VANDERGRIFT, Pennsylvania — It’s 8:30 a.m. on Friday, and despite the threat of a summer thunderstorm, 10 men, all members of the United Steelworkers District 10, are holding picket signs on the street.

Almost every car that passes them honks its horn in solidarity with the men positioned in front of Allegheny Technologies, the specialty steel operation that has employed many of them for decades.