|
|
Chicago Communist Frank Lumpkin on strike against Greyhound Lines
|
One day a group of ten year olds walked into a bookstore on the south side of Chicago. They looked around at the different books. One young boy saw the book Always Bring a Crowd: The Story of Frank Lumpkin, Steelworker, by Beatrice Lumpkin. The boy recognized the name Frank Lumpkin, and when asked where he had learned it, he responded, “In school, we learned about Martin Luther King, that woman who sat down on the bus, and Frank Lumpkin.� So who is this Frank Lumpkin, and how did he get taught in schools with great heroes like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.?
Well to many people, Frank Lumpkin is that big of a hero. When Wisconsin Steel Works, a steel mill in the Chicago neighborhood of South Deering, shut down and left its workers without their pensions, their last paychecks, and unemployed, Frank was determined to do something. He founded the Save Our Jobs Committee and 17 years later won a victory that would inspire many people to fight for what they deserve.
So here’s the story: After the third shift on March 28, 1980, the gates of Wisconsin Steel were locked. 3,500 workers were laid off, and the entire community was left in shock. The steelworkers had no warning, but the plant closing had been in the works for a long time. Two years earlier International Harvester, the owner of Wisconsin Steel, began to put their plan in motion. They took a tiny consulting firm, Environdyne, which could not have had more than 20 employees and gave them a “loan�, which enabled Envirodyne to turn around and “buy� Wisconsin Steel from Harvester. The deal left Envirodyne with a steel mill of over 3,500 employees and with a large debt to Harvester. A year and a half later, Harvester, which was a major producer of farm equipment, forced its workers out on strike for six months. The strike had a huge effect on Wisconsin Steel because Harvester was their major buyer. Wisconsin Steel had just barely made it through the strike, when Harvester called in the loan to Envirodyne. Envirodyne filed bankruptcy, shut down Wisconsin Steel, and the workers were left with nothing.
And that’s exactly how the story would have ended if it weren’t for Frank Lumpkin and the Save Our Jobs Committee. But Frank wasn’t just going to give up. The original goal of SOJ was to reopen the mill. They ran a petition campaign directed at the state legislature and the US Congress to reopen the mill. When a motion came up in Bankruptcy court to scrap the mill, which would mean it would never reopen, the SOJ held a press conference and made sure nothing happened to the mill.
As time went by, however, it became more and more apparent that Wisconsin Steel would not reopen. The focus of SOJ began to shift. A year after the plant closed, SOJ found a young lawyer, Tom Geoghegan, who was willing to take the case on a contingency basis, which meant he’d get paid when the case was settled. So the workers of Wisconsin Steel filed a lawsuit against International Harvester to get the benefits they had been cheated out of.
Meanwhile SOJ didn’t quit. There was plenty to do out in the streets while the legal battle was being fought in the court room. SOJ organized food lines to feed the unemployed steel workers. They also participated in a “Crisis March to Springfield for Jobs and Human Needs.� Frank Lumpkin was one of 20 who walked the entire 200 miles from the Chicago to the Illinois state capitol. They were joined by thousands of workers along the way.
SOJ also recognized the importance of supporting other workers in similar struggles. When the US South Works locked out its workers, SOJ walked the picket lines with the locked out steel workers. When Pullman Standard, which produced train cars, threatened to shut down, SOJ was out supporting the Pullman workers in their demand for a public works project to improve the mass transit system. This would not only keep Pullman Standard open, but it would also create a demand for steel.
So after seven years of keeping their struggle alive, SOJ finally won a major victory. In 1988 Harvester offered a settlement of $14.8 million. This settlement covered up until 1977, when Harvester sold the plant to Envirodyne. The SOJ could have stopped there, but by then the workers were determined to get everything they deserved. They decided to continue their fight and filed another lawsuit against Envirodyne to get their benefits for 1977 to 1980. It took eight more years, but the Wisconsin Steel workers eventually won that battle, too.
The Save Our Jobs Committee and Frank Lumpkin have had a huge affect on Chicago. Not only through their own struggle, but by helping the struggles of other workers and of the community. That affect is so large that, even now, 26 years later, kids are still being taught about the Wisconsin Steel plant closing and the people who weren’t willing to stand by and just let the bullies win.
Corina Marshall, a high school student, is a YCL Chicago member, and serves on the Young Communist League’s National Council.
|
Top level
Dynamic Magazine
