|
Homestead, PA
This poem is dedicated to the men and women that I worked along side of at US Steel's Homestead Works, Homestead, PA. For 10 years I walked through The Hole In The Wall Gate in that dirty old mill that I came to love and respect. You had to respect her; cause if you didn't you might have gotten injured or even died. I worked along side of Old Timers that had plenty of stories to spin, of fighting for the Union or when there was no Union at all. I worked along side of Summer Rookies that had PHD's after their names; Cause Daddy was a big shot down town and wanted his kid to get a taste of Sweat and Steel. When they closed The Big Gray Ugly, many people lost everything they owned. We became a statistics on unemployment lists, Foreclosure lists, Suicide Lists. Families disintegrated. People left town to find work, as The Steel Valley became The Rust Bowl. This poem is a tale of those times.
by arthur lee
Down and dirty Stands empty, quiet and alone It's buildings melting into the ground as they turn to rust The ones still standing that is While others are striped from the inside out by the some of the same folk who worked in them they packed the machinery loaded it on barges to send down river to some non-union town or country It was proud folks who worked there that poured the iron and made the steel before the fire went out The big gray ugly was once the pride of Homestead Pride of the Valley Pride of the industry In the early days many men and even boys gave their lives every time a heat was tapped making steel was very dangerous Even more so at 25 cents an hour The company owned the town The streets, the stores, company houses, company food It all came out those proud folks pockets If you were lucky and got picked to work in the shape up It probably meant that the foreman was sleeping with your wife or girlfriend but she wouldn't tell ya cause she was happy that you made $4 for a 16 hour day and you made it home safe and sound The Big Gray Ugly Withstood it all Through the strike of 1892 Pinkertons, Frick, Carnegie with his library on the hill Making steel for armor, tanks, shells Battleships and Carriers WWI, WWII, Korea, Nam Pumping Iron, Making Steel Empire State and US Steel Buildings Locks for the Panama Canal The Brooklyn and Verrazanno bridges You name it all that steel came from The Big Ugly The Union made its mark with blood and guts You folks who never worked The Big Gray Ugly could never understand that 25 cents an hour as you put your life on the line every day was not worth it if something bad happened like loss of limb or even life That the nice foreman who slept with your wife Wouldn't take care of her or your kids It was a hot summer day in 1972 That I first walked through The Hole In The Wall Gate Wearing my new hard toed shoes and orange rookie hard hat The Wandering Hippie Pagan/Jew Meets the Big Gray Ugly And I felt I had something to prove After all (I was questioned every day) What's a nice Jewish kid like you doing in a hellhole like this? Digging ditches, Spiking Rails Just like you! Track Gang, one step above the Labor Gang I knew I had something to prove and then one day I found my niche They put a torch in my hands as I cut all the rails for the central wharf I felt the history of the Big Gray Ugly surge through my hands As I saw the fire of ancient mill workers pass through my eyes The spark was lit Back in 72 we had a company union that took our dues and never fought our fights for us but soon we got together with folks like Michelle (Who published the Locals Newspaper) and took back our union Gave warning to the Company and the USWA That Local 1397 was now Rank and File And as the years went on And I moved up now a Forge Craneman the fire stared to fade the company's plan became very clear to one and all Stockpile, Layoff call em back and then lay em off again Till the fire became very dim Man we tried to save our jobs To save our History To save our Valley To Save our Homes and Families But US Steal held all the cards and our history didn't mean shit to them! after all Mr. Rodrick said "We're in business to make money" so on one cold Thanksgiving Day our sister plant in Youngstown closed down with out a warning as most of its workers got the news on their car radios while driving to work that day All the Rank and File locals pulled together stormed the US Steal Building (that was made with our blood) Protested in DC But Big Business Bucks Buy Votes As congress became blind to our pain It took two years to get a plant closing bill through and after all that it was only a 60 days warning notification 60 days to watch your life go down the tubes The next Thanksgiving found the locals unemployed committee at the mill gates begging money from those who still worked so we could have food on our plates and our kids have full tummies But ones days money was not enough more people kept getting laid off So we had us a big rock concert with local bands G-Force Iron City House Rockers Billy Price and the Keystone Rhythm Band Rare Experience Made 15g and opened a food bank Kept it going with more benefits Bruce Springsteen came to town helped out a whole lot But food banks are Band-Aids and the real banks became land grabbers as they scarfed up our houses because of back taxes and overdue mortgages MONEY GRABBERS!! We all pulled together The Local Unions Homestead Unemployed Committee Mon-Valley Unemployed Committee Tri-State Conference on Steel We protested, we picketed We Lobbied, We Tried and then one day I shall call the beginning of the end Came a group of misguided Ministers who called themselves DMS who told the union worker that churches founded the 1st unions (can you believe that shit?) and they were there to help So they misled some of us and twisted the rest If your not for us your against us was their cry and soon we were split as the good we were doing became undone by their raids on Rich Churches and Skunk Oil in Banks as well as little rich kids at parties We all screamed with rage as this stuff got the front page and the company ate it all up Saying See, we told you their all Lazy, Radical Bums, we know what we are doing After all they made too much money That's why we are opening new mills in Mexico and paying the workers 1.25 a day as well as closing 13 mills and using the tax break to buy Marathon Oil I was on the HighLevel Bridge That goes across the Mon River and over The Big Gray Ugly the night the fire went out in Open Hearth 5 (OH5) I had just gotten back from Youngstown A Memorial Service for a fallen brother that day So I stood there with tears in my eyes as I thought of the history and lives of the ancient mill workers of the ones who came after and the kids yet unborn would never have a chance to work in The Big Ugly It was two years later as I stood on that same spot Ready to jump, burned out from exhaustion, depressed by the sight The Big Ugly was gone I knew I had done my best to save her but no one was there to help me until a caseworker talked me down put me in a hospital The stories and poems that follow are of that battle and it's one that I won
|
