[PRCo] Re: Demise of Steel industry in Pittsburgh

[Fred Schneider]

Here is an interesting link to the sale of the Sparrows Point steel  
mill in Baltimore.   Very recent.   Curious thing is the decline in  
employment from 30,000 to 2400 people while output (tonnage) from the  
mill has remained just about constant.   Derrick Brashear dragged me  
on a tour at the industrial museum of Baltimore where this mill was  
featured a year ago ... most interesting.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal- 
bz.sparrows06sep06,0,7627596.story




On Sep 11, 2007, at 7:35 PM, John Swindler wrote:

>
>
> I worked the summer of 1966 as a grinder in Homestead Works.  First  
> night,
> two of us started grinding out imperfections in steel plates.   
> After about
> 45 min. and about five plates, an old timer came over and told us:   
> "you
> boys need to take a break for the rest of the night.  You'll be  
> back in
> school in the fall, and we don't need them changing the incentive  
> for this
> job."
>
> In retrospect, I'd now presume that both US Steel and the USW  
> thought they
> had a monopoly.  Guess what:  they didn't.
>
> What also happened is that a lot of steel production moved south,  
> frequently
> to small specialty steel companies.  And there has been tremendous
> productivity increases.  There is no longer a need for a sea of  
> workers to
> produce a ton of steel.
>
> John
>
>
>
>> From: robert simpson <bobs at pacbell.net>
>> Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Demise of Steel industry in Pittsburgh
>> Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:18:25 -0700 (PDT)
>>
>> John;
>>
>>   I remember working in Munhall in 1960, and frequently crossed the
>> Homestead Bridge.  I couldn't help but notice a new building being  
>> erected
>> directly across the street from the U. S. Steel Homstead plant and  
>> each
>> steel girder was prominently marked "Made in Japan".  How, I  
>> wondered,
>> could they manufacture steel in Japan, ship it to America, and  
>> transport it
>> cross-country for less than simply buying it from across the  
>> street?  I
>> sensed a feeling of doom for our once thriving steel industry.   
>> The steel
>> industry has gone the same route as our beloved streetcars and  
>> exist only
>> in our memories.
>>
>>   Robert Simpson
>>   from Krazy California
>>
>>   On Tue, 11 Sep 2007, John Swindler wrote:
>> "> Wasn't there a downturn in the steel industry in 1958/59?????  
>> Did it
>> have
>>> anything to do with auto production???
>>
>> 116 day steel strike in 1959. July, i think, it started
>>
>> This matters to me as I am researching something which is going to  
>> involve
>> going over newspapers from when Oliver Iron & Steel closed.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Discover sweet stuff waiting for you at the Messenger Cafe.  Claim  
> your
> treat today!
> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff.html? 
> ocid=TXT_TAGHM_SeptHMtagline2
>
>