U.S. Steelworkers May End Long Wells Fargo Boycott

The United Steelworkers of America said it may consider ending a boycott of Wells Fargo & Co. after the San Francisco-based bank stopped acting as the organizer of a $125 million line of credit for Oregon Steel Mills Inc.

Wells Fargo will continue to contribute to the credit line, though Oregon Steel itself is arranging banks’ participation, the company and the bank said. A Wells Fargo spokeswoman described as “exaggerated” the union’s claim that the boycott led to $1.2 billion in withdrawals from the bank.

“We can’t bow to pressure,” said a Wells Fargo spokeswoman, Kathleen Shilkret. “It would set a dangerous precedent, not only for us, but for all lenders.”

The USWA and the AFL-CIO have boycotted Wells Fargo for 19 months because it led eight banks in providing credit to Oregon Steel, which didn’t rehire workers after a strike.

The union will end the boycott if Wells Fargo pulls out of the loan or makes a “good-faith effort” to persuade Oregon Steel to rehire the fired workers, said USWA spokesman Eric Lerner.

The controversy started in October 1997, when 1,100 steelworkers at Oregon Steel’s CF&I; subsidiary in Pueblo, Colo., went on strike to protest what it claimed were company violations of Federal labor law. When they ended their strike three months later, the company refused to reinstate the “vast majority” of USWA workers to their jobs, the union said.

To retaliate, unions and individuals severed ties with Wells Fargo, pulling pension and retirement funds out of the bank, the steel union said.