By Doug Cunningham

The United Steel Workers union says a third party contractor working for National Wire Fabric in Star City, Arkansas deliberately tried to run down two picketing strikers with a truck Monday. Barry Strange is a USW international rep in Arkansas.

[Barry Strange 1] : "Two individuals had to actually physically leap out of the way to avoid being struck."

The man who tried to run the strikers down was arrested by police on an assault charge and released. The Steel Workers are warning the company
they won't allow that behavior to threaten peaceful strikers.

[Strange 2] : "Steel workers will not tolerate that type behavior by the employer, his contractors, replacement workers...Our members have a right to safety. They're on public property."

Two thousand members of the United Steelworkers of America are striking against Cooper Tire Company in Arkansas. Workers there say the company wants to cut benefits and wages as it invests in China. Workers are picketing the plant that made 40,000 tires a day before the strike started March 13th. The company has gone to court trying to prevent picketing workers from blocking plant entrances. David Boone, president of United Steelworkers of America Local 752L, says striking workers are not doing anything illegal at the company's entrance. The union says workers had to strike to defend health be

Arkansas joins a long list of state's saying Wal-Mart is number one. The world's largest retail chain whose main headquarters is in Bentonville, Arkansas is the number one beneficiary of public health care programs in that state. An article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette says Wal-Mart costs it's home state nearly $16 million annually. The report says that 3,971 of the companies 45,106 employees in that state are on public assistance. While the retailer does offer healthcare to some employees, a study done by the AFL-CIO late last year said that the insurance premium for many Wal-Mart families was as high as $250 per month. Part-time employees do not qualify for family coverage. Many critics aren't surprised by the Arkansas report as Georgia, Tennessee, Washington, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Connecticut have all released similar findings. In addition, the University of California-Berkeley Labor Center did a study last year that found Wal-Mart workers costing California taxpayers $86 million annually.