<html> <head> <meta HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <meta NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Microsoft FrontPage 3.0"> <title>Our Struggle, June 2, 1998</title> <meta NAME="Template" CONTENT="C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT OFFICE\OFFICE\html.dot"> </head> <body LINK="#0000ff" VLINK="#800080" BGCOLOR="#ffffff"> <img SRC="../images/cfiourstruggle.gif" WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="169"> June 2, 1998 AFL-CIO to Members: Boycott Oregon Steel! Don't Bank With Wells! At the request of the Steelworkers union, the 13.2 million-member AFL-CIO has taken the rarely-used step of calling for a national boycott of two companiesOregon Steel Mills (OSM) and its main financial backer, Wells Fargo Bankto protest the war they are waging on 1,000 members of the United Steelworkers of America at OSM's CF&I mill (now doing business as Rocky Mountain Steel) in Pueblo, CO. Last October 3, the company forced the workers out on strike by repeatedly violating U.S. labor laws. The labor federation is asking its 73 international unions, their 30,000 local unions, individual union members and central labor bodies in every state to avoid doing business with OSM and to close any institutional or personal accounts they have with Wells Fargo Bank. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the Steelworkers union believes one of the reasons the work stoppage in Pueblo has gone on for so long is that Wells Fargo has led a group of banks in making a $125 million line of credit available to Oregon Steel. Not only was Wells Fargo instrumental in making the initial $125 million loan, it secretly negotiated two bailouts when Oregon Steel was about to default on the loan. The secret deal also made available a another $15 million to partially offset the cost of the Pueblo Steelworkers' three-month unfair labor practice strike. <table BORDER="1" CELLSPACING="1" CELLPADDING="7" WIDTH="427"> <tr> <td VALIGN="TOP">"Our resolve in this matter will send a clear signal not only to Wells Fargo, but to other banks that would use our own deposits against working families and our unions."AFL CIO PRESIDENT JOHN SWEENEY 5/15/98</td> </tr> </table>   Production Woes Continue to Plague OSM's Pueblo Mill When it comes to production problems, replacement workers at Oregon Steel's Rocky Mountain (formerly CF&I) Steel mill in Pueblo, CO, continue finding new ways to make mistakes that cost the company a bundle. The latest difficulties, according to sources inside the plant, involve a huge jump in the percentage of flawed rail being produced for Union Pacific and other customers; the company's inability to produce a new type of rail ordered by the government of Egypt; and mechanical problems with the seamless/tube mill's rotary furnace. Most plant personnel are untrained replacement workers hired when the Steelworkers union struck the plant last October. In the past, officials from Union Pacific Railroad have threatened to cancel orders and take their business elsewhere when their inspectors found more than three percent of the rail in a particular order to be faulty. Significantly, by the time the rail gets to the UP inspectors, it has already been examined by the plant's own in-house inspectors. Since April, sources report, UP has found 13 percent of the already-inspected rail to be unacceptable, due to end-related defects such as hooks, droops and saddles. A second recent snafu involved a large order from the government of Egypt for a new type of rail never before produced at the Pueblo plant. Over the course of 12 eight to 12-hour shifts, workers produced nothing but scrap. When they tried to remedy the problem by machining the rollers, it only made matters worseand ruined six $15,000 to $17,000 rollers in the process. Yet a third problem arose in the seamless mill on May 22, the rotary furnace that reheats billets went down due to problems with its mechanical drive system. When workers attempted to re-start the furnace on May 28, they burned out the electrical wiring underneath the furnace, keeping it off line until at least May 31. <img SRC="../images/cfihelp2.gif" WIDTH="235" HEIGHT="196"> <img SRC="../images/cfifooter2.gif" WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="20">  <a href="index.htm">Return to CF&I Support Page</a> <a href="../index.htm">HOME</a> | <a href="../organize.html">ORGANIZE</a> | <a href="../news.html">NEWS</a> | <a href="../services.html">SERVICES</a> | <a href="../uswa.html">MAP</a> | <a href="../rapid.html">RAPID RESPONSE</a> | <a href="../newusers.html">HELP</a> | <a href="../feedback.html">FEEDBACK</a> </body> </html>