During 1977-1979, Three of the Largest Steel Mills in the Youngstown, Ohio Area V
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During 1977-1979, three of the largest steel mills in the Youngstown, Ohio area v. ere shut down, eliminating over 10,000 primary jobs. Historian/labor attorney Staughton Lynd documents the efforts of the community, employees, and local unions to reopen the first mill and to prevent the closing of the remaining two. ' The Fight Against Shutdowns not only describes what happened, but defines the problems and outlines possible community strategy for the future. During my coverage of the plant shutdowns in Youngstown, I became convinced that there was a larger story to be told of how our economic system does not concern itself with social costs. Staughton Lynd’s book tells a large part of that story. " —Ao|s SALPUKAS, New York Times This book is instant history in the best sense of the term. Staughton Lynd writes with the passion and insight of one who was in the thick of the battle against the closing of Youngstown’s steel mills. But, as a historian and lawyer, he writes also with a keen eye for the facts and for reasoned argument. No book better catches what American workers are up against when corporate employers decide to shut up shop and move out. No book is better calculated to set the reader thinking about why our business system is so callous to the human costs of its profit-maximizing decisions, or the labor movement so laggard in rising to the defense Jf the victims of re-industrialization. If we are to do better in the future than we have in the past, it will be in part because we have been informed by committed writers like Staughton Lynd. Company and union heads in the steel industry might not think so, but Ly!-.i deserves a medal for public service. —|)A\’ll) Baoov Labor historian, U. California Shutdowns today threaten jobs, community and life continuity on a world scale. At the same time they create the basis for common cause across labor’s ranks. Lynd here tells us how a top labor officialdom watched as three corporate employers each closed down a Youngstown mill, while the others they own-near and far—con- tinucd normal operation. This valuable book once again demonstrates that tztnk and filers must look only to thetnselves in the struggle for united action. ('. I . R. .I/mt-.s aut hot of 'I 'ht' Ii/uvlt .Iut'oh.‘ns Also by Staughton Lynd Labor Law for the Rank & Filer, Revised edition, 1982, Singlejack Books Rank and File: Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers, Edited with Alice Lynd, Second edition, 1981, Princeton Uni- versity Press Intellectual Origins of American Radicalism, Second edition, 1982, Harvard University Press The Fight Against Shutdowns Youngstown’s Steel Mill Closings Staughton Lynd Singlejack Books San Pedro ' 1982 Copyright © 1982 Staughton Lynd All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 82-060169 ISBN: 0—917300—l4—9 paperback Manufactured in the U.S.A. The author gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce: Quotations reprinted from Business Week, Jan. 9 and Dec. I8, I978, by special permission, © 1982 by McGraw-Hill, lnc., New York, NY l0020. All rights reserved. The map on page xiii, and a portion of the article by Thomas J. Brazaitis, Mar. 30, I979, from The Cleveland Plain Dealer. Text and Table from The New York Times, Apr. l5, 1978, Jan. 2, I981, and Aug. l7, I981, © l978l8l by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission. Quotations from the issues of July 24, 1972, June 5, and Dec. 31, 1979, July 22, 1980, and May 5, l98l, reprinted by permission of The Wall Street Journal, © Dow Jones & Co., lnc., 1972, 1979, 1980, 1981. All rights reserved. Portions ofthe Open Letter to President Carter from The Washington Post, Sept. I5, 1978. l fifibir r i weKr§= ‘iv - 979ch Mar - 7yof GT3 nk ‘.4 -<7ROFl GregyK ..| n ft“ hJohnaBarberoPhoob This book is dedicated to the memory of J01-tn BARBERO 1924-1981 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi MAP OF MAHONING VALLEY xiii CAsr or CHARACTERS xv GLOSSARY OF TERMS xvii INTRODUCTION 1 Where 4 What and When 6 Who 9 PART l. THE ECUMENICAL COALm0N’s CAMPAIGN TO REOPEN THE CAMPBELL WORKS 13 Chapter One. Rumors 15 The Need for Modernization 16 Would Modernization Have Been Profitable? 16 False Assurances 18 Chapter Two. Shutdown 20 The Impact 21 Petition Campaign 22 Second Thoughts 24 The Role of the Lykes Corporation 24 Chapter Three. “Why Don ’t We Buy the Damn Place?" 26 Selling the Idea of Employee-Community Ownership 27 Why the Idea Began to Catch On 29 Chapter Four. The “Save Our Valley” Campaign 32 Founding Conference of the Ecumenical Coalition 33 “Brownfield” or “Greenfield” Modernization? 35 The Coalition’s Pastoral Letter 36 Getting Organized 38 A Four Million Dollar Vote of Confidence 40 Chapter Five. Alternative Ownership Plans 41 Other Experiments with Employee Ownership 41 Feasibility Studies 42 The Alperovitz Model: Employee-Community Ownership 43 limploycc Stock Ownership Plans (1‘.SOPs) 44 ' viii What Part Would a Union Play? 46 How “Community Steel” was to be tlovernetl 47 Chapter Six. The Role ofthe International Union 49 “The Foreign Competition Hoax" 50 Giving Up the Right to Strike: A History of the Experimental Negotiating Agreement 51 Joint Productivity Committees 52 “Where’s Joe?” 52 Grassroots Reaction to the ENA 53 The Sadlowski Campaign 55 The Union and the Campbell Works 56 Ad Hoc Steelworker Meetings 57 The Union’s District Director Intervenes 58 Opposition from the International 58 Conflict at the 1978 Convention 61 Chapter Seven. No Helpfrom the White House 63 The Coa1ition’s Four Requests 64 Open Letter to President Carter 64 First Use of Direct Action 66 $100 Million in Loan Guarantees Promised 67 Chapter Eight. Waitingfor Washington 70 The Company Offers to Sell the Plant 71 More Attacks 71 More Feasibility Problems 73 Steelworkers United for Employment (SUE) and the Problem of Labor Costs 75 Human Costs and Hopes 76 The Government’s Decision and What Lay Behind It 78 SECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 82 PART II. THE STRUGGLE FOR BRIER HILL 91 Chapter One. The Merger of Lykes and LTV 95 Why the Companies Wanted to Merge 96 Brier Hill, the Piece of the Puzzle that Didn’t “Fit” 99 Advance Notice of a Shutdown But No Power 102 The International Union Takes a Hand 103 The Justice Department’s Decision 104 Chapter Two. Fighting Both the Company and the International 105 The Company’s Refusal to Bargain with the Local 105 Picketing for Jobs 107 The Local’s NLRB Charge Called Unauthorized by the International 109 The International Denies the Local’s Right to Self-Representation ll 1 The Local Puts Forth its own Program and Scores a Public Relations Victory 113 Company Officials are Picketed at the Country Club 1 15 Chapter Three. The End at Brier Hill 118 Management’s So-Called Compromise 119 Orderly Shutdown Agreed to by Local Leadership 121 Company’s Proposal Accepted by the Membership 122 Chapter Four. Lessons 123 The Downtown Rally 123 The Role of the International 125 PART III. T1-1E BATTLE FOR U.S. STEEL’s YOUNGSTOWN WORKS 129 Chapter One. The Shutdown 131 Promises to Stay Open 132 The Promises Repeated 134 U.S. Steel’s Decision 135 -1 Workers were the Last to Know 137 How the Local Unions Took the Lead 138 An Unplanned Occupation of U.S. Steel’s National Headquarters 139 Chapter Two. The Fight Continued by Legal Means 141 Going to Court with the Help of a Congressman I41 The Theory of the Lawsuit 143 Political Support for the Suit 146 The Judge 147 Chapter Three. The Sit-In: Youngstown ’s Last Stand 149 A Futile Attempt to Bargain 149 Planning the Sit-In 151 “I’m Going Down that Hill” 153 The Sit-In Abandoned 157 Another Promise Broken 158 Chapter Four. Back to Legal Action 160 The Injunction 162 ls There a Community Property Right? 163 The Judge Says, Keep It Open 167 The Trial 168 The Superintendent’s Testimony 169 How Do You Measure Profit? 172 We Lose 174 Appeal and Settlement 177 X “A Cry for Help” 177 No Money from Washington 179 U.S. Steel Leases Part of the Mill 180 The Logic of the Settlement 184 The Legal Strategy Evaluated 187 Chapter Five. Encore in Pittsburgh 190 PART IV. SOME Couctustons FROM WHAT HAPPENED IN YOUNGSTOWN 195 Chapter One. Modernize Industry in "Bro wnfield ” Communities Where It Already Exists 197 What the Companies Say 197 J Three Arguments Against Industrial Flight 198 Federal Studies Show Brownfield Modernization More Profitable 199 Company Decisions Ignore Human Costs 201 What Kind of a World Do We Want to Live In? 205 Sweden Provides One Alternative 206 Brownfield versus Oil Field: The Problem of Disinvestment 208 Chapter Two. New Choices Needed When Private Enterprise Fails 212 Are Employee-Community Ownership Plans Workable? 212 Massive Federal Aid a Must in Capital-Intensive Industries 213 The Need for Democratic and Decentralized Workers’ Control 215 The Tennessee Valley Authority Model 216 The Need for Big Changes in American Society 217 Chapter Three. In the Short Run, the Best Way to Influence Investment Decisions is by Direct Action 219 The Limitations of Collective Bargaining 220 The Supreme Court Makes Bargaining More Difficult 222 Direct Action Can Work 224 NoTEs 227 Acknowledgments Bob Miles and Stan Weir, founders of Singlejack Books, were the first of several persons to suggest that this story deserved its history. Stan wrote to me in February 1978: “A journal should be kept starting now, even if only for one half hour a day, so that a legitimate history can be written.