Steel workers fight for their jobs
By Martha Grevatt
Cleveland
The workers at LTV Steel Co. call it a terrorist attack on
the city of Cleveland. They have renamed the company Liars
Thieves Vultures, Inc.
The victims of economic terrorism are the steel workers. The
accused are the CEOs of the company.
Their crime is the decision to shut down all their
steel-making operations, throwing 3,200 workers in Cleveland
and 4,300 more in Illinois and Indiana onto the scrap heap. On
top of that, they are threatening to cut health benefits to
over 40,000 retirees and training programs for laid-off
workers.
Since last Dec. 29, LTV, along with almost a dozen other
steel companies, has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. On Nov. 20
LTV filed a motion in bankruptcy court asking permission to
idle all operations for 60 days, and then to shut down if no
buyer is found.
On Nov. 27 LTV began laying off workers and started the
involved process of shutting down the mills.
Workers reported to union officials that the measures being
taken would result in a "cold" or permanent shutdown--as
opposed to a "hot" or temporary one.
Earlier this year the company had shut down its other mill
in Cleveland, leaving 700 jobless. While it initially agreed to
a hot shutdown, hot turned cold with the excuse of Sept.
11.
Back in 1999, LTV's credit was still good. The company went
deep into debt to purchase Copperweld, a steel pipe and tube
company, at a price of $656 million. Now it admits that this is
the major factor in the credit crisis, yet it wants to
eliminate basic steel operations while keeping Copperweld
open.
In the spring, the union had agreed to major wage and
benefit concessions. In late November, the company negotiated
$320 million more in cost savings in talks with major
creditors. CEO William Bricker did not even notify the Steel
Workers union of LTV's shutdown plans.
Local elected officials were likewise kept in the dark,
prompting Mayor Michael White to call Bricker "the Art Modell
of steel." Modell was the owner of the Cleveland Browns who
suddenly moved the team to Baltimore in 1995.
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich went to court and was able to
block the immediate shutdown. But the steel workers' future is
anything but secure.
On Nov. 29 hundreds of militant steel workers rallied
outside the plant to save their jobs. Initially chanting,
"Bricker's gotta go," they roared when it was announced that he
had resigned.
Bricker earned the ire of workers and the community for his
outrageous salary of $700,000 a year along with a
million-dollar bonus he was set to be paid in several
installments, all while claiming the company was losing
millions of dollars. Bricker cashed in his bonus days before
his resignation was made public.
On Dec. 1, some 500 steel workers and their supporters
briskly marched several miles to press their demands again.
They began their march at St. Michael's Hospital, just blocks
away from their mill. It had been saved from closing after a
militant struggle uniting unions and the community.
They marched all the way to downtown Cleveland, chanting,
"Save our jobs." Their chants were loud but almost drowned out
by the honks of support. Not only motorists, but Teamsters, bus
drivers and postal workers on the job honked to express their
outrage at LTV bosses.
There is no neutrality in this union town when it comes to
shutting down LTV Steel. If the courts allow this shutdown,
many times the 3,200 jobs directly affected will be lost
indirectly.
The Catholic and Lutheran dioceses have filed
friend-of-the-court briefs to stop the shutdown. Politicians
have gotten on the bandwagon--the Dec. 1 march was called by
Kucinich and joined by Mayor-elect Jane Campbell and dozens of
other elected officials.
The next phase will open Dec. 4, when U.S. Bankruptcy Court
Judge William T. Bodoh will begin hearings on LTV's request.
Steel workers plan to pack the courtroom to defend the right to
their jobs.
Reprinted from the Dec. 13, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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