numerous times during the course of the strike emergency rescue squads have been called out to treat strike breakers injured on the job.

In April of this year, Titan management refused to let Iowa safety inspectors tour the struck plant. USWA officials are allowed by law to participate in such inspections, but the company defied several court orders and rejected the union involvement. The company relented and allowed the tour after two weeks

At the Titan plant in Natchez, where the members of USWA Local 303L are on strike, an October 4 explosion and fire resulted in two replacement workers being burned. This was the most serious among an increasing number of injuries sustained by scabs working in the plant, strikers report.

Ray Parsons is a member of USWA Local 310 in Des Moines.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home