"We had anticipated this, because we said all along that Kaiser was running this plant unsafely and dangerously with poorly trained replacements after they locked us out," he said in a recent telephone interview. "We were surprised, though, that they were cited for only 21 violations, when they could have been cited for so many more."

The citations stemmed from MSHA's investigation of the July 5, 1999, explosion that destroyed most of Kaiser's alumna refinery in Gramercy, injuring 20 employees and damaging windows in the surrounding area. The plant has been closed since then. MSHA charged the company with serious violations of mandatory safety standards and other regulations, 13 of the 21 being the most severe kind of citation the agency can issue. Some of the cited violations include inoperative pressure valve systems, blocked pressure relief piping, routine operation of pressure vessels beyond their design capacity, inadequate safety training, and lack of proper protective equipment.

In addition, Kaiser was charged with seven counts of impeding or interfering with MSHA's investigation. "Company personnel refused to testify, taking the fifth amendment, so MSHA couldn't find out who ordered all the heater valves to be closed," Jasmin said. "They could have gotten jail time. Plus the company tried to withhold information and restrict the investigation to certain areas of the plant."

Jasmin reported that on January 12 Kaiser was granted a permit by the parish government to rebuild the plant. "Kaiser got the site cleaned up and shipped out all the scrap to metal reprocessing plants, but they needed a permit to put in the pilings for foundations. The local government is losing around $30,000 a month in tax revenues from the plant, and there's been an unemployment crisis in the area with over 300 workers permanently laid off from Agrico, a fertilizer plant, and more from a Freeeport plant. So the parish government, even though they claim that they want to get the local people back to work at Kaiser, easily granted them the permit to rebuild."

USWA members at Kaiser struck in September 1998 over cuts in retiree health insurance benefits, seniority, job security, pensions, and wages. A year ago they offered to return to work while continuing to negotiate, but the company locked them out. Since then the 2,900 USWA members at five plants in Gramercy, Louisiana; Newark, Ohio; and Spokane and Tacoma, Washington, have continued the struggle. Kaiser has been operating the plants with management and replacement workers.

The company met with the union negotiating team in mid-January. This is the first time that they have met since negotiations broke down in August over Kaiser's demand that the union agree to contracting out 239 jobs, or 8 percent of the total work force.

"But we're going to continue sending out our Road Warriors until this lockout is settled," said Jasmin, referring to union members who spread word of the fight and picket company offices around the country.  
 
 
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