USX demands takebacks; Steelworkers locked out

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The left and the Democratic Party, See pp. 10-11. EMBARGOT NOT NICARAGUA A year ago, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel used the bankruptcy laws to force a new contract with seriously weakened work rules and large wage and benefit cuts upon its workers. At the time, top US Steel (since renamed USX) executive David Roderick asserted that his company would demand similar concessions.

The basic steel contract covering US Steel, LTV, Bethlehem, National, Inland, and Armco was due to expire Aug. 1, 1986. The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) pressed for early negotiations, agreeing to take the companies' financial problems into account.

All but US Steel agreed to these early negotiations. Fearing it was necessary to save their jobs, steelworkers at LTV, Bethlehem, National, and Inland ratified new contracts with wage and benefit cuts of up to $3.60 per hour.

As the contract expiration date approached, negotiations continued at Armco and at USX. Armco agreed to the USWA's request to operate under the old contract while negotiations continued. USX rejected this request of the union. Roderick described it as a thinly veiled attempt to have a strike labeled a lockout so steelworkers could collect unemployment insurance.

The 1983 concessionary contract had been approved with the understanding that the money saved through worker givebacks would be invested in modernizing the steel industry. Before the ink was even dry, US Steel violated the agreement by using its cash bonanza to purchase Marathon Oil. Since then, it has continued to post huge profits.

USX's negotiating stance is to sit back, refusing to come down in its demand for "competitive" wages and benefits, while the USWA retreats.

USx refuses to open books Originally, USWA leaders assured steelworkers that concessions would only be offered to those companies that proved they needed them by opening their books to independent auditors. USX refused to go along, denying the union access to such financial information.

USWA officials stated that while concessions were necessary at LTV and Bethlehem, steelworkers at USX should receive a raise. When the company refused to budge, USWA negotiators offered a wage and benefit freeze. When the company rejected this proposal, union negotiators offered wage and benefit cuts of $0.82 per hour.

During the last two weeks of July, USX began preparations to shut down its mills by laying off most of its 20,000 employed steelworkers. (A similar number were already on indefinite long-term layoff.) By Aug. 1, heavy padlocks barred the gates of the steel plants, as the company locked out the remainder of its union members.

The USX bosses continue to demand "competitive" wages and benefits. USWA negotiators have fallen into the company trap of agreeing to lower wages to equalize labor costs. However, even this is not enough for profit-hungry USX. Although (continued on page 5, in “LTV Steel retreats under strong union pressure”)

TANT GO AWAY RETRAN

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STEEL INDUSTRY CLOSED