The USWA was an empowering and militant organization started by Philip Murray who was an outspoken advocate for fair wages among mill workers.
In 1946 a dispute between the USWA and Benjamin Fearless, the chairman United States Steel Corporation, came to the attention of President Truman.
Philip Murray died of a heart attack in November 1952, and in 1953, the USWA executive board named David J. McDonald president.
Subsequently, McDonald focused negotiations on benefits such as unemployment compensation, health insurance, pensions, tuition reimbursement and other items.
[4][6] McDonald led the Steelworkers on strike in 1956, winning substantial wage increases, unemployment benefits, layoff rights, and improved pensions.
[2] Prior to the strike union officials urged local and state politicians to use their influence to secure a more favorable contract.
Industry negotiators refused to grant a wage increase unless McDonald agreed to a substantial alteration or an elimination of Section 2(b) of the union's national master contract.
[1][7][8][9] Section 2(b) of the steelworkers' contract limited management's ability to change the number of workers assigned to a task or to introduce new work rules or machinery that would result in reduced hours or fewer employees.
[1][9] Although McDonald was a strong advocate for wage increases, his "shaky leadership" did not put the union in a good position prior to the strike.
The strike was also affecting the automaking industry, which was threatening to lay off tens of thousands of Walter Reuther's members from a steel shortage.
The steel companies, realizing that they could wait until Eisenhower forced union members back to work, refused to make any such concessions.
Realizing that the strike could linger despite the use of the Taft–Hartley provisions, management offered a three-year contract with small improvements in pay and fringe benefits and binding arbitration over Section 2(b).
Working from a plan devised by Goldberg, McDonald also proposed a nine-member committee consisting of three members from labor, management, and the public to study and resolve work-rule issues.
[1][8][9] On October 20, the Department of Justice petitioned the federal district court for western Pennsylvania for a Taft–Hartley injunction ordering the steelworkers back to work.
[1][7][8][9] McDonald reluctantly ordered his members back to work, but productivity slowed from extremely poor relationships between workers and managers.
Nixon planned to run for president in 1960 and offered his services in the hopes of negotiating a settlement, which might win him labor's backing.
[1][8][9] In December, Nixon met privately with the steelmakers and cautioned them that the Democratic Congress would soon begin hearings on the steel strike.
[2] Eisenhower saw this as a big victory for “voluntary bargaining free of governmental involvement.”[2] Because management had to either make a final decision or deal with another crippling strike, US Steel CEO Roger M. Blough did not have the same view of the settlement stating; “The union's refusal of [our earlier] offer created a serious deadlock.
The union not only refused to bargain lower but after negotiating settlements in other industries, withdrew its previous offer and raised its demands very substantially.
Eager to avoid a repetition of the 1959 strike, McDonald worked with steel industry executives to widen the mandate of the new nine-member commissions (now known as "Human Relations Committees").