BY HEATHER WOOD AND ARRIN HAWKINS
This column is written and edited by the Young Socialists
(YS), an international organization of young workers,
students, and other youth fighting for socialism. For more
information about the YS write to: Young Socialists, 3284
23rd St., San Francisco, California, 94110. Tel: (415) 824-
1429. E-mail: 105162.605@compuserve.com
PUEBLO, Colorado - A team of supporters of the Militant recently traveled to Colorado to visit the Steelworkers locked out at CF&I/Oregon Steel. The team included two socialist workers who are members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), one of whom is also a member of the Young Socialists; a young political activist from the Twin Cities who is involved is organizing a speaking tour for Gary Grant, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, and a supporter of the Militant from Denver.
Our purpose was to connect with these workers and learn about the current status of their fight as they enter into another year of battle against the company. One of the first priorities of our team was to show solidarity on the picket line and at the warming huts workers have set up along the plant gates. Workers told us that Oregon Steel had recently filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation to have these huts removed for "obstructing traffic." USWA members fought this restriction on their right to picket. The continued presence of their huts serves as evidence of the union members' tenacity and willingness to fight.
Pueblo, Colorado, was traditionally a steel town. At one point the mill employed more than 8,000 workers, and the building remains a prominent feature of the town's landscape. Many workers explained that their fathers and grandfathers had preceded them in the steel mills. For many others, working in the mills had become a family heritage. But CF&I/Oregon Steel had other plans.
After Oregon Steel bought out CF&I, the bosses initiated a severe attack on workers' rights. While talking with locked- out workers in the warming huts, many explained the conditions imposed over the past three years. One Steelworker who had been with the company for more than 30 years, said the fight is as much about being treated with basic human dignity and respect as it is against the forced overtime and attacks against pension plans.
We spent the rest of the day at the USWA union hall. There we meet several Steelworkers who are Latino who explained their fight to desegregate the mill.
When we returned to the Twin Cities, we spoke to about 20 people attending a Militant Labor Forum January 29 to hear a reportback on our trip. The Young Socialists is planning a fund-raising film showing of "Struggles in Steel" to raise money to help cover the cost of the journey. The film was chosen because one of the locked-out workers who is Latino explained that the fight of Blacks to desegregate the mills was the same as his own.
Arrin Hawkins is involved in organizing a speaking tour for Gary Grant, president of Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association in Minnesota.
Heather Wood is a member of the Young Socialists and the United Steelworkers of America Local 7263.