Strike tensions increase with shipments of pipe

A company official said the shipments will continue as orders are filled.
THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
WHEATLAND, Pa. -- Tensions on the picket line in front of Wheatland Tube Co. rose sharply as the company began hauling pipe out of the strike-bound plant.
Striking members of Local 1660 of the United Steelworkers of America said they knew something was about to happen when the company suddenly brought in a private security force Monday.
Added to that was the startup of the plant's furnace Monday, an indication that production was about to resume, pickets said.
A beefed-up police presence was also visible as the Mercer County Sheriff's office and Pennsylvania State Police suddenly had cars around the plant gates Wednesday as six empty tractor-trailers pulled into the plant, loaded up with pipe and then pulled out around 11 a.m.
Six more trucks showed up in the afternoon. One left empty, but five others loaded with pipe left the plant around 2:30 p.m., again with a high police presence around the area and a police escort.
No interference
Strikers shouted and jeered at both the truckers and the security guards who stayed inside the plant fence, but they didn't stop the trucks or throw anything at them.
Riley Smoot, Southwest Mercer County Regional police chief, was on hand for the morning shipment and said that there was some spitting at the trucks but that the approximately 50 pickets were otherwise well behaved.
"It's not getting any prettier," Smoot said of the strike that began April 28 with the expiration of the steel workers' old contract.
Bill Romine, Mercer County sheriff, addressed the pickets minutes after the morning shipment, advising them to keep their cool and do nothing to interfere with the truck traffic.
Any violence or disruption could lead to a court injunction severely limiting the number of pickets allowed at plant gates, he warned.
Confirms shipments
Bill Kerins, Wheatland Tube vice president of operations, confirmed the startup of shipments and said there will be more.
He denied rumors that replacement workers had been brought into the plant and said the company has used its foremen to run some operations and the furnace.
He said that the pipe and tube industry remains depressed but that Wheatland does have some orders to fill.
The shipments and startup of the furnace clearly angered strikers and could hamper efforts to work out a contract settlement, said Dom Vadala, chief negotiator for the union.
The two sides are scheduled to meet again at 10 a.m. Friday. A company insistence that workers begin picking up a percentage of their health-care premiums is a major stumbling block, he said.
Vadala said he thinks the company wants the pickets to make a mistake that will give it grounds to seek an injunction to limit the number of pickets.
The foremen working in the plant now "are doing our jobs," he said, adding, "It's going to be a long time before they heal these wounds."
There were about a dozen state police vehicles in the immediate vicinity at the time plus sheriff and local police cars.
'Sad day'
"It's a sad day for the company. I never thought I'd see this company do that," said Mike Munger, Local 1660 president, moments after the trucks pulled out.
The pickets have been here for 14 weeks and there hasn't been any violence, he said, questioning the need for a private security force on company ground.
The pickets' mood was brightened moments later when an envoy from steel workers at the Sharon Tube Co. showed up bearing an envelope containing $2,035 in cash for the strikers, eliciting applause from the pickets.
Sharon Tube workers have been very generous, as have others who support the labor effort, Munger said.
gwin@vindy.com