BY KEVIN DWIRE AND MARK SIMON
MARIETTA, OHIO - About 100 supporters cheered on the
United Steelworkers of America (USWA) members at Magnetic
Specialty, Inc. (MSI) here as they returned to work on
midnight shift, January 17, and again on day shift the next
morning. About 50 workers, who organized the union in 1995,
won a three-year contract after striking for 22 months.
In one of the most important gains, an indication of the unity generated during the fight, MSI was forced to rehire all the 16 workers it fired during the strike.
One of the largest contingents was a group of workers from USWA Local 5668 in Ravenswood, West Virginia. Several members of the Women's Support Group of the local also attended. This local, representing workers at Ravenswood Aluminum, successfully fought a 1990-92 lockout.
About 250 people attended a victory celebration at the Marietta Shrine Club January 24. Workers from several battles in the area came to the rally. A couple carloads of striking Steelworkers from Kaiser Aluminum in Newark, Ohio, as well as members of the Laborers Union from Spencer, West Virginia. They struck Monarch Rubber a month after the MSI strikers went out.
Bob Stanley, one of the 16 fired MSI workers whose jobs were restored with the contract, said that the MSI steelworkers "try to help out other fights." He added, "When it started, I didn't know about unions, and this really opened my eyes. "I was glad to see us all go back. We all went out together, and we went back in together. It was really a good sight."
"This will help other workers fight and win the union," said Gary West, a mill operator in the plant. "Everywhere I go, I'm asked was it worth it. I answer that before, they could just fire you if they didn't like you. But now we have a union." West said that some of the replacement workers still in the plant "are starting to get the message. One said that maybe we can get some things fixed around the plant now. I believe if we did it again, more would join the strike."
Kevin Dwire is a member of United Auto Workers Local 1196 in Cleveland.