Locked-out Kaiser Aluminum workers rally outside BPA office in Portland

More than 100 locked-out Steelworkers from Kaiser Aluminum in Spokane and their allies rallied in front of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) headquarters in Portland Nov. 15 in support of a "Good Corporate Citizenship Clause" to be included in the 2001-2006 rate case for Direct Service Industries (DSIs).

Thousands of residents across the Pacific Northwest, and recently Washington Governor Gary Locke, have signed a petition in support of the Good Corporate Citizenship Clause,which would require DSIs to demonstrate a responsible record in their labor, environmental, community relations and safety performance in order to receive cost-based (i.e. reduced rate) electric power from the BPA.

Under a Good Corporate Citizenship Clause, corporations such as Kaiser Aluminum, which has locked out its workers, has been fined for extraordinary pollution violations in Washington state and has watched its rate of workplace accidents skyrocket with the use of inexperienced replacement workers, would not be eligible for BPA's cost-based electric power rates until it is able to demonstrate good corporate citizenship.

Steelworkers went on strike Sept. 30, 1998, at five Kaiser plants and have been locked out of their jobs since Jan. 14.

In recent months, members of the Steelworkers Union have already participated in nine public hearings in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana at which BPA has taken testimony and comment from citizens who are not parties in the rate case.