Steelworkers’ Rally Protests Ohio Lockout
From Associated Press
MANSFIELD, Ohio —
Locked-out steelworkers and thousands of supporters held a noisy rally Saturday to press AK Steel to reach a contract settlement.
“AK is a renegade company,” Steelworkers International President George Becker told the cheering crowd. “As an evil empire, they are determined to destroy this union.”
About 620 local members have been locked out of their jobs since their contract with Pittsburgh-based Armco Inc. expired seven months ago.
Middletown-based AK Steel, which bought Armco a month after the lockout started, has used nonunion replacement workers to continue making steel for auto emission systems.
