After being without a contract for nearly a year, members of Local 6571 of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) voted December 12–13 to go on strike by January 10, but the company locked them out December 18. One steelworker said a company official called his house and left a message with his 12-year-old daughter, saying his services were no longer needed and his pay and benefits were being cut.

After several days of court hearings on the company's demand for an injunction to limit union pickets at the sprawling plant's two gates, the judge recessed the matter until March 12. In the meantime, the company agreed not to bring in the replacement workers it has been hiring, and the union said it would limit delays to traffic entering and leaving the plant to a maximum of 20 minutes. The company and the union also agreed to meet to see if negotiations were possible.

"If they get an injunction and try to bring in scabs I'll be on the picket line," one worker attending the court hearings said.

Workers at Co-Steel turn scrap metal from the auto industry into structural steel in what the industry calls a minimill. Although the mill here has been organized since it opened in 1964, the company's three plants in the United States are nonunion. Co-Steel officials say concessions are needed from the union in order to remain profitable in face of rising competition and falling prices due to an oversupply of steel on the world market.

Concessions rejected by the workers include the weakening of a no-layoff clause, allowing contracting out of jobs now done by union members, the right to bring in unfinished steel from its nonunion plants in the United States for the rolling mill, and removing job protection for new hires after the proposed five-year pact expires.

"After five years they could shut the melt shop [furnace] down," said 16-year veteran Stephen Richards. "With layoff protection expired nearly 100 people could be out the door." Workers also point out that they are producing as much steel today as when the plant had three times as many workers a number of years ago.

In an attempt to intimidate the workers, Co-Steel sent out a letter February 20 painting a grim picture of the situation in the steel industry due to imports, weak pricing, high energy costs, layoffs in the auto industry, and the possibility of a recession. "Over the past couple of weeks the mill has restarted and during the most recent week we experienced exceptional operating rates," states the letter.

Two days later the company placed ads in local newspapers to hire 200 replacement workers for "this interim period and possibly permanently" at $17 an hour, $7 an hour less than current wages. Under the Ontario Conservative government's new antilabor legislation, replacement workers can become permanent after a six-month lockout or strike.

The company has made its two plant gates more and more resemble military encampments. Early in the lockout Co-Steel hired an antiunion security outfit as part of its preparations to break the union. Uniformed guards videotape the picket lines 24 hours a day under huge floodlights, attempting to provoke incidents that could reinforce the company's case for a court injunction.  
 
"An injustice to one is injustice to all"
Local 6571 members have built support for their fight through a number of plant gate rallies and protests in front of the company's offices in Toronto and the Ontario legislature. Auto workers, government workers, teachers, and other unionists have participated in these actions.

"When governments promote scab labor, lower wages, fewer benefits, the loss of hard fought gains are certain to follow," said New Democratic Party leader Howard Hampton at a February 27 rally at the Ontario legislature, attended by two busloads of Local 6571 members and community and church leaders.

A solidarity rally in support of the locked-out workers planned for March 8 here has been on hold by the union pending the outcome of negotiations and the March 12 court hearing.

One sign of the support the steelworkers have received is the full page "Open letter to Concerned Partners in Durham Region's Labor Community" printed in the March 6 edition of the local paper This Week. In the letter, Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Local 222 president Mike Shields encouraged auto workers to attend the rally. The local represents workers at the massive General Motors assembly complex situated close to the Co-Steel plant.

"One may ask why the CAW would take such an active role in a labor dispute involving Steelworkers," wrote Shields. "An injustice to one worker is an injustice to all. This time it is Co-Steel LASCO, next week it could be any of our workplaces."

John Steele is a meat packer and member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 175. John Galo, also a member of UFCW Local 175, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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