The steel workers / by John A. Fitch ; with a new introduction by Roy Lubove.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fitch, John A. (John Andrews), 1881-1959, author.

Series:

Pittsburgh series in social and labor history.

Pittsburgh series in social and labor history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Iron and steel workers--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.

Iron and steel workers.

Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (437 pages) : illustrations, portraits.

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Steelworkers.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : University of Pittsburgh Press, [1989]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This classic account of the worker in the steel industry during the early years of the twentieth century combines the social investigator's mastery of facts with the vivid personal touch of the journalist. From its pages emerges a finely etched picture of how men lived and worked in steel.In 1907-1908, when John Fitch spent more than a year in Pittsburgh interviewing workers, steel was the master industry of the region. It employed almost 80, 000 workers and virtually controlled social and civic life.Fitch observed steel workers on the job, and he describes succinctly the prevailing technology of iron and steelmaking: the blast furnace crews, the puddlers and rollers; the crucible, Bessemer, and open hearth processes. He examined the health problems and accidents which resulted from the pressure of long hours, hazardous machinery, and speed-ups in production. He also anaylzed the early experiments in welfare capitolism, such as accident prevention and compensation, and pensions.One of the six volumes in the famous Pittsburgh Survey (1909-1914), The Steel Workers remains a readable and timeless account of labor conditions in the early years of the steel industry. An introduction by the noted historian Roy Lubove places the book in political and historical context and makes it especially suitable for classroom use.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

John A. Fitch, "The Steel Workers," and the Crisis of Democracy, by Roy Lubove

Text of "The Steel Workers

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introductory

Part I: The Men and the Tools

II: The Workmen

III: The Blast Furnace Crews

IV: Puddlers and Iron Rollers

V: The Steel Makers

VI: The Men of the Rolling Mills

VII: Health and Accidents in Steel Making

Part II: The Struggle for Control

VIII: Unionism and the Union Movement

IX: Policies of the Amalgamated Association

X: The Great Strikes

Part III: The Employers in the Saddle

XI: Industrial Organization under the Non-union Regime

XII: Wages and the Cost of Living

XIII: The Working Day and the Working Week

XIV: Speeding Up and the Bonus System

XV: The Labor Policy of Unrestricted Capital

XVI: Repression

Part IV: The Steel Workers and Democracy

XVII: Citizenship in the Mill Towns

XVIII: The Spirit of the Workers

Appendices

I: Documents relating to the Amalgamation of the Unions in the Iron and Steel Industry

II: The Amalgamated Association

III: Unionism at Homestead since 1892

IV: Wage Figures

V: Profit-sharing Plan and Bonus Fund of the United States Steel Corporation

VI: Seven-Day Labor

VII: Relief Plan of the United States Steel Corporation

VIII: United States Steel and Carnegie Pension Fund

IX: Labor Conditions in the Mills of the Bethlehem Steel Comany, at South Bethlehem, Pa.

X: Racial Make-up of Labor Force of Carnegie Steel Company, Allegheny County Plants

Index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Reprint. Originally published: Russell Sage Foundation, 1910.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780822973843

0822973847

OCLC:

880440033