

JUST OUT: The Last Great Strike is "Fantastic" & "Essential Reading"
In a new book review, the Socialist Worker says The Last Great Strike is "fantastic" and "readers interested in U.S. labor history or labor law or both should buy and read this book." http://socialistworker.org/2016/06/30/labors-bloody-battle-in-steel #AhmedWhite #violence #1937 #LittleSteel #cio #YoungstownSheetTubeCompany #USSteel #LittleSteelStrike #BigSteel #NLRB #1930s #SWOC #Reviews #Author

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY: MAY 1937
Companies Spend Obscene Amounts to Defeat Steelworkers In May 1937, the steel companies moved quickly to prepare for a looming strike. Youngstown Sheet & Tube contemplated spending “several million dollars” to defeat the union (one million in 1937 dollars would be nearly seventeen million today . . . so "several million dollars" could be upwards of sixty-eight million). By May, the company had already set aside $550,000 to address such "contingencies" (in today's dollars, th

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY: MAY 1937
As Possibility of Strike Looms, Steel Companies Prepare for War By May 5, 1937, with a steel strike looming, the sheriff of Mahoning County, Ohio (where Youngstown is located) had sworn in 214 deputies. Fifty-seven were on Republic Steel’s payroll and 114 on Sheet & Tube's. Between May 6 and May 25, he swore in another 168 of the companies’ employees as deputies. Meanwhile, Republic shipped over $16,000 worth of munitions, mainly gas weapons, to the sheriff’s department; this