Background:
About one hundred years ago, Sparrows Point was just a swampy peninsula on the Chesapeake Bay. A few decades later the area would become home to the Bethlehem Steel Company. The company would soon grow into the largest steel complex in the world. During the time America used steel in twenty five percent of all its products. The need for steel sky rocketed; plants were in full swing across the country in places like Gary, IN, and Pittsburgh and Youngstown, PA. The industry required an intense labor force which opened up jobs for skilled and unskilled laborers. These laborers jumped at the opportunity to make an honest buck. This was a perfect mix because owners were far more willing to accept them knowing the enormous profits they stood to make.
Discrimination and Work Conditions:
Bethlehem Steel provides a captivating story of the life of a steel worker during the last half of the twentieth century. The mill offered considerable wages that lured many African Americans from Virginia and other parts of the eastern coast of the United States, however these wages came at a considerable price. Often these young males faced racial discrimination at the hand of their white foremen and co-workers. Compounding their plight was the horrific work conditions they had to endure.
African American males looking for a way to support their families saw Bethlehem Steel as the perfect opportunity. During the time the company paid decent wages and offered standard health care and benefits. The company also provided their workers with pensions and retirement programs. These were very attractive benefits for many men, especially blacks. Opportunities, in the eyes of these men, were scarce so they naturally accepted these positions. They came from far and wide desperately seeking a chance to find income.
However, once on the job they quickly realized that maybe this wasn’t the perfect opportunity after all. The mill was a microcosm of the social ills that so profoundly flourished across the United States. These black men were typically forced to do unskilled, which often times turned out to be the most dangerous. The easier less dangerous jobs were left for their white co-workers. Olin Wilson, a worker during the time said, “There were some Negroes who could do the work {skilled jobs}, but they didn’t want to because of the fear they had of what might happen." Then there were those who were willing to take the chance at it, but nobody encouraged them to. I called it an inter-woven kind of thing because while one said go ahead, the other said you better not” (L.W p.77). Very few moved up to higher positions such as foremen or supervisors. They were constantly passed over as higher positions became available. This kind of discrimination had a direct affect on their salaries. As a whole, they made far less than whites on the job.
I sat down to talk to my father about some of these issues; he happened to be the reason I decided to do this report. He confirmed these allegations of discrimination. He told me, “When I started the job in 1973 there were still signs up separating whites and blacks.” I told him that shouldn’t have been because segregation laws had been in effect for years. He quickly grinned and replied,” Yeah, they kept them up even though no one acknowledged them, but it still sort of represented the separation between us”.
He then began to explain to me how blacks had to put their clothes on a chain after dressing for work. The clothes would then be sent up to the ceiling for storage. No big deal right? Wrong, whites at this point were given lockers to house their clothes. So while blacks’ clothes hung from the ceiling exposed to the hazardous environment, whites laid clean in lockers.
Ironically, the same year my father started at Bethlehem Steel , they began to see pressure from all directions to do something about their discriminatory practices. The government commenced an all-out assault on January 17, 1973. This made them the largest industrial company ever to face losing its government contracts if they didn’t correct discrimination to minority workers. An order was handed down by Secretary of Labor James E. Hodgson for the company to change its system which, “has been found to perpetuate the effects of past discrimination in the assignment of blacks to jobs and departments with limited advancement opportunities.
Bethlehem Steel’s safety conditions were another problem workers faced during their tenure at the plant. Often, the company fell short of required safety provisions which jeopardized its employees. However, the company was able to keep the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) unit at bay for long stretches of time. The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health job was to make sure companies were providing a safe environment for its workers. In the case of Bethlehem steel, the unit occasionally fell short of satisfying its job. The consequences of MOSH incompetency would cause many workers their lives and other severe injuries.
The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health unit met with Bethlehem Steel officials in a private meeting in July of 1977. After the meeting, MOSH’s members decided to rescind a $150 fine that had been placed on the steelmaker regarding the provision of break bar [emergency stop]. MOSH decided that the bar was sufficient to protect workers. However, two months later Robert E. Hall was killed during an accident in which the bar did not function properly. According to a journalist at the Baltimore Sun, “Mr. Hall was killed when his left hand got caught in the wire running into the nip point of the machine. He was flung head first around a giant metal spool. Halfway around the spool, his body set off an emergency switch and the machine stopped”(1,web). The accident was evidence that the break bar was not sufficient to protect workers.
Accidental deaths were not uncommon at the Bethlehem Steel Mill. Freak accidents plagued the mill throughout its existence. Just one year after the death of Mr. Hall another employee would loss his life due to inadequate safety provisions. Earl Barley died after inhaling carbon monoxide from a leaking blast furnace pipeline. The concentration was said to be, “ so potent that it would produce bizarre effects within minutes: hallucinations, convulsions, loss of memory. In a few more minutes, unconsciousness would set in, then death from asphyxiation”(1,Web). Five others had to be treated in an oxygen pressure chamber and fifteen others sought medical treatment.
Recently, I sat down with two former Bethlehem Steel co-workers; Eric Wright and Micheal “Topper” Randall. Both gentlemen started working at the plant in 1972 and agreed that safety conditions were horrible. “Complaints were made but nothing was done,” says Wright. These two men explained they occasionally saw a worker lose a digit or limb in work-related accidents. Randall recalls watching a man die as a massive steel beam lay on his abdomen. Randall explains, “ there was nothing they could do we knew he would not make it and realized that as soon as the beam was lifted off of him he would bleed to death”(1,web). Eric and Michael seem to have had an endless amount of stories of workers who had been injured at the mill.
Safety infraction often goes unaccounted for because there was not always regulatory mandates which would require them to be documented. However, according to an in house newsletter in 1978 alone, the following occurred: six deaths (each occurring in a separate incident), one coma, seven amputations, 70 eye injuries, 86 back injuries and hernias, 181 burns, 205 fractures and dislocations, and 395 large cuts and puncture wounds. These are very large numbers considering the short time span.

Prior to 1980, Bethlehem Steel did not provide adequate equipment to protect its workers from asbestos exposure. Machinist, welders, metal casters, millwrights and machine operators were at a higher risk because they were in direct contact with the product. Asbestos is a fibrous mineral used because of its ability to withstand fire. Asbestos is inhaled into the body and then begins to infiltrate internal organs. Asbestos jagged edges cause severe damage to human tissue which can cause serious health issues.
Researchers have made a direct link between asbestos exposure and cancer. Consequently, many of Bethlehem Steel workers developed different forms of cancer. Mesothelioma was the most common form of cancer workers developed. Mesothelioma takes a long time to manifest. It works by attacking the lining of the lungs. This form of cancer is very aggressive and it often takes the lives of its victims.
The families of Bethlehem steel workers were also in danger of asbestos exposure. Unknowingly, many workers of the mill brought the carcinogenic home with them. The tiny fibrous mineral could easily get trapped in the workers clothing. Bethlehem Steel did not have decontamination methods therefore; the clothing would then transport the asbestos from the plant to the workers homes. This process contaminated the homes of plant employees which ultimately jeopardized the lives and health of innocent victims.
Consequently, Bethlehem Steel has been bombarded with lawsuits by former workers who have developed asbestos related cancers. In some cases family members are forced to carry on the lawsuits because the victims are already deceased or in such bad health that they are unable. Favorable verdicts are often bitter sweet for the families. Monetary gains cannot bring back the lives or health of those affected by asbestos exposure. Estimations of those affected by asbestos exposure at Bethlehem Steel are currently in the thousands.
The End
The superiority held in Bethlehem Steel Making would ultimately come to an end. One reason for the collapse is the industries failure to embrace technology. In the novel “Sparrows Point”, author Mark Reuter explains, “In a competitive world economy, it is imperative for a business to link its future to new technology or new markets through improved productivity. American steelmakers have seldom faced up to these realities” (M.R, p.413). Steelmakers relied on inflating the price of steel to maintain quarterly dividends instead of using technology to increase efficiency. This continued practice went on for so long that the mills reached a point where they were out of date. Subsequently, this gave opportunity to domestic mini mills, foreign steel makers, and makers of steel substitutes (aluminum and plastic).
Another overriding source of steel’s decline is the shrinking of domestic demand. Statistics show that, “United States grew sluggishly from 1957 to 1973, when it reached 122 million tons, then dropped off in cyclical swings. Today, Americans consume only 90 million tons of finished steel a year from all sources” (M.R, p.414). One of the first warning signs that steel may be in trouble came during the recession of 1958. Sparrows point and other mills production dropped to around forty percent. The drop was in direct relationship with an abrupt fall in consumer demand.
Other factors can be attributed to the decline of America’s steel industry. Aluminum, for instance, became a cheaper more viable alternative. An example of this can be seen in the beer and soft drink industries where today, “99 percent of all beer cans are made of aluminum…in soft drinks 89.6 percent of all cans are aluminum”. (M.R 417). Since 1960, aluminum has increased tenfold, making it the single largest light weight market. The rise in aluminum production crippled a once prominent steel industry. However, these were not the only reasons for the ruin of American steel industries. Other factors are high union wages, environmental cleanup costs, and Japanese and other foreign market invasions also contributed to the demise of the American steel mill.
Unfortunately, the collapse would mean more problems for the workers in the steel industry. Thousands of workers were laid off or fired as the industry began to fall. Workers who invested over twenty years of their lives were forced out with little compensation. A former Bethlehem Steel worker explains, “ I worked at the point for twenty six years from 1973 to 1999. When it was all over I got a check for 28,642 dollars. I was told I was too young to get my pension and there would be no retirement money. At the time I was 49 years old and faced with the fact that I would have to start my life over”. Sadly, there are thousands of stories just like this of workers who devoted the majority of their lives to the steel industry only to find themselves in such an improbable dilemma.

Many of the problems and work conditions that plagued Bethlehem Steel and Sparrows Point would not be tolerated today. Laborers have unions and factories abide by OSHA rules and regulations. Employees are active members of their unions and stay current of the issues they face with their employers. In order to receive government contracts and tax breaks, many production facilities adhere to the strict guidelines to ensure the safety and health of their employees. A possible lawsuit is a public relations nightmare for any company in these current economic conditions. In this economy, a company has to do right by its employees, customers, and the public it serves. Corporate social responsibility has a direct affect on the bottom line and many companies are taking in active role to make sure they are perceived in the best possible light. If Bethlehem Steel and Sparrows Point would have invested more money into safety and technology and took better care of their invaluable employees, they might have not had the many misfortunes that occurred. A whole is only as good as its parts.
Bibliography


Mason, Patrick. African American, Labor, and Society: The pursuit of Equality in the
Steel Industry. Michigan: Wayne State University, 2001.

Ruetter, Mark. Sparrows Point: Making Steel- The Rise and Ruin of American Industrial
Might. New York: Summit Books, 1988.

Strohmeyer, John. Crisis in Bethlehem: Big Steel Struggles to Survive. Maryland: Alder
& Alder, 1986.

Williams, Lillian. Strangers in the Land of Paradise: Creation of an African American
Community. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2000.

Unique photo of housing provided for Bethlehem Steel workers by the company. Housing was provided however is was not free. It has been interesting to see how this community influenced the make up of Baltimore and its surrounding neighborhoods. The complexity of some many ethic groups existing in such small corridors is amazing.

This project has taken an enormous amount of time. However, it has been a very interesting journey, its just that I have not had adequate time to research as much as i would like. Things have began to slow down a little therefore I should be able to get back on track. Above is a link to view a early image of Bethlehem Steel.

At langsdale libary on the computer just found two books that apppear to be ideal for my topic. Im now encourage was getting a little nervous for a minute. However there is a catch Langsdale doesnt have them. No big deal just a nice evening ride to UMBC, might be interesting never been there before. By the way just finish, " gutting" word from Dr. Singer, Sparrows Point:Making Steel- The Rise and Ruin of American Industrial Might. Really gave me an overall perspective but didnt touch directly on my topic.

This project is becoming a little difficult. There is not as much information directly related to my topic. To offset these short coming I will have to rely on interviews with some of the people who work there. So I'm arranging to have some over the phone as well as in person interviews today and throught the weekend.

Good evening fellow students and professor. I have spent a great portion of Thursday researching the beginning stages of Sparrows Point. The Langsdale library prove inadequate for this specific task. However, today I am at the Maryland room, they have all sorts of information just not that organized. I plan to nail down a few key points then began the beginning stage of my paper.

The purpose of my blog will be to show the development of Bethlehem Steel. To first provide some back ground information on the land which it was built. Secondly to show why it was built there in the first place opposed too many other locations. The balk of this project will cover the “hay day” of the company. This will involve working conditions, discrimination, and the impact it had on Baltimore.
In closing I will try to some up some of the main reasons for the company’s demise. The goal is to give a broad depiction of the evolution and ultimate collapse of a one time very prominent business. This will allow for me to incorporate some of the affects the company had on the city and people of Baltimore. Thorough research coupled with first hand interviews will provide an entertaining yet educational blog.