Back to Work

Barely three hours after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Taft-Hartley steel injunction (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS), workers were on their way back to the mills. In Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago and other steel centers across the U.S., the millwrights, pipe fitters and laborers moved in to repair and start up the equipment that stood idle through the 116 days of the longest industry-wide steel strike in history. How long would it take for the steel industry to get back into full-scale operation?

U.S. Steel, Jones & Laughlin, Inland, Republic and most of the other big producers expected to pour their first iron and steel in 48 to 96 hours after firing up. By the end of the first week, the industry hopes to be at 25% of capacity; 40% to 70% capacity should come by the second week, depending on the product and the mill; and by the third week, production should reach 80% of capacity. Better than 90% capacity will take another two to three weeks.

How Much Damage? The timetable could be upset by the extent of damage to furnaces during the long shutdown. In some cases, the interior brick linings have contracted and furnace roofs have fallen in. Steelmen waited anxiously for signs of other damage as the heat built up to 3,000DEG. What may hold repairs to a minimum is the fact that U.S. Steel, Inland and others kept nonunion supervisory staffs in the mills to keep heat in the furnaces and do some of the basic repair work as the damage occurred. The industry will not know for sure until the furnaces start operating this week. Says one steelman: "We've never gone through a strike this long. When a furnace has been down for four months, nobody can say how it's going to work even though it looks in good shape."

Even if the industry goes back in operation rapidly, the effects of the strike on the U.S. economy will be felt for many weeks to come. Though there are still some 4,500,000 tons of finished steel in inventories in the U.S., much of it is in odd sizes. It will take at least four weeks before the pipelines begin to fill with new finished steel products, five to six weeks before completely balanced deliveries are resumed. The press of demand is so great that the steel companies will fill back orders as they appear on the books on a straight first-come, first-served basis. For the time being, many companies are not accepting new orders. As one steelman says: "We're backed up solid with orders for six months at least."

The Effects Go On. For the nation's big steel users, the prospect is for still more layoffs in the next six weeks. More than 410,000 workers outside the steel industry have been furloughed because of the strike; the Department of Labor reports that the layoffs will continue at an accelerating rate as steel supplies are exhausted. Both the number and size of the shutdown plants are increasing.

Detroit's auto industry, which started its 1960 model year with such a boom (see Autos), faces another two months of bust. Ford Motor Co., which makes 40% to 50% of its own steel, is in the best position, but it has only enough steel to last into early December at reduced production rates. Chrysler, already operating on a four-day week, will probably have to shut down completely by late November. American Motors expects to continue at its present high production rate. Studebaker-Packard also hopes to get by without any cutbacks. General Motors is just about shut down; the company is short all types of steel, has laid off 200,000 production workers and closed down all lines except limited production of Buicks, Corvairs and G.M. trucks and buses. G.M. estimates that it will be six weeks before the closed plants can be reopened, several more weeks before they are up to peak production.

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