USWA staff member John Puskar said that AK Steel's profits dropped 50 percent in the last two months and is still dropping. The workers, members of USWA Local 169 remain steadfast in their determination to save their union and win a fair contract. The five-month lockout is causing great hardship to families.
Family ties are being strained, a pall is cast over the whole city.
Bill Coffindaffer, a 34-year employee whose father and grandfather worked at the mill, talks of family tensions. My wife made me aware that I had barely spoken to her for six weeks. Mansfield Mayor Lydia Reid is also feeling the tension. The lockout is a strain for everyone. The city is striving for local control over Securecorp security guards being brought into the city by AK Steel.