User:Rjensen/sandbox6

Accordingto Bruce Nelson, the "Steel Workers’ Organizing Committee" (SWOC), was established in 1936 by John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Although no steel workers were involved in it at first, the goal was to use UMW and CIO organizers to unionize the nation's great steel industry. Lewis appointed Philip Murray, UMW's vice president, to head of SWOC, and most of the organizers were on loan from the miners' union. SWOC was influenced by UMW's policies, and many of its officials were also UMW officials. Lewis was consulted at every major activity. Lewis and his team believed that the steel industry's rigidly hierarchical and autocratic structure required a centralized and responsible union. They waged a series of militant strikes, especially the "Little Steel" strike of 1937, that challenged the traditional image of a stable, strong, and unified union. Murray proclaimed a policy of "complete racial equality" concerning SWOC membership. was referring to European ethnic groups plus Blacks. The strong Communist element in SWOC was promoting the equal inclusion of Black workers. SWOC first goal was to seize the industry's company unions, known as Employee Representation Plans (ERPs), which SWOC aimed to capture from within. By January 1937, many of the ERPs had voted to join SWOC, which claimed to have a membership of 125,000. However, in March 1937, U.S. Steel, which controlled 40% of the industry, signed a collective bargaining agreement with SWOC. US Steel realized tha Roosevelt's reelection in 1936, plus the success of the autoworkers at General Motors, meant union recognition was inevitable. The other major steel companies tried to fight back in the Little Steel strike of 1937. But SWOC prevailed and swept the industry, becoming the United Steelworkers of America in 1942.