Armed Picketers Arrested at Ohio Aluminum Plant
Source Associated Press
HANNIBAL, Ohio (AP) -- Ten striking factory workers armed with knives, bats and clubs were arrested after attempting to block vans entering an Ormet Corp. aluminum plant, police said.
The picketers were charged Friday with violating a court order requiring them to stay at least 2,000 feet away from the plant's entrance, Monroe County Sheriff Manifred Keylor said in a statement.
Additional charges of resisting arrest and assaulting law enforcement officers were pending, the statement said.
Police said they seized various weapons from the picketers, including a sledgehammer, an ax, knives, baseball bats and wooden clubs.
Danny Longwell, a local steelworkers union representative, said picketers blocked the vans because they believed they were carrying replacement workers into the plant on Friday. A call to the union seeking additional comment Saturday was not immediately returned.
But Ormet chief executive Mike Williams said Saturday the vans were carrying food, additional security personnel and one salaried worker, not replacement workers.
About 1,300 workers at two plants in Hannibal went on strike Monday against Ormet, which has sought U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval to void its labor agreements and impose new ones. The company is trying to cut $23 million in costs by freezing pension benefits, raising worker health plan contributions and changing work rules.
Union officials want the court to rule on its motion to have the company consider bids to buy the plants, which are located about 115 miles southeast of Columbus.
The situation outside the plants has been tense since the strike began. A truck was turned away Monday morning by crowds of picketers at the company gates and the driver of another truck was arrested after hitting a striker several hours later. The striker was treated at a hospital and released.
Wheeling, W.Va.-based Ormet has about 2,000 employees and plants in Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Louisiana. Workers are striking only at the two Hannibal plants.
