Essay Example on Steelworkers' Oral Histories: Empowerment Through Companionship

Introduction

The steel industry has been evolving since the 1940s until recently (Fitch, 2014). Looking at oral history, it is easy to understand the experiences of steelworkers and their way of life in the nineteenth century. Although oral history observes and records the kind of lifestyle that workers go through, it also empowers them. It does not mean to disguise one's identity or make a judgment of people's conscience. Oral history helps to accompany workers by becoming a companion and to be present. At the same time, oral history offers a platform, which implicitly shows that the life of steelworkers is important. The interviewer and the interviewee meet as equals; they are two experts in the interview. For example in this paper, I am the expert in the kind of regulations and procedures I use and also the interviewee is an expert on his life. In this paper, I will interview two steelworkers, one over the age of 50 and the other under 40.

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Industrial Context

I began by interviewing a steelworker who was over the age of 50 about the state of the market for goods that were produced. According to him, American steel mills were producing steel at a concerted pace. During the 1940s, the steel industries were producing goods, making half of the world's steel products. The steel industry dominated in that American steel millers had an average of 70,000 workers (Fitch, 2014). In the United States and elsewhere, industrial steel was of focus because it created jobs as well as goods and services. The majority of industries and factories used fire to make steel. In the same parallel, the interviewee proposed that the American miller's industry is a big business, which is made up of more than 250 companies and it makes of about 40% of the world steel (Fitch, 2014). Steel is distributed in the entire economy of the US in that a third of the US entrepreneurs own steel stock. Since the 1940s, American Millers Industry has been an important factor, which produces more than 135 million steel products per year (Fitch, 2014).

In the second interview with a steelworker under the age of 40 reflected a different narrative. Based on his weakening sentiment, it is no doubt to conclude the steel industry has changed. The state of the market for goods produced indicated that there is a slow global demand for steel products. According to the company statistics, some regions in the United States, China, Asia and more will perform better than others (Fitch, 2014). However, the interviewee said that steel is the backbone of economic growth because the material is used to build all kinds of infrastructure. Despite this, steelworkers are facing a dumpy road given that the steel industry has undergone drastic changes. Several factors are associated with the decline, for instance, evolving demand, uncertainty in the market, regulatory changes, tax pressures, digitalization, interest rates, environmental concerns, to mention but a few. According to him, the state of the market for the goods is a significant challenge since the industries are not certain on what to focus on and to understand some of the disruptive factors that will have an impact on business models.

Labor Market

My first interviewee highlighted that the kind of labor that was needed in the industry was both skilled and unskilled. The skilled workers controlled everything that was done in the factories. They did work, which required training, judgment, and experience. However, every operation was controlled by a foreman, who gave directions and guidelines on how goods were produced. In the last 87 years, steel industries had lines of promotion, which motivated skilled workers to move to the next position. However, this would vary in departments in that there was an operating principle through common labor or specialization. The workforce was in the form of a pyramid and held together by an ambition of lower down. The production of steel was mainly controlled by skilled workers (Hakobyan & McLaren, 2016). On the other hand, unskilled workers were hired directly by the factories and even skilled workers to provide labor. They were hired under the contract system in that they were paid based on the amount of ton of steel produced. Employers had little control over the wages of skilled workers as compared to unskilled workers. During this period, skilled labor was scarce whereas unskilled labor was plenty. Also, the competition was experienced with the skilled ladder in that those in higher and lower position has vested interests. Most of the workers during the 1940s were immigrants who were urban laborers and they came from the cities (Hakobyan & McLaren, 2016).

The interviewee under the age of 40 also gave a story different from the first one; he said that the kind of labor that is needed in the steel industry is only skilled. Workers set up various structures across departments. They form a complex hierarchy of authority, which is stratified along with job ladders. Although steelworkers offer skilled labor, they make little or no-decision in the production of steel products. They are categorized based on class nature in that the basis of labor and wages are equal partners. Skilled labor is plenty above the specified minimum rate, but the wages could not be heightened. There is increasing competition in the steel industry due to the erosion of cost position and promotions. At the same time, the interviewee said that most of the steelworkers come from other countries. According to research by Hinshaw (2012), most of the workers come from more than 100 countries, for instance, from Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Canada, and more.

Training

When I interviewed the steelworker over the age of 50, he said that most workers were trained through apprenticeship. The employers preferred apprenticeship kind of training because it was efficient and also ensured safe operation since management varied from time to time. The apprenticeship system was expected to offer workers with skills and also guaranteed the industry adequate labor before successful bidders could be given a relief classification. Employees were not expected to practice any form of seniority except a point of demotion into a new level job entry. At the same time, new vacancies were advertised on the company notice board and the workers were trained while working before they could be promoted to a position where they could satisfactory perform the job. On the other hand, the steelworker under the age of 40 responded by saying that employees are trained in school. Steelworkers are involved in studies, which widen their participation in all phases including project design, report development, instrument development, and more. Before employees start working in steel companies, they develop research in school to find the intended processes, uses, and results of steel production. People work in research teams collectively to acquire expertise in the steel industry as they invest time in planning, facilitating, and driving their research. Further, participants enroll in an alliance, which strengths them and brings the groups that were formed to impact policy issues. Training is about job evaluation alongside the manual of the steel industry. The focal point of the entire training process is to prepare the participants and impart necessary skills, which they will use to effectively work at the workplace.

Management

The first interviewee highlighted that in the last 87 years, the kind of management policies that have governed steelwork are regulatory and distributive. Employers exercised power in a basis of economic interests in that organization and distribution of steel products was to go for how economic groups were mobilized economically. Likewise, the interviewee mentioned the process of policy formation. In the 1940s, managers emphasized on internal organizational arrangements, which included degrees of economic power, and political power among the capitalist groups. To ensure that workers comply with the policies, employers developed rules, guidelines, and procedures, which directed work processes across structures. Also, some regulatory policies helped to monitor workers who could violate the policies in control of the assigned work in the industry. Employers ensured that workers complied with the requirement of the steel industry, something that trained employees the need for contributing to the corporate culture as well as the industry.

As per the second steelworker's sentiments, the policies have changed. The management has not found a need to create and implement tough policies in steel industries for the workers. However, it does not mean that there are no policies; when the behavior of workers indicates confusion about the appropriate conduct, the management is forced to apply the policies. The management policies used by the steel industry are regulatory and distributive and they are used because the legal protection of the factories is necessary. Also, for fair treatment and consistent behavior of workers, the policies limit threats and maltreatment of workers. The policies have tightly controlled the worker in that they develop working techniques, equipment, and products, which aid the production process of steel as a continuous strip. At the same time, the policies control the worker to become active and accelerate the elimination of backward production techniques, which are not important in the factory. In the same parallel, the policies that the management has in place encourage the adoption of techniques that control the employees to use waste steel as raw materials to augment the consumption of serious pollution.

Technology

The steelworker over the age of 50 asserted that since the 1940s, the kind of tools/machinery that steel factories used are grinding, drilling, boring, and broaching machines. Moreover, the factories used lathes of various types in the process of manufacturing their steel products. Large of the ordinance production comprised of metals and this forced employers to attempt to develop a retooling program, which helped inefficient mass production of metals. Companies in the US and Britain replaced some of their standard machines with new specialized ones to boost their production. They had contracts and large orders from Navy and Air Corps Companies thus they needed to acquire the tools on a large scale to meet the need and demands in the market. More steel products were manufactured until even after the Second World War because the factories wanted to make and sell their brazed tools. With time, there were improvements as more machine tools were introduced into the industry. Some of the new machinery include lather, hone, drill press, screw, and milling machines. More and highly operators were recruited to operate the machine tools. The demand for skilled operators was on the rise until the mid-1990s when more versatile machinery was again introduced. The skills were valuable in that the numerical control machine operators were of significant importance. They could use their skills and effort to ensure that the operation is efficient without mental deformation. However, this has changed because of the emergence of versatile automatic machinery, which does not require much involvement.

On the other hand, the narrative from the second steelworker under the age of 40 shows that there has been a transformation in the steel industry. The kind of tools/machinery that are used are typically powered. They require little human involvement; a class of machines made of aluminum and metal parts used is classified according to the activity they will perform. Most factories prefer using extensive steel-made robots to manufacture products; this means that if a product was to be made of steel, there was a...