Wheeling Pitt strike solidarity spreads

by Fred Gaboury

This article was reprinted from the March 29, 1997 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

It might be Easter weekend but the picket lines are up at Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Company facilities in three states, as a strike by 4,500 members of five locals of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) continues well into its sixth month.

Nor has the holiday slowed solidarity activity in support of the strike among the 70,000 members of USWA District 7 who live and work in Indiana and Illinois.

"We send buses every weekend," Tim Waters, coordinator of Wheeling-Pitt solidarity in the district, told the World. "Our next delegation from northwest Indiana will be the weekend of April 11-12."

Waters said the district has not limited its solidarity activity to what the union calls its basic steel locals. "All our locals wanted to help," he said, "so we have invited them to participate."

Waters said District 7 is setting the pace when it comes to sending money and delegations to the Wheeling-Pitt picket lines. "And we should - we are the biggest district in the union. But I challenge anyone to beat us."

Waters, like others interviewed for this article, sees the trips to the picket lines as a two-way street. "They get a boost to their morale; we get a better understanding of what its all about."

Tom Hargrove, vice president of Local 1010 at Inland Steel's facility in East Chicago, Ind., agrees. "Yes, these visits give the strikers a boost and the money will help make things easier - and both are important."

Hargrove is equally impressed by the reaction of Local 1010 members who he says "get some first-hand experience about what a strike is all about. That gives real meaning to the slogan, 'Your fight is our fight.'"

Pointing to the fact that the last time Local 1010 members were on strike was in 1959, Hargrove said, "You would have to be in the mill 39 years to have any strike experience. That's a long time," Hargrove, who has worked at Inland for 34 years, added.

Local 1010 members collected nearly $12,000 at plant gates in February and March. Members of the executive board as well as grievers and stewards are donating more than $1,500 per month. The local has also tapped its treasury to the tune of $4,500.

Local 626-L, formerly a local of the Rubber Workers Union, has only been a member of the USWA since the two unions merged in 1995. "We're working hard to meet our goal of a buck per week per member to support our brothers and sisters at Wheeling-Pitt," said Jeff Townsend, the local's vice president.

The local takes up plant gate collections and sells raffle tickets as its main sources of raising money. "But we're determined to make that $2,000," Townsend said, "and if that means donating money from our treasury, so be it."

Thirty-three members of Local 626-L made the trip to Steubenville, Ohio on March 22. "We left about midnight Friday and got back about 10:30 Saturday night," Townsend said. "But that's what solidarity is all about. Without solidarity, we wouldn't have been able to make Bridgestone/Firestone back down." And with it, he said, they'll be able to make Wheeling-Pitt back down, too.

The strike began Oct. 1 when Wheeling-Pitt negotiators refused to budge on the union's demand that pensions be brought up to the defined benefit pensions of the rest of the industry. The company is also demanding a weakening of contract language on seniority, contracting out and jobs classifications.