A vote for solidarity in steel union strike

by Denise Winebrenner

This article was reprinted from the February 1, 1997 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

PITTSBURGH - Help arrived, and more is on the way, to 4,500 striking steelworkers and their families fighting for decent pensions and restoration of wage and benefit concessions they made to Wheeling Pittsburgh (WP) Steel Corporation during the 1980s. It is the largest work stoppage anywhere in the nation.

On Jan. 27 United Steelworkers of America (USWA) President George Becker spoke to a rally of 450 WP strikers in Steubenville, Ohio. "This is about ... pensions and broken promises," he said. "We will be here one day longer than the company. Defeat is not an option."

Strike leader James Bayan echoed Becker. "The company is trying to divide us. But we won't be divided. Becker is right. This union will not be broken."

The next day Becker and other strike leaders spoke to the striking steelworkers and their families who packed the West Virginia Civic Center, in Wheeling, West Virginia. The meeting was open only to the strikers and their families but, acording to people who attended, Becker answered the unrelenting campaign of lies in the region's media attacking the union and its leaders during the five-month strike.

As they filed off buses into the meeting, the strikers received a "ballot." Since talks with the federal mediator broke down Jan. 17, WP has campaigned in the media for steelworkers to "vote" on the company's proposal which would rob them of their right to a secure pension. The union "ballot" steelworkers held in their hands had one word: "Solidarity."

Interviewed after the meeting, George Shaver, a 26-year veteran at WP's Yorkville, Ohio mill, condemned efforts to undermine the union warning that "dissension will ultimately hurt all members. It may prolong the strike. You've got to stick together. That's the only way you'll get anything accomplished."

Dee Hashman, a clerk at the same mill, added, "I think [the union's officers] really explained the company's position - like when they offered us a $3,000 signing bonus, they were really trying to buy us."

Ice forced the closing of many roads in Western Pennsylvania, but that didn't stop Becker and representatives from the union's Pittsburgh headquarters from visiting every picket line in the three-state strike region and then discussing the strike issues at the union meeting.

"This is not just a battle. It's like fighting a war," Becker said at a press conference after the Wheeling gathering.

"They can drag this strike on for another day, another week, another month or another year but at the end, we're going to be there one day longer than the company." He announced that the union has released $1 million to carry the membership through the strike.

Already tens of thousands of dollars had been donated by rank and file steelworkers at gate collections throughout the three affected states. The strike is the longest in the history of Basic Steel, surpassing the 119-day strike in 1958 - 1959.

To drive home the point that WP steelworkers do not stand alone, Becker announced that USWA local union officers, representing steelworkers from all the companies would meet in Cleveland, Jan. 29 with one point on the agenda - "What are we going to do to win the WP strike?"

The federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has ruled that WP is in a position to honor its promise to steelworkers and restore the pension plan slashed by bankruptcy court 11 years ago.

"Our members worked darn hard to make Wheeling-Pittsburgh the most profitable steel company in the U.S.," said Becker. "It's our turn for pension security and respect. These people have earned it."

The United Steelworkers have published a pamphlet titled "Special Report: Why We Are on Strike at Wheeling- Pittsburgh." The report charges that Wheeling-Pitt and its parent corporation, WHX, is sitting on $406 million in cash "much of it representing the money saved by the company as a result of the cheap pension we have endured over the past 11 years."

Wheeling-Pitt, the report charged, engaged in a "legal paper shuffle" to hide the money in WHX accounts. "Believe it or not, the company could almost cover the cost of our pensions over the next three years with just the interest on its $406 million."

The small industrial communities up and down the Ohio and Monongahela river valleys have closed ranks behind the USWA. In the shadow of the Wheeling Downs Race Track, owned by the CEO of WP, churches and other charities are conducting food drives for the steelworkers. "The bags of food to feed families filled the Blessed Trinity Church," said Genne Kuhn. "There were so many bags, you could hardly get into the church."

Retired USWA members, former LTV and U.S. Steel workers who belong to the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees filled two buses for a trip to Allenport, Pa. to join the USWA Local 1187 picketlines outside a WP mill. A bitter wind, known here as the "hawk," blew off the Mon river as they delivered money collected from retirees, many on fixed incomes, and gave nut rolls to the strikers.

-Rick Nagin contributed to this article.