Steel Workers Organizing Committee

Steel Workers Organizing Committee. The Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) was a pivotal labor organization founded in 1936 under the auspices of the newly formed Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Its primary mission was to unionize the massive and historically resistant steel industry in the United States, which was dominated by powerful corporations like U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel. Led by Philip Murray and backed by the resources and vision of John L. Lewis, the SWOC capitalized on the pro-labor climate of the New Deal, particularly the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, to mobilize hundreds of thousands of workers. The committee's aggressive campaigns and strategic strikes between 1936 and 1937 led to landmark collective bargaining agreements, fundamentally altering labor relations in basic industry and paving the way for the creation of the United Steelworkers (USWA) union in 1942.

Formation and early history

The SWOC was officially established on June 7, 1936, at a conference in Pittsburgh convened by John L. Lewis, the president of the United Mine Workers and a driving force behind the creation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. The formation was a direct response to the failure of craft-based unions within the American Federation of Labor (AFL) to effectively organize the industry-wide steel mills. Philip Murray, a trusted lieutenant of Lewis from the United Mine Workers, was appointed chairman, with David J. McDonald serving as secretary-treasurer. The committee received a substantial initial organizing fund of $500,000 from the CIO and set up its headquarters in the Grant Building in Pittsburgh. Its strategy focused on building an industrial union that included all workers in a steel plant, regardless of their specific craft, a radical departure from the AFL's traditional approach.

Organizing campaigns and strikes

The SWOC launched an immediate and massive organizing drive, deploying hundreds of organizers, many veterans of the United Mine Workers and other CIO unions, across the steel belt from Pennsylvania to Illinois. A critical early victory came with the signing of a collective bargaining agreement with the giant U.S. Steel corporation in March 1937, achieved without a major strike. This "Memorial Day Massacre" during the Little Steel Strike of 1937, where ten strikers were killed by Chicago Police Department at the Republic Steel plant in Chicago, marked a violent setback. Despite this, the SWOC continued organizing through the late 1930s, and its efforts were ultimately bolstered by the federal government's wartime policies and decisions by the National Labor Relations Board that favored the committee.

Relationship with the CIO and AFL

The SWOC was a cornerstone of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and its challenge to the dominance of the American Federation of Labor. The conflict stemmed from the AFL's adherence to organizing workers by craft, which the SWOC and the broader CIO movement rejected in favor of industrial unionism for mass production industries like steel, automobile manufacturing, and rubber industry. Financial and strategic support from the CIO, led by John L. Lewis, was essential to the SWOC's campaigns. This rivalry was part of the larger schism in the American labor movement that lasted until the AFL and CIO merged in 1955, long after the SWOC had transformed into the United Steelworkers.

Key contracts and collective bargaining

The first and most significant contract was signed with U.S. Steel's subsidiary, Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation, on March 2, 1937, which established a precedent for industry-wide bargaining. This agreement granted union recognition, a wage increase, a forty-hour workweek, and seniority rights. Following this breakthrough, the SWOC secured similar contracts with other major producers aligned with "Big Steel," including Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation. However, a group of companies known as "Little Steel," led by Republic Steel, Bethlehem Steel, and Inland Steel, fiercely resisted, leading to the bitter and violent Little Steel Strike of 1937. It was not until the United States entered World War II and the federal government, through agencies like the War Labor Board, pressured the industry that the holdout companies finally recognized the union and signed master agreements.

Legacy and transformation into the USWA

The SWOC's legacy was the successful organization of a core basic industry that had long been a citadel of the open shop and anti-union sentiment. By 1941, it represented over 600,000 workers. To consolidate its gains and establish a permanent, democratic union structure, the SWOC convened its first constitutional convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in May 1942. There, it dissolved itself and was reconstituted as the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), with Philip Murray elected as its first president. The new union became one of the largest and most influential within the CIO, playing a major role in postwar labor negotiations, politics, and the shaping of the modern American labor movement.

Category:Congress of Industrial Organizations Category:United Steelworkers Category:Defunct trade unions in the United States Category:Labor disputes in the United States