More than 12,000 United Steel Workers union members went on strike Monday against four can manufacturing firms with about 100 factories across the country.
Several Chicago area factories were included, and their 3,000 employees set up picket lines.
The companies struck were Continental Can Inc., with 6,000 workers nationwide; American Can. Co., with 4,500 workers; National Can Corp., with 1,200 workers; and Crown Cork and Seal Co., with 600 employees.
In Chicago, a spokesman for United Steel Workers Local 1478, which represents workers at the American Can plant at 6017 S. Western Av., said only token picketing was being carried out at the plant, which employs about 600 hourly union workers.
He said the American Can plant and facilities of the other firms were in the process of shutting down operations Monday as workers walked off the job. Union officials estimated that about 3,000 of the striking union members are employed in the Chicago area, northwestern Indiana, southeastern Wisconsin and the Milwaukee area.
One of the main issues involved is that the companies want individual contracts with the union instead of an industrywide agreement, which has been the custom.
