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AK Steel Files Motion to Amend RICO Lawsuit

12 September 2000

AK Steel Files Motion to Amend RICO Lawsuit, Alleges Continued Unlawful Acts by USWA AK STEEL CORPORATION LOGO AK Steel Corporation logo. (PRNewsFoto)[DM] MIDDLETOWN, OH USA 09/01/1999    

    MIDDLETOWN, Ohio, Sept. 11 AK Steel today said
it has filed a motion requesting to amend its RICO lawsuit filed in May
against the United Steelworkers of America labor union.  The complaint alleges
the defendants have engaged in unlawful, violent, extortionate and
racketeering acts against AK Steel and numerous other companies.
    (Photo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990901/AKSLOGO )
    According to the second amended complaint, filed today in U.S. District
Court, Southern District of Ohio, Western Division, defendants have, since
July 17 until at least August 31, continued to menace, harass, vandalize and
threaten employees and agents of AK Steel.  The amended complaint alleges,
among other things, that defendants USWA, its Local 169 (Mansfield, Ohio) and
their co-conspirators have since July 17, 2000:

    *  Vandalized a replacement employee's car by scratching into the paint
       the words "die scab".
    *  Made death threats against the company's employees.
    *  Killed an employee's pet dog and damaged the employee's home.
    *  Vandalized employees' vehicles with jack rocks.
    *  Shined laser lights into the eyes of drivers at the company's Mansfield
       plant.
    *  Threatened, menaced and sexually harassed employees at the company's
       Mansfield Works and elsewhere.
    *  Brought a knife to the picket line of the company's Mansfield Works.
    *  Struck with a picket sign and spat upon vehicles entering the company's
       Mansfield Works.
    *  Shot at and damaged an employee's vehicle with a ball bearing.
    *  Vandalized and placed explosive devices in certain employees'
       mailboxes.

    In addition, the second amended complaint asserts that an Administrative
Law Judge of the National Labor Relations Board found the USWA and two of its
locals jointly liable for approximately 80 unlawful, violent acts committed
against Rocky Mountain Steel (Pueblo, Colorado) and its replacement workers.
The Judge also found that the USWA and its locals deliberately destroyed
crucial documents relative to the trial.  The Judge found the USWA and its
locals had caused and encouraged violent misconduct and that their relentless
propaganda campaign against so-called "goon-guards" encouraged violence. That
decision was rendered on August 2, 2000 by Administrative Law Judge Thomas
Michael Patton for the National Labor Relations Board.
    AK Steel's complaint alleges that Rocky Mountain Steel is one of many
companies targeted by the USWA's racketeering and corrupt practices since at
least 1979.  The complaint now alleges the USWA and its co-conspirators are
responsible for more than a dozen acts of arson and more than 250 acts of
extortion against AK Steel, primarily in Mansfield where members of USWA Local
169 have been locked out since September 1, 1999.
    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.  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.