The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.3           January 25, 1999 
 
 
MSI Workers Win Union Contract After 22-Month Strike  

BY KEVIN DWIRE AND MARK SIMON
CLEVELAND - After 22 months on strike, workers at Magnetic Specialty, Inc. (MSI) in Marietta, Ohio, voted 52 to 2 on January 11 to approve their first contract with the company. The workers had joined the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) in 1995. "This is a tremendous victory for the union and workers everywhere," said Kathryn Ward, one of the strike committee cochairs.

The workers voted to strike in early 1997, after the company refused to recognize the union and began firing union activists. The walkout began March 2, 1997. MSI has been running the plant with scabs since then.

In a registration of the determination expressed by many of the strikers over the course of the fight, MSI was forced to reinstate all 16 of the workers it fired during the strike. The agreement ratified by USWA members includes a $1.30 per hour wage increase over the three-year contract, company contribution of 93 percent of the family health-care benefits, as well as paid holidays, vacation, sick days, and a pension plan.

The striking USWA members had maintained a picket line and trailer outside the plant, and organized several solidarity marches and rallies involving thousands of workers from throughout the region, the most recent on Oct. 10, 1998. Marietta is located on the Ohio River in southeast Ohio.

Striker Rick Farley said that for him the high point of the struggle was "the way we stayed together and stayed on strike for 22 months, and all the support we received from other unions and people who helped get out the word on our fight."

More than $200,000 was raised for the MSI strikers to supplement the USWA strike fund, from plant gate collections, contributions from local unions, and other supporters. The level of donations was great enough to allow the strike to make contributions to other labor struggles, such as the workers now on strike at Monarch Rubber in Spencer, West Virginia, and at Kaiser Aluminum in Newark, Ohio.

According to Ward, the USWA in Ohio is encouraging contingents from USWA locals to be present when MSI workers return to work at 10:30 p.m. on January 17 and 6:30 a.m. on January 18, to congratulate fellow union members. There will also be a victory celebration on Saturday, January 23, at 12:30 p.m., at the Marietta Shrine Club (Fairgrounds) in Marietta.

Kevin Dwire is a member of United Auto Workers Local 1196.

 
 
 
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