The 1,800 USWA members at Ormet continue to fight for a contract in face of company firings of union activists. Since May when their last contract expired, the union has opted not to strike. Workers are organizing daily informational picketing at shift changes and marching into and out of the plant. Union members also organize regular Friday breakfasts and Wednesday evening picnics at the picket shacks.

The two locals gave big concessions in 1986, including a wage cut, giving up the cost of living allowance (COLA), and reductions in vacation time and insurance benefits. Local 5760 represents 600 workers at the rolling mill and Local 5724 includes 1,200 workers in the reduction mill. They are demanding a return of a COLA of $1.18, which the company has refused.

In early December the company put a new proposal on the table, which union negotiating committee head Donnie Blatt called "a slap in the face to everyone who works in the plant." According to Blatt, steelworkers would lose $896 on the new offer compared to that offered at the beginning of contract talks. Profit and gain sharing would be eliminated as would pay for two union officers to work full-time in the union hall.  
 

Firing of union members

The company has stepped up its attack on the union with disciplinary actions against workers. A ninth union member has been fired, this time for allegedly vandalizing the doorknob on a supervisor's office. According to Blatt, the company's video merely shows him near the office.

In response to the firing, Local 5274 president Kenneth Cozart threatened to call a strike on Christmas Eve, saying, "We don't want to strike, but the reason why is that the company has begun discharging employees again. Doing [this] over the Christmas holiday season, we feel, is pretty heartless."

Union officials also charged Ormet with making preparations to hire scabs and with stockpiling aluminum products in a Massachusetts warehouse. While Ormet bosses denied these charges, a scab recruiter in Mississippi confirmed to the union that he had been approached by Ormet for precisely that purpose.

In a news release on December 17 Ormet threatened to close parts of the reduction plant permanently in the event of a strike. Five days later USWA Local 5724 President Kenneth Cozart announced at a news conference that the union would not strike.

Asked about the decision, Mike Kiggans, one of the fired workers, said, "We haven't gone on strike because of what it would do to the community." Bill Brown said the threat to strike at Christmas was to get the company's attention and "inconvenience the upper echelon and keep them in the plant."

Blatt stated, "We're never going to give up until we get what we deserve. I was here when we took the concessions and I'll be here when we get them back."

The picketing at shift change is spirited. As several hundred cars and pickup trucks pull into or out of the plant, almost every driver honks and waves or raises a clenched fist to the picketers. Trucks and cars passing by frequently join in to show solidarity with the steelworkers at Ormet.

"I've been through 14 contract fights during the 42 years I've worked at Ormet," said E.E. Sole, "and this is one of the best organized, with workers sticking together and the most participation from the younger workers."

Mike Melott, a five-year veteran, explained, "The younger guys see what's happening in the country today. They see the companies are quadrupling their profits while the working man is struggling to keep his head above water. We want to be treated fair."

Chris Remple is a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees. Susan Anmuth and Salm Kolis contributed to this article.  
 
 
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