USW Requests Investigation into Incident with Picketer, Cascade Steel Security Guard
04/16/2012 - The United Steelworkers has demanded an investigation of the Cascade Steel security guard who struck and injured a USW member who was picketing early Thursday morning, April 12, at Cascade Steel in McMinnville, Ore.
The United Steelworkers (USW) has demanded an investigation of the Cascade Steel security guard who struck and injured a USW member who was picketing early Thursday morning, April 12, at Cascade Steel in McMinnville, Ore.
"We are shocked and outraged that the driver was merely given a traffic citation, even though the evidence is clear that he struck the USW picketer with his vehicle on purpose," Gerard said. "We want to know why he was not arrested and taken into custody."
The victim, Lee Frakes, sustained a serious injury and was hospitalized. He is now being treated at home but is unable to walk.
About 300 members of USW Local 8378 have been on strike over unfair labor practices at Cascade since April 8.
USW International President Leo W. Gerard said that the union will file an additional unfair labor practice charge over the incident against Cascade with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
The USW represents about 850,000 working men and women in the United States and Canada in a wide variety of industries, ranging from glass making to mining, paper, steel, tire and rubber and other manufacturing environments to the public sector, service and health care industries
