U.s. Steel Protection : Advancement Options

Eventually, the workers of American Coal, who were once the landowners of the very area they were mining, formed a labor union to fight for better working conditions. The union was met with great opposition by the company’s secret police. As time went on, the coal miners continued to fight for their rights, only to be put down violently by the coal company’s strikebreakers. Union leaders were also fired and blacklisted from the company as a means to put a stop to union activity.

“Chicago and the nation entered the Progressive era. …The 1901 steel strike ended in defeat for the union, and the once powerful Amalgamated slipped into irrelevancy. Chicago’s steel mills remained unorganized, yet U.S steel tried to sidestep Chicago radicalism by developing a whole new town just across the border in Indiana. Gary, Indiana became the center of the region’s steel industry. Not overtly planned in the tradition of Pullman but nonetheless a company town…”

The driving forces that are at work in the steel industry are foreign steel producers, new opportunities for the uses of steel, and growth in worldwide demand for steel. Although, the U.S. steel industry experienced some relief from the dumping of foreign steel producers, the dumping was still remained a force that was problematic in the steel industry. As seen above, the steel market is primarily controlled by the foreign steel producers. The anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders and suspension agreement, covering imports of hot-rolled steel in, was extended for 5 years to alleviate some of the harm resulting from the influx of steel in the U.S. market. This extension was initiated to help keep the surplus of steel products in the U.S. at bay. This particular driving force can and has adversely affected the steel industry.

Until 2009, Nucor operated in an industry which experienced significant output declines during recent decades. The U.S. steel industry was operating at capacity levels of less than 50 percent and had lost more than 50,000 jobs since 2000. Growth of the Chinese steel industry posed a serious threat for domestic steel producers (Scott, 2009). Since that time, however, the U.S. steel industry has picked up momentum in response to soaring demand by the automobile and construction industries. Steel is the preferred material by the construction industry because of its performance, strength, reliability and versatility. In addition to construction, the automobile, energy and container industries have all been responsible for increasing steel consumption (Market Research.com, 2011).

Unions were formed to protect and improve the rights of workers. Their first order of business was to establish the eight-hour workday and in 1866, the national labor union was formed. Labor movements were around before 1866, but few organized up until this point. Unions created an environment for workers with difficult tasks, creating better pay, safer work conditions, and sanitary work conditions. Unions made life better for many Americans in the private sector. Collective bargaining became the way in which employers and a group of employees reached agreements, coming to a common consensus. From 1866 to the early 1900’s Unions continued to make headways increasing membership and power. The real gains started in 1933 after several pieces of legislature, which saved banks, plantations, and farmers. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) proposed an important, and controversial, amendment to the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. It insisted that language from the pro-labor Norris-LaGuardia Act of 1932 be added to the simple declaration of the right to collective bargaining. The setbacks the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) suffered in Little Steel and textiles in the latter half of 1937, and in Congress from 1938 to 1940, despite the gains made by the AFL, by 1940 the amendment had stalled. WWII created a rapid buildup within the industrial complex, creating more work for women and African Americans, overshadowing the union’s inability to project their power

As mentioned in the case the main problem is the excess of steel in the steel market. Right now foreign steel is being dumped in the US. This results that supply exceeds demand which results off course in decreases of profit for many steel companies. This gives a lot of pressure to the companies and most of them are not able to survive the pressure and

In John.F.Kennedy’s commentary on the prices of steel, he asserts his point with a very invective, serious tone but as the commentary progresses, he then switched to a more neutral, sincere choice of words. He continues on to say that “ increasing steel prices by some 6

This is true regardless if imports were subsidized in the country of origin. Even though the domestic firms would have to compete, these conditions serve for the betterment of the consumers and outweigh other losses. However, in the short term, as the prices adjust, unemployment is faced, and “market failures” might arise. These negative externalities do not imply that protectionist measures can fix the issue. In long-term, domestic companies may become reluctant, passive, and too reliant of government. In trying to satisfy the domestic market and resist external arbitration, the government may become the victim of its own strategy or success. This policy is appealing and rationalized only if it aims to release the domestic political pressure. In theory, by remedying the competitors from the outside, the US steel industry would have developed the industry while having more “confidence” and the means of acquiring more of the demand side. Proponents of the protectionist actions increase the profits and quantity of steel. Seeing profit, other steel-producing companies would join in domestic competition. This likewise optimizes and expands the steel industry. This kind of protectionism act was quite popular in the EU and the UK in the early industrialization era. This also makes possible to save and expand jobs. In this narrative, it would increase the citizens’ employments rates in steel industry. Moreover, it has significantly helped the US steel industry raise profits, in light of soaring demand worldwide from China and other manufacturing

The labor relations movement has been one of the most successful driving forces behind such efforts as: providing aid to workers who were injured or retired, better health benefits and to stop the practice of child labor in the workforce. Ostensibly, unions in the United States arose out of the need to better protect the “common interests” of laborers. Today, many of the social movements and alliances forged are created under the guise to better protect the employer from a plethora of interests made against the organization, rather than, increasing wages, improving reasonable employment hours and/or enhancing work conditions.

The American Federation of Labor was successfully able to negotiate wage increases for its members and enhance workplace safety for all workers. American Federation of Labor was more successful than the Knights of Labor because they used new organizational methods to manage the combined attack of employers and government authorities. American Federation of Labor would also secure the loyalty of its 1.4 million members by providing sickness, unemployment, and strike benefits, and burial insurance. American Federation of Labor emphasized higher wages, shorter working hours, and better working conditions. Employers continued to resist the union’s negotiations by employing immigrants that they could give lower wages to and attempting to speed up labor processes with new forms of organization. The unions within the American Federation of Labor knew that if they had more control of the labor market they would have the power. So the unions decided that limiting the number of available workers would keep their wages high. In 1892, the supervisor of the Carnegie Steel’s huge homestead complex, locked out his employees and said he would operate the plant with nonunion workers. In retaliation the workers surrounded the plant, the supervisor called in 300 armed Pinkerton guards which cause a 24 hour battle outside the plant. The supervisor requested the state

While organized labor’s storied history demonstrates remarkable achievements, there has been a downside for the American economy. By way of example, the formerly dominant U.S. steel industry serves to remind of an time when poor management, global competition, and union excess were necessary causes of a dramatic and rapid industry decline.

The mill workers felt that they simply did not have any other options and feared the punitive steps management would take if they unionized. Indeed, this appeared to be the case. When several employees expressed a tentative interest in the union, management reduced their work days, and, consequently, their pay. The mill’s management used many other scare tactics to try and persuade employees to reject the union.

Although tariffs usually cause domestic prices to increase they can have a positive effect on our economy and specifically our domestic producers of steel and their employees. The US trade policy has historically been protectionist in nature, and congress, the principle body of power for import policy, heavily favored domestic firms over their foreign competitors (Irwin 146). As a result, domestic steel producers have had tariffs and quotas in place for many years. An effective tariff raises revenue for our US government and can help to subsidize domestic production at the expense of foreign producers. This is good because the American government receives money from foreign exporters that it would not have otherwise had access to. This money can then be used in domestic government policies and could

This brief history of more than 100 years of the modern trade union movement in the United States can only touch the high spots of activity and identify the principal trends of a "century of achievement." In such a condensation of history, episodes of importance and of great human drama must necessarily be discussed far too briefly, or in some cases relegated to a mere mention.

Foreign steel producers plague the U.S. steel industry with unfair competitive practices. This practice is referred to as "dumping". Dumping of foreign steel has been a problem throughout the history of the U.S. steel industry. In the 1990s dumping has become more of a problem, due to the breakdown of the Russian economy and its transition from Capitalism to a free-market economy. According to Microsoft Encarta 98 (1998), Free-Market Economy, is an economic system in which individuals, rather than government, make the majority of decisions regarding economic activities and transactions. In addition, the Asian financial crisis has led to another round of dumping into the U.S. markets by many Asian