Striking steelworkers get a boost in Boston

by Julian Carvajal & Bruce Bostick

This article was reprinted from the June 7, 1997 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

BOSTON - Steelworkers who have been on strike against the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation since Oct. 1 were given a rousing welcome when their bus pulled into Beantown May 29 to picket the offices of Dewey Square Investors, which owns 10 percent of Wheeling-Pitt stock.

Trade unionists and community supporters, many wearing red T-shirts and hats, had come to demand that Dewey Square's president, Peter M. Whitman, exert pressure on Wheeling- Pitt chief, Ron LaBow, to settle the eight-month strike. But Whitman fled from the building, leaving Richard Kane, who heads Dewey Square's investment department, to meet with the strikers.

Outside the demonstrators chanted, "Stand up, steel workers!" and "AFL-CIO, Ron LaBow has to go!" as they marched. Paul Cesaro, vice-president of USWA Local 1190 from Steubenville, Ohio, told the World that LaBow's intransigence has "placed mental anguish and suffering on the union members and their families."

He said the union plans to draw attention to LaBow's lavish lifestyle coupled with his total disregard for the well- being of working people. Cesaro called LaBow a prime example of corporate greed. "We will take whatever steps are necessary," he said, "in order to get Ron LaBow back to the bargaining table."

The next day, the strikers went to Hamilton Township where Whitman lives and talked to hundreds of his neighbors about the suffering inflicted on the 4,500 strikers and their families.

As he picketed Dewey Square Investors, Ed Melchor, a steel worker and member of Local 1190, said, "Our families are holding up but it's hard on them. It was an historic moment when the AFL-CIO said, 'Your fight is our fight!'"

He noted that the communities of the Ohio and Mon valleys have been very supportive. Local businesses have given the strikers' families discounts and free services. "They make us feel they appreciate what we have done for them during the years. I just hope that someday we can return all the kindness."

The team of 45 Wheeling-Pitt strikers distributed 7,500 leaflets to passersby, many of them office workers and professionals. Workers from a neighboring construction site stopped by to greet the steel workers and express their solidarity.

This was the kickoff of a campaign targetting large financial investors in WHX. The strike has cost Wheeling- Pitt more than $150 million and the value of WHX stock has dropped 40 percent since the strike began.

The next target is Mellon Bank CEO Frank V. Cahouet. The USWA will stage a mass picketline in front of the Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, Thursday, June 12.

The solidarity campaign got a boost last month when the Cleveland Federation of Labor established a Wheeling-Pitt solidarity committee. Larry Townsend, a union steward and strike leader, told a CFL meeting, "We've had to bury six of our members." His voice cracking, he added, "We've faced hostile politicians, courts, right-to-work, pro-company preachers and lying corporate media during that time. We've had money problems and family problems, but not one of our members has crossed the picket line."