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Along with the problem of too little money, strikers carry the burden of too much time. During the first few weeks of the strike, many of them found it pleasant to have leisure for fishing and do-it-yourself projects. But then boredom set in. "I wish it was over," sighs Steel Mill Machinist Louis Webb, saturated with TV. "I like to work." Even worse than boredom for some strikers is a growing feeling of helplessness as the strike drags on and savings dwindle. "Sometimes when I go to bed," says Frank Sekula, "I think: Here I am a head of a family, and there's nothing I can do. I think how helpless I am." Says Steelworker Albert Hudack: "There's nothing much we can do about going back to work. There's nothing much we can do about anything."
Even with their problems of money and morale, Youngstown's steelworkers and their families are neither angry nor restive—not yet, anyway. "We've had a steel strike in the Mahoning Valley almost every two years since the war," said Union National Bank President Asael Adams Jr. "There's very little clamor or bitterness. People are quiet and peaceful. Maybe they're getting used to steel strikes." Added Steelworker Matt Inchak as the strike stretched into its twelfth week: "I'll stay out twelve more weeks if we have to. I've been out on strike before, and I'm still living." And as long as Youngstown—a city that lives on steel —feels that way, there will be very little pressure on the United Steelworkers of America, at least from its members, to end the strike.