Ampco Article

Robert L. Elliott
A T T O R N E Y A T L A W
: Certified Civil Trial Specialist : National Board of Trial Advocacy :
E-mail : elliottlaw@attorneyelliott.com

Ampco
Settles with Former Workers Hired as replacements fired when strike ended

By Cary Spivak
of the Journal Sentinel staff

About 100 workers who crossed picket lines during the bitter 1993 Ampco Metal Inc. strike- but were axed when the strike ended- will receive $9,000 each as part of a $1.6 million settlement of an unusual class- action suit.

The settlement by Ampco ended three years of intense legal maneuvering in a lawsuit where the replacement workers — who daily crossed a picket line where they where pelted with objects and obscenities — portrayed themselves as strike victims.

But Robert L Elliott, the attorney who brought the suit, said that had the case gone to trial, some jurors “may not have used the word, but you know they would think ‘scab.’ ”

Added Ampco’s lawyer Robert Friebert: “It’s part of the case; it would have been known.”

Elliott said he was preparing to argue before a jury that likely would have included union members. He would have asked these peoples who considered replacement workers anathema to the union cause, to reward his clients.

“They just got caught in the squeeze,” Elliott said of his clients. “‘I didn’t think this group did anything with bad intentions" when they crossed picket lines established by more than 200 members of the United Auto Workers.

He argued that Ampco advertised for permanent workers and told each worker that their jobs were permanent. The hiring's then were used as leverage to pressure the union into accepting wage and benefit cuts, Elliott said.

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