Back-to-work day for U.S. Steel workers

It’s been a long, and often painful journey for workers at U.S. Steel – but today, their 11-month war of attrition finally came to an end.

The first workers called back to work after a sometimes bitter company lock-out finished their first tour of duty this afternoon.

All that is left of the picket lines that blocked the gates of the plant are battered signs, trailers, and debris: remnants of a tough battle that at best might be considered a draw.

Workers voted to accept the company’s contract offer, but not with much enthusiasm. Today they began coming back in batches of 150 workers at a time, for week-long safety training before being assigned to their various departments. The next batch of 150 come back next week, to repeat the procedure.

They’ve been guaranteed 26 weeks of work, and after 11 months off the job most of them are glad to take it.

Video: Scot Urquhart reports: