[1][2][3] On October 29, 1945, while president Truman was holding a White House conference between labor unions and business owners, the United Steel Workers (an affiliate of the CIO) filed with the government for a strike vote, covering their 750,000 members.

[4] On November 28, the steel workers voted 5 to 1 in favor of striking if companies refused to provide the wage increase.

Alongside this Truman also appealed for the union to delay its strike till the board finished its report on February 10.

[3] At the time, Philip Murray, President of the CIO and part of negotiations, charged in a Washington Post interview that the industry intended,[3] "to destroy labor unions, to provoke strikes and economic chaos and to mulct the American people through un-controlled profits and inflation..."Truman had proposed an hourly wage increase of 18½ cents.

[3] Facing an impending strike in two days, Chester B. Bowles advised Truman to seize the steel mills.

[3] This was based partially on the wide public support shown when the government seized oil refineries[a] and a meatpacking plant[b] in 1945, when they each faced strikes.

[13][3] The steel companies also agreed to a clause of a retroactive pay increase of 9¼ cents for work conducted between January 1 and February 17.

[13] At one point before the settlement, Bowles, whose relative popularity was used by Truman,[3] had threatened to resign after the agreement largely drawn by him was modified to be more accommodating to industry.

[3] The next day, ~550,000 workers had come to covered agreements, largely following the 18½ ¢ wage increase and returning to work that Monday.

[14] Over the next two months, individual agreements were made within the smaller companies, often following the set terms, till eventually all workers had returned.