There shouldn't be any noise coming from the Wheatland Tube plant in Wheatland right now.

That's because the 470-member United Steelworkers Local 1660 is in the 15th week of a strike that began at the end of April, with negotiations deadlocked over wages, pensions and health care. The union and the plant's management have not settled their differences at the bargaining table.

But on Monday and Tuesday, the roaring of the plant's furnace could be heard in the area. Foremen were called in to work. Rumors and speculation of strike breakers spread like wildfire up and down the picket line.

"There's a meeting on Friday," said Grover Campbell of Hermitage, one of the striking workers. "This is just scare tactics."

Dominic Vadala, the union's chief negotiator, said supervisors have been running some of the departments since the strike began, but starting up the "CW mill" or furnace is a whole different ballgame.

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