'Solidarity works' - in Warren Steel Victory

by Rick Nagin

This article was reprinted from the October, 28, 1995 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

WARREN, Ohio - With heads held high, 1700 steelworkers at Warren Consolidated Industries (WCI) returned to work after voting six-to-one to accept a new contract, thus ending a 54-day lock-out which began Aug. 31.

"It was a total victory," said an exuberant Gerald Dickey, a member of the executive board of United Steelworkers Local 1375 and editor of the union newspaper. "We drove out the scabs. We saved the union and got what we wanted in the contract. This will go down as one of the great strikes of the century."

"I'm usually a malcontent," said Leonard Grbinick, the union's financial secretary, "but under the conditions we faced, the contract we got is fantastic." Even more important, he said, was the long-term impact of the struggle.

"The echoes of this fight will ring loud in the halls of Warren and in the halls of WCI for a long time to come. We sent a message out to the companies that this is what will happen if you try to bring in scabs and break our unions."

The union, the labor movement in the area and the entire community had never been more united, he said. The reason for the victory, said union president Dennis Brubaker, can be summed up in two words: "Solidarity works!"

The local, he said, had received donations and gate collections from 70 unions and other labor organizations, some from as far away as Minnesota. Help was provided by churches and community groups throughout the Mahoning Valley.

"We have pages and pages of names of stores and businesses that offered our members discounts and credit. There was a bakery that gave all its day-old cakes and donuts to our kitchen and a gas station that donated a case of umbrellas to the pickets when it rained.

"I really feel good," Brubaker said. "This is really a union hall and Warren is a union town. We're just tough."

The contract, he said, resolved the main issues that were at an impasse Aug. 31. "We pounded pattern bargaining on WCI until they gagged."

The company completely abandoned its attempt to remove the union successorship clause from the contract, which would have allowed WCI to sell the plant and get rid of the union. In fact, Brubaker said, the successorship language was strengthened and brought up to industry standards.

The pensions, which were far below all other companies, were doubled and brought to the level of LTV Steel. "No union has ever gone from where we were to where we are in one contract," Brubaker said. "It was a $50 million item."

Many workers, he said, are expected to retire now that the pensions are at a reasonable level. The new contract will force the company to bring back many workers who were on long term layoff and will also create 40 jobs for new hires, mainly in trades and crafts. In addition, improvements were made in wages, insurance, holidays, funeral leave, family and medical leave and union power to stop the company from putting workers in so-called "special assignment" jobs out of the bargaining unit.

There was some dissatisfaction, Brubaker said, stemming from the fact that the company "wasted a ton of money on scabs and goons," which will adversely affect the amount available to workers under the company profit-sharing plan. "We got some compensation for this in that we got a $3,000 signing bonus -- which is the highest in the industry -- but it may not equal what we lost in profit sharing." But, he added, even those who had criticisms "thanked us for how the fight was waged."

The company agreed to amnesty all workers for any activity related to the work stoppage. The new contract runs until Aug. 31, 1999, putting WCI back in line with agreements in the rest of the industry which expire Aug. 1, 1999.

Still unresolved is whether the workers will be eligible for unemployment benefits during the time of the lock out. Two hearings on the matter have been held by the Ohio Bureau of Employment Service and a ruling is expected in several weeks.