Ebook269 pages6 hours
Striking Steel
By Jack Metzgar
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this ebook
Having come of age during a period of vibrant union-centered activism, Jack Metzgar begins this book wondering how his father, a U.S> Steel shop steward in the 1950s and '60s, and so many contemporary historians could forget what this country owes to the union movement.
Combining personal memoir and historical narrative, Striking Steel argues for reassessment of unionism in American life during the second half of the twentieth century and a recasting of "official memory." As he traces the history of union steelworkers after World War II, Metzgar draws on his father's powerful stories about the publishing work in the mills, stories in which time is divided between "before the union" and since. His father, Johnny Metzgar, fought ardently for workplace rules as a means of giving "the men" some control over their working conditions and protection from venal foremen. He pursued grievances until he eroded management's authority, and he badgered foremen until he established shop-floor practices that would become part of the next negotiated contract. As a passionate advocate of solidarity, he urged coworkers to stick together so that the rules were upheld and everyone could earn a decent wage.
Striking Steel's pivotal event is the four-month nationwide steel strike of 1959, a landmark union victory that has been all but erased from public memory. With remarkable tenacity, union members held out for the shop-floor rules that gave them dignity in the workplace and raised their standard of living. Their victory underscored the value of sticking together and reinforced their sense that they were contributing to a general improvement in American working and living conditions.
The Metzgar family's story vividly illustrates the larger narrative of how unionism lifted the fortunes and prospects of working-class families. It also offers an account of how the broad social changes of the period helped to shift the balance of power in a conflict-ridden, patriarchal household. Even if the optimism of his generation faded in the upheavals of the 1960s, Johnny Metzgar's commitment to his union and the strike itself stands as an honorable example of what a collective action can and did achieve. Jack Metzgar's Striking Steel is a stirring call to remember and renew the struggle.
Combining personal memoir and historical narrative, Striking Steel argues for reassessment of unionism in American life during the second half of the twentieth century and a recasting of "official memory." As he traces the history of union steelworkers after World War II, Metzgar draws on his father's powerful stories about the publishing work in the mills, stories in which time is divided between "before the union" and since. His father, Johnny Metzgar, fought ardently for workplace rules as a means of giving "the men" some control over their working conditions and protection from venal foremen. He pursued grievances until he eroded management's authority, and he badgered foremen until he established shop-floor practices that would become part of the next negotiated contract. As a passionate advocate of solidarity, he urged coworkers to stick together so that the rules were upheld and everyone could earn a decent wage.
Striking Steel's pivotal event is the four-month nationwide steel strike of 1959, a landmark union victory that has been all but erased from public memory. With remarkable tenacity, union members held out for the shop-floor rules that gave them dignity in the workplace and raised their standard of living. Their victory underscored the value of sticking together and reinforced their sense that they were contributing to a general improvement in American working and living conditions.
The Metzgar family's story vividly illustrates the larger narrative of how unionism lifted the fortunes and prospects of working-class families. It also offers an account of how the broad social changes of the period helped to shift the balance of power in a conflict-ridden, patriarchal household. Even if the optimism of his generation faded in the upheavals of the 1960s, Johnny Metzgar's commitment to his union and the strike itself stands as an honorable example of what a collective action can and did achieve. Jack Metzgar's Striking Steel is a stirring call to remember and renew the struggle.
Related to Striking Steel
Related ebooks
The American Spectator's Enemies List: A Vigilant Journalist's Plea for a Renewed Red Scare Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51941: Fighting the Shadow War: A Divided America in a World at War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nobody's People: Hierarchy as Hope in a Society of Thieves Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaking Social Welfare Policy in America: Three Case Studies since 1950 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA New Working Class: The Legacies of Public-Sector Employment in the Civil Rights Movement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMean Streets: Homelessness, Public Space, and the Limits of Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marxist Left Review #23 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHard Sell: Work and Resistance in Retail Chains Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBridging the Divide: Working-Class Culture in a Middle-Class Society Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTensions in the American Dream: Rhetoric, Reverie, or Reality Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Next Revolution in our Credit-Driven Economy: The Advent of Financial Technology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Curious Enlightenment of Professor Caritat: A Novel of Ideas Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Prison in the Woods: Environment and Incarceration in New York's North Country Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Politics of Consumption Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Overthrowing the Queen: Telling Stories of Welfare in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDispatches Against Displacement: Field Notes from San Franciscos Housing Wars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSolidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Teacher Unions and Social Justice: Organizing for the Schools and Communities Our Students Deserve Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrdinary Poverty: A Little Food and Cold Storage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMr. Block: The Subversive Comics and Writings of Ernest Riebe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDangerous Grounds: Antiwar Coffeehouses and Military Dissent in the Vietnam Era Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On New Terrain: How Capital Is Reshaping the Battleground of Class War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Left Americana Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Wider Type of Freedom: How Struggles for Racial Justice Liberate Everyone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAusterity Ireland: The Failure of Irish Capitalism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDivide and Conquer or Divide and Subdivide?: How Not to Refight the First International Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThird Wave Capitalism: How Money, Power, and the Pursuit of Self-Interest Have Imperiled the American Dream Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Newsprint Metropolis: City Papers and the Making of Modern Americans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Business For You
Law of Connection: Lesson 10 from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Collaborating with the Enemy: How to Work with People You Don't Agree with or Like or Trust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of J.L. Collins's The Simple Path to Wealth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Set for Life: An All-Out Approach to Early Financial Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Richest Man in Babylon: The most inspiring book on wealth ever written Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High, Third Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, 20th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, 3rd Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tools Of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Intelligent Investor, Rev. Ed: The Definitive Book on Value Investing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Carol Dweck's Mindset The New Psychology of Success: Summary and Analysis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Get Ideas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robert's Rules of Order: The Original Manual for Assembly Rules, Business Etiquette, and Conduct Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capitalism and Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat: The BRRRR Rental Property Investment Strategy Made Simple Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Money. Wealth. Life Insurance. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Striking Steel
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Striking Steel - Jack Metzgar
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1