Vol. 77/No. 24      June 24, 2013

BY MICHEL DUGRÉ
AND KATY LEROUGETEL
NANTICOKE, Ontario — Some 400 members of Steelworkers Local 8782 and supporters gathered for a barbecue and rally May 25 in front of U.S. Steel’s Lake Erie Works here in solidarity with nearly 1,000 workers locked out by the company since April 28 — the third lockout since 2007.

On April 23 members of Local 8782 rejected by 70 percent U.S. Steel’s contract offer that would effectively eliminate seniority in job placement and increase employee health care costs.

“It’s not the money. It’s the way you’re treated,” said Doug Runions, an industrial electrician at the U.S. Steel plant here.

Buses and cars came in from Hamilton, Toronto and elsewhere. Union flags identified participants from the Canadian Autoworkers, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation and several Steelworkers locals, including USW 1005 at U.S. Steel’s Hamilton Works.

“Today marks the beginning of a long struggle,” Local 8782 President Bill Ferguson told the rally.

“The companies want to take away seniority and work jurisdiction,” said Laird Thomson, a representative of International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 90, who came with a dozen members of the local. Some 1,400 members of the union in Ontario have been on strike since May 1.

Many workers told the Militant they felt the company provoked the confrontation in response to falling prices and demand for steel worldwide.

The company did not return calls requesting comment.

U.S. Steel bought Canadian steel company Stelco in 2007. Steelworkers officials have centered much of their fire on the fact that Stelco is now foreign-owned and have called on the Canadian government to invoke the Canada Investment Act to oblige the company to maintain jobs and production levels.

“This foreign company bought a valuable asset you helped to build and they’re destroying it,” Steelworkers National Director Ken Neumann told pickets on the first day of the lockout. “That’s not the kind of foreign corporations we want in Canada.”

The company proposal increases prescription fees from the current drug card payment of 50 cents to $300 yearly plus 10 percent co-payment.

“For me, the co-payment is a big issue, as you can see,” said locked-out Steelworker Shannon Horner at the rally, pointing to her 15-year-old daughter in a wheelchair. “Once you start with co-payments before you know it, you go up to 50 percent.”

“Teachers organized a solidarity lunch for us. There’s more support than I was expecting,” said picket Sharron Hardwick.
 
 
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