---

AK Steel Files RICO Lawsuit Against USWA and International Officers

8 May 2000

AK Steel Files RICO Lawsuit Against USWA and International Officers

    MIDDLETOWN, Ohio--May 8, 2000--AK Steel said today that it has filed a lawsuit against the United Steelworkers of America labor union that alleges the union and certain individuals have engaged in unlawful, violent, extortionate and racketeering acts spanning decades in violation of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
    According to the lawsuit, AK Steel has suffered millions of dollars in damages as a result of the ongoing unlawful activity. The complaint contends that AK Steel is entitled to recover three times the damages it has sustained as a result of the Defendants' RICO violations.
    The federal suit, filed in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Western Division, also names as defendants USWA Local 169 (Mansfield, Ohio), USWA president George F. Becker, USWA secretary-treasurer Leo W. Gerard and the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and its secretary-treasurer Richard L. Trumka.
    The 173-page suit alleges that the USWA, certain of its members and officers, and certain members of other AFL-CIO unions have engineered, carried out, condoned or tolerated acts of attempted murder, bombings and threats of rape and murder against AK Steel employees and their families, among hundreds of other allegations.
    The lawsuit alleges that the USWA, certain of its members and certain of its affiliated and local unions have carried out similar wrongdoing against numerous other companies, especially those that have used replacement workers to continue operating during labor disputes. The use of replacement workers during union labor disputes is a federally protected right.
    According to the lawsuit, the following are among the other companies targeted by the USWA's racketeering and corrupt practices since at least 1979:

    -- National Metal Abrasive, Inc., Wadsworth, Ohio

    -- RMI Titanium Company, Niles, Ohio

    -- Kaiser Aluminum, Spokane, Washington

    -- Demag Delaval Turbomachinery Corporation, Trenton,
    New Jersey

    -- Southwire (NSA), Hawesville, Kentucky

    -- Wheland Foundry, Chattanooga, Tennessee

    -- Titan Tire, Des Moines, Iowa

    -- Conti Construction Company, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

    -- Georgetown Steel, Georgetown, South Carolina

    -- GST Steel Company, Kansas City, Missouri

    -- Magnetic Specialties, Inc., Marietta, Ohio

    -- WCI Steel, Inc., Warren, Ohio

    -- Concord Steel, Warren, Ohio

    -- Calex Corporation, Campbell, Ohio

    -- Titanium Metals Corporation (TIMET), Henderson and
    Las Vegas, Nevada

    -- Bayou Steel, La Place, Louisiana

    -- Trinity Industries, Bessemer, Alabama

    -- Lukens Steel Company, Coatesville, Pennsylvania

    -- Ravenswood Aluminum Corporation, Ravenswood, West Virginia

    -- Ideal Electric, Mansfield, Ohio

    -- Hater Industries, Delhi, Ohio

    -- LTV Aerospace and Defense Company, East Camden, Arkansas

    -- Thomas Steel Corporation, Chicago, Illinois

    -- Phelps Dodge Corporation, Morenci, Arizona

    -- Jarl Extrusions, Inc., Elizabethon, Tennessee

    -- Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia

    -- Rocky Mountain Steel, Pueblo, Colorado

    -- AK Steel, Mansfield, Ohio

    The lawsuit alleges that defendants Becker, Gerard, Trumka and others have directed, aided and abetted, ratified, knowingly tolerated, or conspired to commit predicate acts pleaded in the lawsuit. The complaint claims that the ongoing pattern of unlawful activity is a deliberate part of the USWA's "arsenal of organizing, bargaining and strike weapons."
    The complaint further states that AK Steel expects that the discovery phase of the lawsuit will reveal further evidence of RICO violations. The suit alleges 13 acts of arson and more than 165 acts of extortion against AK Steel and its contractors since last September.
    Members of USWA Local 169 were locked out by Armco Inc. on September 1, 1999 after the parties failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. The complaint says that the company locked the union members out due to numerous acts of vandalism, production disruptions and threats against the company, its employees and their family members. AK Steel acquired Armco via a merger on September 30, 1999. The company has continued to operate the plant at full production with salaried employees and replacement workers since September.
    According to the complaint, the USWA and certain of its officers and agents have employed a strategy utilizing violence, intimidation, threats, coercion and extortion in an attempt to force AK Steel to accede to the union's bargaining demands in Mansfield. The complaint alleges that the USWA has used a virtually identical strategy against other companies that have or have attempted to operate their plants with replacement workers during labor disputes with the USWA. According to the complaint, jack rocks, riots, murderous threats and attempts to completely destroy companies are common tools used by the USWA in labor disputes when employers exercise their legal rights to operate with replacement workers.