AK Steel Sues To Block USWA From Circumventing Federal Judge's Order
24 February 2000
AK Steel Sues To Block USWA From Circumventing Federal Judge's Order
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio--Feb. 23, 2000--AK Steel and other plaintiffs today filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to block continued attempts by the United Steelworkers of America to obtain private, confidential information about security employees protecting the company's Mansfield Works and its salaried employees.AK Steel learned that on or about February 8, 2000, Mark Robertson, president of USWA Local 169 in Mansfield, made a written request directly to the Ohio Department of Commerce seeking copies of the registration applications filed on behalf of all County Security Agency guards. AK Steel has utilized County Security, a Cleveland firm, for plant security since a labor dispute began September 1, 1999.
A riot, bombings, shootings, threats, intimidation and extensive vandalism have marked the labor dispute. The riot occurred on September 10 and resulted in injuries to 14 security guards and replacement workers, eight of whom required hospitalization. None of the rioters were reported to be injured or hospitalized. A number of members of the United Steelworkers of America and other unions in the Mansfield area face contempt of court, civil and criminal charges in relation to the dispute.
AK Steel and the other plaintiffs believe and have testified in federal court that the union seeks only to identify the security employees in order to harass and intimidate them and their families, which the court agreed was a valid concern.
On January 14 federal judge John M. Manos issued a ruling enjoining the City of Mansfield from enforcing an ordinance which would have required the plaintiffs to provide the very same registration documents that USWA Local 169 president Mark Robertson has requested from the Department of Commerce.
Councilman Walden A. Jefferson, a member of USWA Local 169, introduced the ordinance in October following the lockout of his union from the AK Steel plant. Dan Martin, a statewide office holder with the United Steelworkers of America, accompanied Mr. Jefferson in requesting that the Mansfield law director draft the ordinance.
Among the reasons for enjoining the city's enforcement of the ordinance, Judge Manos declared that Mr. Jefferson improperly voted on the ordinance because of a conflict of interest and that the ordinance violated the security guards' constitutional right to privacy.
"We are not surprised in the least that the USWA and the president of Local 169 continues to flaunt the law and ignore a federal judge's order," said Alan H. McCoy, vice president of public affairs for AK Steel. "Unfortunately it is consistent with a continuing pattern of illegal maneuvering in an attempt to intimidate AK Steel and force the company to accede to their bargaining demands. We will not be intimidated by such antics."
Mr. McCoy said the plaintiffs also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction today to enjoin the Ohio Department of Commerce from complying with the union's brazen attempt to circumvent the law.