Two union workers were arrested at Omnova Wednesday evening while they were protesting the way the company treated them.
A video shot by strikers shows Columbus police officers handcuffing four picketers who were walking back and forth in front of the main gate on Yorkville Road, just as they have done every day for the past three months.
“I said, ”Please stop,” and you kept walking,” the officer said in the video, explaining his rationale behind the arrests.
Aaron Mitchell, Lee Ray, Caroline Payne and Rickey Shaw calmly handed their signs to fellow picketers and put their hands behind their backs without resisting. Mitchell and Ray were taken to the police station; Payne and Shaw were immediately unhandcuffed because the officer said he didn”t look them in the eye when he gave the command to stop walking.
United Steelworkers Local 748 President Jay Lawrence believes the officer violated the rights of the union workers to walk the picket line.
“They continued to walk the picket line just like they”ve got a right to do,” Lawrence said. “We want our lawful right to walk that picket line and be left alone.”
In recent days, police officers have been showing up at the start and end of the work day to direct traffic and prevent accidents. A police spokesman did not immediately return calls this morning.
“In three months, there”s not been a fender bender,” Lawrence said.
Because more vehicles enter and exit the facility at the start and end of each shift, traffic is slow in the morning and evening. However, Lawrence said the picketers were not trying to block anyone from entering or exiting the plant; they were walking the line as usual.
Omnova recently hired local workers to replace temporary employees the company had bussed in from other locations. Lawrence said that the result of the company”s decision to hire locally, community members are being pitted against one another.
“Now they”re going a step farther and hiring local workers,” Lawrence said. “Without the experienced worker back in that plant, they can”t be successful.”
Omnova workers have been on strike since May 21, bringing the count to 91 days. The last strike at the local plant occurred in 1970 and lasted for three months. And there”s no indication it will end any time soon.
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