STEEL WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (1936 )

Location: 310 Grant St, Pittsburgh, PA 15219

The Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) was organized on June 13, 1936, in the Commonwealth Building offices of Pat Fagan, director of District 5 of the United Mineworkers. Phil Murray of Pittsburgh, vice-president of the UMW, was named chair of the organization and opened union headquarters on the top floor of the Grant Building. Supported by the rapid unionization of the coal mines following the re-election victory of president Franklin Roosevelt, the organization challenged the AFL’s craft union structure. SWOC advocated an industrial union structure in steel. Following successful sit-down strikes in the automobile industry, secret negotiations between the UMW’s John L. Lewis and U.S. Steel’s Myron Taylor led to a union contract in U.S. Steel, the largest steel company.

1929-1946: Rise of Industrial Unionism The CIO Unions and Others

The USW’s headquarters is at 5 Gateway Center, Boulevard of the Allies and Stanwix Street

Despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of the Wagner Act and the subsequent union victory at J&L Steel in Aliquippa, the “Little Steel Strike” was broken following an attack by Chicago police on strikers peacefully gathered on Memorial Day, 1937, in front of the Republic Steel plant. However as the European war loomed, the union advanced steadily in membership. In 1942, SWOC became the United Steelworkers of America.

A marker for the Steel Workers Organizing Committee is beside the Grant Building, 4th Avenue near Grant Street