Steel union scorns AKSteel RICO suit

By Denise Winebrenner Edwards

PITTSBURGH - "Absurd !" is the United Steelworkers' response to AKSteel's filing of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) charges against the union May 8. "The charges in this lawsuit are nothing more than AK's latest attempt to intimidate the 620 workers (in Mansfield, Ohio) it has locked out for seven months," said Ohio USWA Director Dave McCall.

"AK management only needs to look in the mirror to see who's responsible for the abusive labor relations that are destroying the livelihoods of 620 families and that have already wiped out more than $1 billion of shareholder value since the company's lockout began." Meanwhile, contract negotiations are continuing between AK and the steelworkers.

In September 1999, steelworkers, members of USWA Local 169, who had been covered by a USWA contract for at least 45 years, offered to continue under the existing agreement while negotiations continued. AK, while sitting at the bargaining table with the USWA, had already brought into Mansfield a private army of thugs to protect their scabs in the summer of 1999. They locked the gates on second and third generation union steelworkers, and, under guard of their private army and the cover of night, brought in scabs. Since then, AK's private army has operated outside the law in this Ohio community of 50,000.

Prior to dragging the union into court to answer their 173-page RICO brief filed May 8, AK has sued the USWA on many other charges and the city of Mansfield, which granted the giant steel company massive tax concessions several years ago.

AKSteel's seven month union-busting campaign prompted a letter to the company from 10 Democratic and Republican Ohio members of the US House of Representatives urging them to end the lockout. In their letter, the members of Congress, representing five million Ohio residents, branded AK as an "embarrassment to the State of Ohio ..."

Using RICO, originally intended to prosecute organized crime, AK is targeting workers' democratic rights to organize, bargain a contract and strike. Although the steel company included a list of 29 companies which it claims the USWA "completely destroyed," all of the companies of the list are not only operating, workers producing products and profits for stockholders, but the majority are successful and under USWA contract.

One thread that runs through the company press release is their so-called "right" to scab. With the passage of the Wagner Act nearly 60 years ago, no such right exists. Even the air traffic controllers, fired by President Reagan 20 years ago, reorganized a union, affiliated with the AFL-CIO, and work under a contract.

Workers thoughout the region have answered Mansfield steelworkers' call for solidarity, raising tens of thousands of dollars and, 5,000 strong, marched through town in March.

Members of USWA 169 make some of the highest quality steel in the U.S., primarily used in the appliance industry. Support for USWA 169 can be sent to: USWA 169, 376 West Longview, Mansfield, OH 44903.