New protests rock steel lockout in Warren Ohio

by Rick Nagin

This article was reprinted from the September 23, 1995 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

WARREN, Ohio -- Locked out Warren Consolidated Industries (WCI) steelworkers got a big boost Sunday when over 2,000 -- mostly women and children -- marched in support of union contract demands and the immediate removal of scabs.

Led by the local's women's committee the marchers -- many wearing T-shirts with neon pink letters reading, "Hear Me Roar" converged on the main gate of the plant where 1,700 workers were locked out Aug. 31.

"Warren is a union town," they chanted. "Scabs must go!"

Anger at WCI's use of hundreds of scabs and hired goons exploded last week when a scab crashed through the picket line, seriously injuring a worker, hitting a pickup and terrifying a 4-year-old girl inside the truck. After the incident the company was forced to resume contract talks especially when it was revealed that the scab, who was charged with aggravated vehicular assault, was a convicted drug dealer from Gary, Indiana.

Marching from the plant to Trumbull County Courthouse Square for a rally, the crowd sang "Solidarity Forever" and displayed hundreds of homemade signs. "Women of Steel -- Wills of Iron -- We Will Prevail," read one. "Mothers Against Union Busters," read another. The marchers chanted, "WCI is a union mill. If we can't run it, no one will."

"My husband wants to work," said Tina Thompson, pushing her three-year old daughter, Tiffany, in a stroller and accompanied by two older children and a niece, whose mother worked in the plant's caster. "I hope the company comes to its senses. They are spending more money on scabs and security than if they settled. The workers sacrificed a lot for this company and this is the thanks they get."

A young boy held a sign reading, "Kids Love Christmas, Mr. R," referring to Ira Rennert, chairman of the $1 billion Renco Group holding company that owns WCI. "Rennert Woke the Sleeping Giant - USWA 1375," read another.

Terry Banjak and her 11-year-old daughter, Sharley, walked the family dog, Thunder, who wore a sign reading, "I want my Alpo back."

"I'm mad," Sharley said. "My father worked 26 years for them and they brought in scabs."

Fannie Freeman, an African American vessel attendant in the Basic Oxygen Furnace with 17 years in the plant, said the size and spirit of the crowd was "very encouraging." She said she hoped the rally would speed the newly resumed contract negotiations, but "we're going to keep fighting, however long it takes."

Lisa Battee, the owner of Lis-Mar-T Beauty Salon, said many of her clients or their husbands worked at WCI. "They deserve the benefits they're after," she said. "They do very hard work."

Members of the women's committee, area labor leaders and politicians, voiced all-out support for the workers at the rally chaired by Local 1375 President Dennis Brubaker.

"We are all united," said women's committee member Sue Buckhammer. "Ira Rennert will not break this union now or ever. We built this community. We intend to keep it. And we will run these scabs out of our town."

"Scabs gotta go! Scabs gotta go!" roared the crowd.

"When the call went forth to unite, we all heard it," said Martha Scarpaci, another committee member, an inspector with 19 years in the plant. "Now hear us roar!"

"We are going to stay united and fight for those 1,700 jobs that WCI took from us," she said. "And we won't quit until we have them back and rid our community of those low life, scum-sucking, dope-dealing felon scabs! This is our community not theirs!

"We made WCI the second most profitable steel mill in the country. And we did it with our dedication, our knowledge, our pride and by the sweat of our brow! And in return they betrayed us and threw us out on the streets! How dare they think that they can strip us of our pride and dignity! And defile our community with the scum they dragged in here! Well, we won't let them do it, because we are united and prepared to fight them every step of the way. And we will win!"

Scarpaci said that she felt particularly betrayed because for 12 years she served as the coordinator of the plant's Labor Management Participation Team.

Mary Lou Dever, chairperson of the women's committee of IUE Local 717 at the huge Warren Packard Electric plant, presented Brubaker with a $100 donation to the strike fund. Dever said that over 150 women from her local came to the march.

Nick Nichols, President of the Trumbull County AFL-CIO, hailed the large number of children in the crowd, saying that "they are learning more here today than they will ever learn in school."

Rich Vadovski, assistant director of UAW Region 2, received thunderous cheers as he announced, "Today, Sept. 17, 1995, the UAW is declaring war on WCI. There will be no scab steel allowed in auto parts plants any longer. That is my commitment to you."

Brubaker said, "This will be the biggest blow to WCI. Chrysler will not be taking scab steel."

The rally ended with a moment of silence honoring Walter Mintus recuperating from the van incident in Trumbull Memorial Hospital, and Larry Jenkins, who died of a heart attack while on picket duty.