Newport News, Va., Shipyard's Steelworkers March.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

NEWPORT NEWS, Va.--Jun. 16--Close to 250 Steelworkers marched through downtown Newport News on Monday to show their support for workers laid off at Newport News Shipbuilding. The rally, kicking off a membership drive in advance of the union's contract expiring in April, also was designed to show the yard that the 725,000-member United Steelworkers of America backs Local 8888 "110 percent," said the union's top boss, international President George Becker.

Arnold Outlaw, president of the local, brought Becker and other union heavyweights to town for the march, which ended at Washington Avenue and 42nd Street, within earshot of the shipyard's main administrative building.

Using a small public address system and standing before the tug Dorothy, the yard's first hull, Becker praised the yard's hourly employees for their hard work on Navy ships and the sacrifices they made during contract negotiations in 1995 to keep the company healthy.

Then he hammered yard management.

"You've worked as much for Newport News as you have for the Navy and the government," Becker said. "But Newport News doesn't share that, does it?"

As contract negotiations grow closer, Becker said, the rest of the union is "rock solid in support of the struggle here in Newport News."