<html> <head> <meta name="Template" content="C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT OFFICE\OFFICE\html.dot"> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 2.0"> <title>Steelworkers Fight for Fairness at MSI Inc</title> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080"> Steelworkers Fight for Fairness at MSI Inc. in Marietta, Ohio FACT SHEET <ul> <li>On Aug. 17, 1995, the workers at Magnetic Specialty Inc. (MSI) in Marietta, Ohio, voted by a clear majority for union representation with the Steelworkers in a government supervised secret ballot election. This company produces magnetic products, including some sold to the federal government. </li> <li>After the election, MSI management was ordered by the government through the NLRB on three separate occasions to recognize the union and begin talks with workers for a union contract. But MSI management persists in its anti-union attitude, has made only minor efforts to comply with government orders, and continues to oppose the workers and their union. </li> <li>For 16 months after the election, MSI workers endured further mistreatment on the job and the firing of union supporters. At that point the majority of employees at MSI voted to stop work until the company would recognize and bargain fairly with their union. The strike began March 2, 1997. </li> <li>MSI responded to this recognition strike by bringing in replacement workers who have regularly threatened and spit on the striking MSI workers, as well as security guards who have proven to be equally threatening to the union supporters, most of whom are simply young people struggling to raise families and not looking for trouble. </li> <li>Oct. 17, 1997 the U.S. 6th Circuit Court in Cincinnati ruled in the union's favor on MSI's election challenge and ordered the company to negotiate. But there has been little progress. To date, MSI president, Gary Murphy, has refused all efforts by union workers to resolve this dispute in a mutually respectful manner. </li> <li>MSI workers have endured a lot from the company, including:</li> </ul> <div align="left"> <table border="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td width="30%"><img src="../images/msi03.jpg" alt="msi03.jpg (23127 bytes)" width="200" height="306"></td> <td width="70%"><ul> <li>Numerous union workers have been discharged from their jobs at the company, beginning Oct. 31, 1995 before the strike began and continuing to this day;</li> <li>The company demands that a third of the workforce be fired for picket activity; </li> <li>Management unilaterally moved job classifications out of the bargaining unit, as well as altering work rules and other terms of employment without any attempt to consult the union; </li> <li>Union workers and leaders have faced regular threats of violence and loss of jobs; - Union pickets have been attacked and assaulted by replacement workers; </li> <li>The personal property of workers and that of the union have been destroyed; </li> <li>On June 20, 1997, <a href="msi620.html">gun shots were fired at pickets</a> from the direction of the plant where replacement workers and guards were located. Though no one was hit, bullet holes remain in the picket's trailer. The case remains unsolved.</li> </ul> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <ul> <li>MSI has hired disreputable people during the dispute. One guard at the plant was forced to resign from the Marietta police force for alleged repeated use of excessive force. One of the replacement workers hired by MSI went to Charleston, W.Va., for the weekend and ended up shooting a state trooper after a high-speed car chase.</li> </ul> <ul> <li>Despite all this, the brave union men and women maintain their picket line day in and day out. Though they face hostile guards and replacement workers, they are committed to this fight for their democratic rights. It is not a dispute of their own making, but it's not one from which they are willing to back down. Their goal is to help pave the way for the young people of Marietta to have better jobs, better treatment and a better future.</li> </ul> <a href="../index.htm">Return to MSI Solidarity Page</a> </body> </html>