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Posted: 02 Jan 2015 05:10 AM PST  This is how I remember seeing Eveleth Taconite’s production plant through the marshes near where I grew up south of Eveleth. (PHOTO: Boldt Construction)From the NY Times obituary: Paul C. Sprenger, a Washington lawyer who represented female iron miners in Minnesota in the nation’s first class-action lawsuit focused on sexual harassment — at the time an emerging legal concept — died on Monday while on vacation in Curaçao. He was 74.Paul Sprenger was indeed the lawyer who represented Lois Jensen and her co-workers against Eveleth Taconite. The case, which inspired a book “Class Action,” and a movie “North Country, essentially created the concept of sexual harassment law, establishing the term “hostile workplace.” Though emotionally crippling to everyone involved, especially the women, perhaps even to an entire generation of men and women on the Iron Range, the case paved a path forward for women in the workplace all over the country. Here, too, in Minnesota’s iron mining industry. Yes, Woody Harrelson played a character loosely based on Sprenger in the movie. You don’t hear many mentions of the Eveleth Taconite case in day-to-day conversation around here these days. Hard to talk about three decades of ugliness. All I can think about are the multitude of ways I am connected to the case, all of which explains why sexual harassment on the Iron Range was so painful and so difficult to uproot. While I moved around the Range quite a bit as a kid, we mostly lived somewhere in view of the steam cloud at Eveleth Taconite. The place was literally the backdrop to my understanding of my homeland. My grandfather from Keewatin carpooled with Lois Jensen when she lived in Pengilly and both worked at EvTac. They didn’t know each other well, but drove together for about two years during the bad years. He talks about how the guys were rough on her, but always thought she was brushing off the comments. When “Class Action” came out, he ran out to buy the book. Mostly, he said, he wanted to make sure he wasn’t mentioned in it (he wasn’t). He always thought he was nice to her, but was worried there was something he said wrong. That’s another reason this was such a mess. Guys had no idea what was appropriate or not. Most of them had little education beyond high school. The cultural practice of men working and women staying home with large broods of children was still very strong entering the 1970s and ’80s. None of it made sense to them, or their wives. “Women are being harassed? Why are they even there?” But what was done was truly awful, and the emotional scars on the women were much deeper than even the movie “North Country” could show. The wife of one of my co-workers was part of the class action suit. My co-worker said what affected her most wasn’t the individual incidents, but the way that time changed her. The constant threat of verbal or physical abuse, perhaps even assault, had a psychological effect on these women. They had to discard their feminine selves to defend their bodies and their ability to provide for their families. Not for a few years. For a few decades. Indeed, most miners did not harass women. That’s what makes so many on the Iron Range mad about the case. “Why must so many men be vilified over the complaints of just a few women?”(Most female miners did not join the suit). The solidarity that served the region well when it emerged from the immigrant forges of the early 20th Century was suddenly blocking our ability to see ourselves, to regulate behavior. So even in 2013, local papers ran articles about female miners who thought there were NO problems in the mines. Even now. It’s so much better today, though still bad in many ways. Ignorance, particularly among younger people, is fading, however. If I had a young daughter who wanted to work in mining, I would encourage her. This progress was only possible through the work of people like Mr. Stengler, who has now left us. Written by Aaron Brown for Minnesota Brown © 2014 | An obituary reminds of the power of Jensen v. Eveleth Mines |
Posted: 02 Jan 2015 05:00 AM PST  Magnetation’s Plant 4 near Grand Rapids, shown here under construction, is now operational. (PHOTO: Magnetation)A strained metaphor perhaps (Magnetation is an iron ore producer, not a Galactic Empire ruled by an evil Sith Lord). Nevertheless, Magnetation’s long-awaited Plant 4 leapt into service this week just as 2014 drew to a close. The company, which has grown quickly these last few years on the western Mesabi, is banking on its fourth plant to feed the furnaces at its new Reynolds, Indiana, plant. Iron pellets from that plant then go to Magnetation’s partner AK Steel to produce steel. Magnetation’s press release follows (I’ve bolded some of the key facts): GRAND RAPIDS, Minn., Dec. 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Magnetation LLC (Magnetation) announced today that it has successfully produced its first iron ore concentrate at its new plant, Plant Four, located near Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Magnetation said the new plant has begun operations one quarter ahead of schedule and three quarters ahead of the original project schedule.Written by Aaron Brown for Minnesota Brown © 2014 | New Iron Range plant produces ore ahead of schedule |