Look

OCCUPY CENTURY ALUMINUM

Fri, 3/30/2012

1. Retirees of Century Aluminum in Ravenswood, W. Va., have been camped out in bitter winter weather since December 18 fighting their former employer for the reinstatement of their lifetime healthcare benefits.
2. A protester wearing an Obama mask waves to cars passing by the Occupy Century Aluminum camp.
3. The Century Aluminum smelter can bee seen just across the Ohio River in West Virginia.
4. Charles Smith, "Smitty" to his friends, cuts up firewood with the help of other occupiers at the Occupy Century Aluminum camp.
5. The leader of Occupy Century Aluminum, Karen Gorrell, said, "I got chest pains from all this. Problem is, I just gotta breathe through them ‘cause I can't go to the doctor."
6. Occupy leader Karen Gorrell updates Jason Miller, local president of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), about the progress of negotiations with Century and its lawyers.
7. Karen Gorrell hands out pizza sent to the demonstrators by U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D - W.Va.) at the Occupy Century Aluminum encampment.
8. Karen Gorrell holds out her phone while her fellow occupiers yell a round of thank yous to Wes Holden, the constituent services director for the senator's office, who listens on the other end.
9. Boyd Baisden, 78, of Sandyville, W. Va., sits at the Occupy Century Aluminum camp. Next to him, the phone numbers of fellow occupiers are written on a chipboard wall.
10. Hours before a visit by Century's CEO Michael Bless (left) and V.P. of North American Operations John Hoerner (right), Karen advises her fellow occupiers on what to say.
11. Although the talk was heated and emotional at times, both Karen and Century CEO Michael Bless hug and thank each other for an honest and open discussion.
12. Frank West hugs the group's leader, Karen Gorrell, after an emotional speech she delivered at the Occupy Century Aluminum camp.
13. Roy Dailey, 76, of Gallipolis, Ohio, laughs with fellow occupiers at the camp. Roy worked as a millwright for 20 years at Century's smelter before he retired in 1997.
14. Karen spends a final night by the fire reminiscing about the group's struggle and celebrating their win over the corporate giant Century Aluminum.
15. Charles "Smitty" Smith, a Century retiree who worked for the company for 31 years, tells a story to other retirees at the camp.
16. Waving to a passing freight train running alongside the Occupy Century Aluminum camp, Mac McDaniel (right) and Bill Stephens (foreground) give a thumbs-up as the whistle blows.
17. A pile of protest signs once posted throughout the Occupy Century Aluminum camp and along the roadside now wait to be burned in the fire barrel as the occupiers break camp.
18. A spot where one of the main tents at the Occupy Century Aluminum camp once stood.
19. Karen Gorrell surveys the smoke plumes as protest signs burn and retirees break camp after their $67 million victory against corporate giant Century Aluminum.
20. Karen Gorrell takes a break to talk with fellow occupier Frank West. West was speaking from the hospital nearby after having a pacemaker implanted.

Photographed in February and March of 2012, photographer James Fassinger repeatedly visited the grandparents and retirees who were fighting a David versus Goliath battle in Ravenswood, West Virginia. Occupy Century Aluminum is not your typical 99-percenter occupation: The average age of is 70 and they have a clear message: Give us our healthcare back!

Grandparents and retirees of Century Aluminum have been camped out in bitter winter weather since December 18, fighting aluminum manufacturer Century for the reinstatement of their lifetime healthcare benefits after they were cancelled by the company in 2010.

James Fassinger has spent most of his 20 years in photography, walking the streets of both big cities and small towns, photographing the interesting and often overlooked lives of ordinary people and the places that surround them. Currently living in the Detroit area, James Fassinger continues to photograph assignment work and also directs the Imagine Photo Club at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, a program in which children are given cameras to document their lives, offering them an outlet for expression while providing hospital doctors and staff insight into their lives at home.

Fassinger’s work has appeared in The Times of London, The European, The National newspaper, the Czech daily Lidove Noviny and El Pais of Spain. Limited editions of his hand-printed silver gelatin prints can also be found in collections throughout the United States and Europe.

Photography by James Fassinger