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Page 19

Boise Cascade

In early 1989, Boise Cascade Corporation picked a

mostly nonunion contractor to expand a paper mill in

International Falls, Minnesota.  After several tense months

of nonunion and union workers at the same site, the union

workers walked off the job on July 18, 1989.  The strike

was marked by sporadic incidents of violence during the

summer; then the strikers rioted on September 9.  They

overran the company guards and all but destroyed a camp

for about 1,000 of the nonunion workers.  The rioters,

many of whom were bused in from Michigan,69 overturned cars

and set fire to several buildings.  One reporter recorded

what he saw:

[A]ssault in plain sight of police; arson in

broad daylight. . . . Frequently could be heard

the thud of a rock smashing through a car's win-

dow, as protesters attacked the vehicles of Boise

security guards or employees of the nonunion BE&K

construction company. . . . The yelling was

punctuated by the alarming crack of large fire-

crackers, after which the grim-faced police were

taunted with jeers of "Hey, somebody's trying to

shoot you."70

The company estimated property damage to be at least

$1.3 million.  The police chief of International Falls

confessed that, "People have been threatened.  They are

afraid.  For the first time in my 34 years as a cop, I'm

not sure I can protect them."71   Governor Rudy Perpich,

elected with strong union backing, responded to the strike

"by threatening to withdraw a $16 million tax break award-

ed to the new plant.  The governor also ordered state

agencies to increase their monitoring of every aspect of

Boise's operation."72

Ravenswood Aluminum

In Ravenswood, West Virginia, the Ravenswood Aluminum

Co. (RAC) locked out Steelworkers Local 5668 in November

1990. Company and union officials disagreed over a profit-

sharing plan that union officials saw as less valuable

than the bonus plan already in place.73   By April 1991, the

company had reported more than 700 incidents of violence

directed at replacement workers.  Among the incidents, RAC

reported 2 attempted murders, 2 house bombings, 6 house

shootings, 5 arsons, 29 assaults, and 43 death threats.74