Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2019 Bargaining for Security: The Rise of the Pension and Social Insurance Program of the United Steelworkers of America, 1941-1960 Henry Edward Himes III [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Part of the Labor History Commons, Social History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Himes, Henry Edward III, "Bargaining for Security: The Rise of the Pension and Social Insurance Program of the United Steelworkers of America, 1941-1960" (2019). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 3917. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/3917 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Bargaining for Security: The Rise of the Pension and Social Insurance Program of the United Steelworkers of America, 1941-1960 Henry E. Himes III Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Ken Fones-Wolf, PhD., Chair Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, PhD. James Siekmeier, PhD. Jason Kozlowski, PhD. William Gorby, PhD. Department of History Morgantown, West Virginia 2019 Keywords: pensions, healthcare, public/private welfare state, collective bargaining, public welfare, private welfare, United Steelworkers of America, unions, Social Security, 1946 Steel Strike, 1949 Steel Strike, 1959 Steel Strike, Philip Murray, David McDonald Copyright 2019 Henry E. Himes III ABSTRACT Bargaining for Security: The Rise of the Pension and Social Insurance Program of the United Steelworkers of America, 1941-1960 Henry E. Himes III This dissertation charts the United Steelworkers of America’s (USWA) quest to win long term welfare security for its members from 1941 to 1960. The study focuses on external and internal events and issues that led the union to seek pensions and social insurance at the bargaining table in 1949, and ultimately, to enhance their private security at the bargaining table throughout the 1950s. Although labor’s ability to influence the passage of national health care was greatly curtailed by a rise in conservative politics during World War II and the immediate postwar era, issues beyond politics also played a role in the USWA’s decision to bargain for security in 1949. Chief among these issues was a postwar retiree crisis that began in 1946. In that year, steel companies such as Inland Steel and US Steel began to force retiree steelworkers who reach the age of 65 with little to no long-term economic security. The postwar retiree crisis thus ignited a swell of rank and file demands on union leaders to bargain for better forms of private insurance and to use the union’s bargaining power to end the arbitral and paternalistic nature of welfare capitalism. Consequently in 1949, after a significant strike, the USWA won a pension and social insurance program, which the union worked to expand and enhance throughout the 1950s. Although the union had used its bargaining power to secure one of the finest pensions and social insurance programs in American industry, private insurance programs were plagued by ever rising costs that ate into the wage gains of steelworkers. By 1960, after a two-year internal study of its pension and social insurance program, the USWA concluded that the indemnity (fee-for- service) insurance model was deficient and incapable of delivering the comprehensive and prepaid security the union demanded. Beyond the direct issue of welfare security, this study also sheds light on the internal union dynamics of the USWA in such a critical and influential era in American history. Moreover, the dissertation brings to light a more detailed portrayal and accounting of USWA President, Philip Murray, as he guided the union through World War II and the immediate postwar era. Dedicated to my father Henry E. Himes Jr. and my step-father James W. Masluk. I miss you both. iii Acknowledgments This dissertation originated a long time ago back in Youngstown, Ohio. I had recently left the army where I had served as an artillery officer and now faced the daunting life question of "what will I do next?" At first, I was uncertain where my path would lead. I had spent some time visiting friends in Columbus, Ohio, and my experience there, particularly the many deep conversations I had with the people I had met there, enlightened me, and made me think more intensely about the perplexing questions of life and how society operated. My sojourn to Columbus thus made me more intellectually curious and sparked my desire to go to graduate school. From Columbus, I moved back home to Youngstown, Ohio, where I was accepted into the master's program of history at Youngstown State University (YSU). At YSU, I had the great fortune to obtain a graduate assistantship at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor (YHCIL) where I worked as a museum docent and archival assistant. Coming from a working-class family—my parents were auto workers, my grandfather was a steelworker, and my great uncle and great grandfather were skilled union bricklayers—working at YHCIL was a dream come true. My time at YHCIL opened my eyes to labor history, and more specifically, to the work of Staughton and Alice Lynd. At YHCIL, I was quickly exposed to the work the Lynds had done to try and prevent the wholesale shut down of Youngstown's steel mills in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Their work during the shutdown era was fascinating and intriguing, particularly their effort to help build a coalition of people to purchase and run the Youngstown Sheet and Tube steel mill as a community and employee-owned enterprise. However, it was another issue that the Lynds were involved with that ultimately led me to my eventual dissertation topic. iv In 1986 the LTV Steel Corporation filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and immediately canceled retiree health insurance. Moreover, a few months after the initial bankruptcy announcement, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) took over LTV’s underfunded pension plan, which led to a reduction in retiree pension payments and other hardships for steel retirees. Consequently, steel retirees, with the legal counsel of Staughton and Alice Lynd, founded Solidarity USA to fight to retain their pensions and benefits. I wrote my master's thesis on this organization. My experiences in the YSU master's program made me want to go to the next level and pursue a Ph.D., in US history. Thus, I subsequently applied to and was accepted into the history program at West Virginia University (WVU). Although I loved my master's thesis topic, I wanted to know more about how the system of private pensions and benefits originated in the steel industry. With that goal in mind, I was able to narrow down my focus and create the dissertation topic presented here. It was a long, arduous, and tedious process but in the end, I am happy with the final product and I look forward to eventually expanding this dissertation into a publishable monograph. Nothing in life is done alone. Rather, we are all the beneficiaries of social connections that support, love, encourage, and critique what we do in life. Whether that be our friends, family, community, peers, or advisors, we are hardly autonomous individuals, but instead, we owe our individual accomplishments to a myriad of people that have helped us on our journey. First of all, a dissertation cannot be written without sources. The bulk of the sources used in this dissertation, in particular, the USWA International Executive Board (IEB) minutes, came from the Penn State Special Collections library, which is the repository for the USWA. I want to thank the great staff at Penn State, they are all so knowledgeable, professional, and courteous and made my trips there a wonderful experience. In particular, I want to thank Jim Quigel, Head of v the Historical Collections and Labor Archives at the Penn State Special Collections Library. Jim is so knowledgeable about the USWA collection and I greatly enjoyed some of our friendly chats about labor history. Next, I really would like to thank all my friends and advisors at Youngstown State University. If it was not for my experiences at YSU, I would have never thought about pursuing a Ph.D., in history. I am deeply indebted to my master's thesis advisor Dr. Tom Leary. You awoke my consciousness about class relationships and the importance of labor history, and I sincerely thank you for that. I also want to thank Dr. Martha Pallante, Dr. Donna DeBlasio, and Dr. Diane Barnes for welcoming me into the YSU history program, always providing constant encouragement, and giving me the opportunity to work at the YHCIL. I also want to thank my peers at YSU in particular Jonathan Kinkead, Krista McCart, Joe Kusluch, Nathan Pavalko, Rachel Doddato, and Joe Paloski. I want to thank West Virginia University for having me; I cannot think of many other places better suited to study labor and working-class history.