Welcome to the Lehigh Valley Landmarks with Leon podcast series, celebrating 250 years of independence. I'm your host, Rachel Leon. Since being elected in 2022 and serving as Vice President of Bethlehem City Council, I'm humbled by the opportunity to serve the diverse communities that make up our great city. But to understand where we're going, we need to understand our past. Each week, I'll share a short feature with a big story about the 250 years that made the Lehigh Valley and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, known as the Christmas City, as we explore historic landmarks.
Abraham Lincoln said, "labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much higher consideration."
As we prepare to celebrate Labor Day, I'm happy to have my friend and colleague, Representative Steve Samuelson, for this Labor Day special episode, as we will honor the men and women who worked at the Bethlehem Steel, and discuss the history of the United Steelworkers of America labor union.
Rachel
Welcome, Steve.
Steve
Thanks for having me, I'm excited to be here.
Rachel
We're on location in front of the United Steel Workers of America Union Hall, built in 1954 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It is located at 53 E. Lehigh Street in Bethlehem, but let's start before the existence of the United Steelworkers labor union. Steve, can you tell us about the early history of Bethlehem Steel?
Steve
Sure. It was actually founded here in Bethlehem as the Saucona Iron Company back in 1857 and it was initially established to produce wrought iron rails for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which was booming about that time. In the 1860s, it became the Bethlehem Iron Company, and then by 1899, it became the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.
Rachel
Well, how soon after 1899, when the Bethlehem Steel Company took over, did the efforts begin to form the Steelworkers Union?
Steve
Well, pretty much from the start, there was always tension between the steelworkers and the Bethlehem Steel management. Charles Schwab purchased the company in 1901. At the beginning of the 20th Century, steelworkers were paid between 12 cents and 20 cents an hour, and they worked 60 hours a week. So, the average annual income for steelworkers was about $600, and the poverty line at that time for a family of four was about $500, so a steelworker's wages were just over the poverty line.
In 1910, starting in February, there was a major labor dispute right here in Bethlehem over the firing of three machinists. Other workers in the machine shops went on strike. 9,000 steel workers began protesting right here on the Southside of Bethlehem. There were clashes with the police. On February 26th, the called in the State Constabulary. When they arrived in Bethlehem to intervene in the strike, troopers clashed with onlookers, there were beatings, rock throwing. It was a violent scene right here in South Bethlehem in that month of February of 1910.
Rachel
Wasn't someone actually killed during those uprisings?
Steve
Yes, during that strike in 1910, the state constables shot into the crowd and a Hungarian immigrant named Joseph Szambo, who was also a steelworker, he was in a hotel right across the street. I think he was having dinner, and the bullet came right through the window and he died. There's a marker on 3rd Street to mark that strike and Mr. Szambo.
Rachel
How long did that strike last, and did anything come of it?
Steve
Well, the strike lasted 108 days, and it led to a federal investigation which proved the workers' claims. And it led to some industry reforms by the U.S. Bureau of Labor. It also highlighted the need for better working conditions, and for better treatment of steelworkers. And it did influence future labor movements.
