At one point in the 1920s, this company produced steel for three-quarters of the United States. Bethlehem Steel was the second biggest company to produce steel in the United States. Bethlehem Steel had many employees working for them and employed almost 1.5 million people. These employees have many stories to tell: two of which I am going to share along with a thoughtful reason as to why Bethlehem Steel declined.
There were many different employees that worked at Bethlehem Steel, in fact in total, there were 60,000 employees during the company’s prime. The working employee’s life was quite different than the life of a management employee. The life of one working employee named Joseph Mangan, who was 68 years old, when he worked at Bethlehem Steel in the coke works. In the book, Mangan describes the job as “a hellishly hot place where the air was dirty, the noise ear-shattering and a misstep on a hot coke oven could be fatal” (Strohmeyer 22). An employee could die if they didn’t follow the instructions to a “T”. Joseph remembers how the heat in these rooms went up to 190 degrees when they opened up an oven. One of the perks of being a worker was that the union representatives would give out wages whenever the workers went on strike in order for the steelworkers to eventually become consumers of the steel. These workers ate in a cafeteria for lunch. Employees received many vacation days and holidays. Another benefit for working for Bethlehem Steel was that they gave you 5 days off in the event of a death in your family. In this statement, it shows how Bethlehem Steel cared about their employees and wanted to enjoy working there even with the conditions as bad as they were. There was, however, one advantage to being a blue-collared worker over an executive which is stated: “When the 7-3 shift heads for the gates on a Friday afternoon workers have the option of heading for the bowling alley, home, the bar, or where their impulse take them” (Strohmeyer 46). Overall the workers were treated fairly and given great benefits; however, the working conditions for blue-collared workers were not great.
The second type of employee, the executives or management of the company, had their own work experiences. The worker’s benefits were very good “white collared workers also had twelve holidays to look forward to each year, including one to observe United Nations Day and a floating holiday to celebrate anything. In all, the typical salaried worker at Bethlehem Steel received at least two months off each year with pay” (Strohmeyer 143). In this statement, it shows how the company treated their executives or white collared workers over their blue-collared workers. A man named Arthur Homer was the chairman of Bethlehem Steel in 1958. He was the highest paid corporate officer in the United States. He earned in total salary with bonuses of $511,249 dollars, which inflated to today dollars would be $1,900,000 a year. However, a year before in 1957, he received $623,336 dollars for his salary and bonuses which would be above 2 million dollars if converted into today’s money. The executives also had special eating arrangements: “At lunch time, for instance, administrative personnel at Bethlehem Steel headquarters building on third street were segregated in separate dining areas. The board gathered in the largest and most elegant room and members took their leather fixed plates around the table occupying identical leather chairs each with its name if its occupant affixed to it on a chromium plated badge” (Strohmeyer 30). As can be seen from this quote the executives got to eat in special rooms that were very luxurious compared to the lunchroom of the blue-collared workers, who ate in the cafeteria. There were also clubs for the higher up employees “Bethlehem built the superiors a challenging eighteen-hole golf course, later adding clubhouse pool, and tennis on a site of wooded hillsides and pleasant meadows” (Strohmeyer 32). The executives were treated with amenities such as this golf course clubhouse, which was called the “Bethlehem Steel Club”. Only members of certain status could join the club for 20 dollars. The executives also had seven planes available to them for business trips. The executives were given specific instructions on how to have their yard cleaned and they would get drop by visits from officials of the company to make sure that they were keeping their property as the rules stated (Strohmeyer 33). If not, they could have been fired. It can be seen how the executives had better working environments and were treated better than the regular blue-collared workers. After work “the high salaried official in Bethlehem’s main offices is checking his calendar to see which dinner party he and his wife must attend that night” (Strohmeyer 46). The Bethlehem Steel main line workers had more freedom when it came to the weekend breaks. However, the executives had to follow a schedule of certain meetings and social expectations to go to.
Bethlehem Steel was a main producer of steel for the United States, however, there were many reasons as to why it started to decline. The reason that I agree with is that the new technical advancements in making steel forms came out, and Bethlehem Steel wanted to continue to do it the same old fashioned way because that is the way that they had been making steel for years. However, not upgrading their facilities was a huge mistake. The executives of Bethlehem Steel started thinking about newer technical advancements at a research center that they built to find a way to make the steel making process faster. After spending 10 million on the project the research was shut down because the older Bethlehem Steel operators felt as though it was going nowhere, and they were fine with the way they were doing it. As stated in the book, “at least one member of the study team, Mike Herasimchuk, the senior metallurgist, argued that the caster should be completed, problems and all if only to gain technical experience, but his logic failed to sway the decision makers. The crucial technical developments in steel making would occur elsewhere in Europe and Japan” (Strohmeyer 61). Bethlehem Steel was closed because of the people who stopped the advancements that were occurring at the research center, and therefore, other countries stole the idea. Japan and Europe started making steel through the casting process, using these technical advances that were developed at the Bethlehem Steel research center. This advancement caused the United States to no longer be the number one producer of steel. As shown in the following quote: “In 1981 only 21.21 percent of the steel tonnage in the United States was made by continuous casting, while Japan was using the more efficient process to produce 70.7 percent of its output. The European countries were manufacturing 45.1 perfect by continuous casting” (Strohmeyer 61). This fact proves that the United States fell behind in their steel making process, and the Japanese and Europeans are using a more efficient process that the Bethlehem Steel executives refused to use, which lead to the closing of Bethlehem steel and the declining steel need in America.
In conclusion, Bethlehem Steel was once Americas number two provider for steel. Bethlehem Steel also provided work for over 500,000 employees at one point. In a NY times article, it states that “The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was built using steel from five different Bethlehem Steel plants including the Bethlehem facility. Perhaps one of the more unique structures was the prison on Alcatraz Island” (Coughlin). Bethlehem Steel was very important back in the 1920-1960s to the United States. It helped build many major American landmarks’ however in the year, 1995, it closed for good after about 140 years of making the steel that built America.
Works Cited
- Coughlin, Matt. “Bethlehem Steel ‘s Most Prominent Productions.” Themorningcall.com, 18 Nov. 2015, mcall.com/news/local/mc-bethlehem-steel-famous-products-20151118-story.html.
- Strohmeyer, John. Crisis in Bethlehem Big Steel’s Battle to Survive. U of Pittsburgh Press, 2014. Print.