Beneath the Surface and Cast in Steel: Organizing the Mine and Steel Workers of America

As Lewis solidified the Committee on Industrial Organization, President Roosevelt and the federal government continued to roll out legislation to strengthen the bargaining power of American workers. In August 1935, the introduction of the Guffey-Snyder Act established the National Bituminous Coal Commission in order to shed light on the poor working conditions suffered by miners working beneath the surface of American industry. The Guffey-Snyder Act guaranteed the rights of miners to establish unions and collectively bargain with employers, and the NBCC guaranteed the rights of miners to bring labor complaints and disputes to a national body for settlement.

Decision of the National Bituminous Coal Commision
Decision of the National Bituminous Coal Commission from December 1934 from the United Mine Workers of America President’s Office Correspondence with Districts digital collection. The National Bituminous Coal Commission settled labor disputes as part of the National Industrial Recovery Administration put in place by the Roosevelt administration. As the copy of their decision shows they frequently ruled on egregious working conditions as in the case above wherein miners accused the Southern Wyoming Coal Operators Association of forcing miners to work 24-hour days.

While federal support strengthened the cause of workers below the ground, John L. Lewis cast the efforts of the newly created CIO into steel. In June 1936, Lewis convinced the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers (AA) to accept a proposal to make the AA a formal administrative unit within the CIO. With the AA on board, Lewis formally announced the creation of a new drive for the CIO: the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC). Lewis appointed Philip A. Murray, Vice President of the UMWA, to lead the effort. With funding supplied from the coffers of Lewis’ UMWA, SWOC set up offices in Washington, D.C. and immediately began organizing efforts to bring collective bargaining back to the steel workers.

The Two Giants of the CIO.
“The Two Giants of the CIO” from the Philip Murray papers. This picture taken from a special issue of the Sun-Telegraph Wednesday Picture Book depicts Murray and Lewis as the two foremost leaders of the CIO.

Lewis and Murray experienced a major success in 1937. John Lewis and Myron Taylor negotiated a deal that would see U.S. Steel officially recognize organizing power of the CIO within the most powerful corporation in the steel industry. That year, Lewis and Murray remained hopeful that the smaller Little Steel corporations would follow suit. However, the road to organizing steel workers proved more difficult than either expected. SWOC continued to experience resistance from Little Steel.

The Coal Digger
“Eye Witness to Memorial Day Massacre Expose Police Slaughter of Innocents,” The Coal Digger from the United Mine Workers of America, President’s Office Correspondence with Districts digital collection.

In May 1937, SWOC organized a walk-off of nearly 75,000 steel workers to protest the failure of corporations to recognize the bargaining efforts of workers. While leadership remained hopeful that Little Steel would follow U.S. Steel’s lead, the strike turned deadly on May 30, 1937. In an event now known as the “Memorial Day Massacre,” the police opened fire on steel workers striking against Republic Steel Company in South Chicago. In the mayhem that erupted, police murdered 10 citizen, shot 50 members of the crowd, and beat hundreds with clubs and batons. The Coal Digger, the union publication above, presented eye witness accounts and testimony from miners involved in the massacre.

While notable for the scope of the injuries inflicted on lawful citizens, the scene was not at all unprecedented in the history of labor. In 1935, a subcommittee of the National Labor Relations Board, commonly known as the La Follette Committee, began a serious investigation into the corporate tactics used to suppress labor organization. In 1937, the same year as the Memorial Day Massacre, the committee exposed the violent measures that corporations often undertook to suppress workers, which included hiring detectives and private police, stock piling munitions, and, if all else failed, physically harassing and harming strikers.

The federal support ushered in during the New Deal era helped to expose corporate anti-union efforts as a threat to democracy and to boost the efforts of industrial unionists seeking to take back the workplace. By 1938, the CIO officially changed its name to become the Congress of Industrial Organizations reflecting the rapid expansion and growth in membership since its founding. However, as the 1930s came to a close, Lewis began to falter and break allegiance with President Roosevelt whose New Deal policies many saw as the foundation that had allowed for the CIO’s early success.