DES MOINES, Iowa--A broad range of unionists from throughout the Midwest joined members of the Steelworkers union to mark the third year of their strike against Titan Tire here April 28.
The crowd of 500 began by commemorating Workers Memorial Day beside a plot of small white crosses, each with the name of one of the 55 workers who died on the job in Iowa last year.
Speakers at a rally and cookout held in a nearby park included a representative of the United Methodist Church, Iowa governor Thomas Vilsack, regional and international representatives of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) and the AFL-CIO, as well as Larry Ginter, a hog farmer representing Iowans Concerned for Community Improvement (ICCI).
The 670 members of USWA Local 164 walked out of the Titan Tire plant May 1, 1998. The unionists struck over forced overtime, and health and pension benefits cuts demanded by the company. Titan workers were regularly scheduled to work 26 days in a row before getting a day off, many times working 12-hour shifts. The union and company recently met for the first time in over a year. "We're in negotiations right now," local president John Peno told the Des Moines Register, "and we'll continue to meet as long as we can."
In September of 1998 USWA members in Natchez, Mississippi, were locked out after Titan owner Maurice Taylor bought the plant and refused to honor the union contract. Thomas "T-Bone" Bradley, the president of USWA Local 303L from Natchez, told the rally that the 330 members of his local "are as strong as the 670 members [of Local 164] here."
Workers at Firestone plants in the region attended the rally, as did steelworkers locked out by AK Steel in Mansfield, Ohio. Larry Pugh, one of the locked-out workers there, told the Militant that none of the union members have crossed the line in Mansfield. He said that the company is hiring replacement workers on a daily basis because of the high turnover rate in the plant.
UWSA members on strike here at Titan Tire maintain a round-the-clock picket line and have traveled across the country to win support for their fight. During a recent visit to McCook, Nebraska, striker Terry Elockner and his wife Peggy said they distributed information on the Titan strike to workers at Valmart, a company that manufactures irrigation systems. The company uses Titan products on the equipment.
"The workers there said we came on the right day," Peggy Elockner said. The plant is nonunion and the company had fired several workers that day. She said that workers told them that conditions were bad in the plant, and they were interested in finding out more about organizing a union. "Workers took flyers we had on the strike, and one of them posted a flyer on the bulletin board in the plant," she added.