Steel and solemnness
Faces and clothes smudged with the grime that defines their labor, three dozen shift workers at Amsted Rail (American Steel Foundry) took advantage of Tuesday’s unseasonably warm weather for a rare outdoor February lunch break.
Standing on a sidewalk in front of the factory, they watched the future, in the form of Tuesday’s "March to Put America Back to Work" through Granite City, file past.
Most of the marchers were unemployed steelworkers, a description that will soon apply to Brandon Coleman and Juan Stevenson, both of St. Louis.
Friday will be the last day Coleman, 23, and 307 others report for work at Amsted. Stevenson, 30, has been informed his final day as a $17-per-hour "chipper" is March 19 installment payday loans.
Between bites of sandwiches and potato chips, the guys on the sidewalk hooted and shouted their support to the marchers. …
Focused on his 3-year-old daughter and another baby due in May, Coleman admitted inward feelings closer to despair.
"This is serious, very serious," he said quietly, nodding toward the marchers before heading back to work.
Filed under: online by TheDoor