Guide to the United States Board of Inquiry on the 1959 Labor Dispute in the Steel Industry Documents,
1959-1960

This Board of Inquiry was created on October 9, 1959 by President Dwight David Eisenhower according to powers granted him under the national emergencies section of the Taft-Hartley Act. The Board was empowered to investigate the dispute which led to an industry-wide steel strike by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA).

The dispute began on April 10, 1959, when the steel companies proposed that the collective agreement that was due to expire on June 30 be extended another year without alteration. Rejecting this suggestion, the union asked for a new agreement which was to include a twelve cents per hour increase, a cost-of-living adjustment, and improved fringe benefits. When no progress in negotiations occurred despite an extension of one month in the agreement, the USWA called a strike on July 15th. The October 19 report of the Board was without effect and, at the direction of the president, the attorney general began an injunction action against the strike which took effect on November 7th. The Board was reconvened on November 10th and issued its second report on January 6th, 1960. The major road blocks to settlement identified by the Board were the dispute over a wage increase and the differences over work rules, with the companies insisting that the total package could not exceed 2.7 percent. On January 15, an agreement was signed that provided for a seven cents per hour pay increase, a cost-of-living adjustment and improved pension and health benefits.

Union exhibits before the first Board include a statement of issues and the position of the union by its attorney, Arthur J. Goldberg; correspondence between the union and the major steel corporations, April-October, 1959; a brief by Goldberg on the national emergency issue; a brief by Leon H. Keyserling on the steel strike and the recession of 1958; a brief by Meyer Bernstein on the issue of foreign competition; and briefs by staff officers of the union on other specific economic issues.

Major steel companies involved in the strike include the Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation, ARMCO Steel Corporation, Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Great Lakes Steel Corporation, Inland Steel Company, Jones & Laughlin Steel Company, Kaiser Steel Corporation, United States Steel Corporation, Wheeling Steel Corporation and Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, among others. Exhibits presented by this group include a statement of management's position, correspondence between the corporations and the union, April-July, 1959, statistics bearing on the dispute, and statements on inflation, profits, and foreign competition, among other documents.

Exhibits submitted to the second hearing include exchanges of offers between the union and individual companies; statements on behalf of the union by Goldberg, David J. McDonald, USWA president, and George Meany; and statements on behalf of management by R. Conrad Cooper and H.C. Lumb, among other documents.

Collection is arranged by type of document.