USA
Contenido
De 1875 a 1920, la producción de acero estadounidense creció de 380.000 toneladas a 60 millones de toneladas anuales, convirtiendo a Estados Unidos en el líder mundial del sector. Las tasas de crecimiento anual del acero entre 1870 y 1913 fueron del 7,0% para EE. UU.; 1,0% para Gran Bretaña; 6,0% para Alemania; y 4,3% para Francia, Bélgica y Rusia, los otros grandes productores.[34] Este explosivo crecimiento estadounidense se basó en sólidos cimientos tecnológicos y en la continua y rápida expansión de infraestructuras urbanas, edificios de oficinas, fábricas, ferrocarriles, puentes y otros sectores que demandaban cada vez más acero. El uso del acero en automóviles y electrodomésticos se hizo extensivo en el siglo .
Algunas claves del crecimiento de la producción de acero incluyeron la disponibilidad abundante y muy accesible de mineral de hierro y carbón. El mineral de hierro de buena calidad abundaba en los estados del este, pero la región del lago Superior contenía enormes depósitos de mineral extremadamente rico: el Marquette Iron Range") fue descubierto en 1844, y las operaciones de explotación comenzaron en 1846. En 1910 se abrieron otros yacimientos de mineral de hierro, incluidos Menominee, Gogebic"), Vermilion, Cuyuna") y, lo mejor de todo, (en 1892) la zona minera de Mesabi en Minnesota. Este mineral de hierro se enviaba a través de los Grandes Lagos a puertos como Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Erie y Buffalo para su envío por ferrocarril a las acerías.[35] Pensilvania y Ohio contaban con carbón en abundancia, pero la mano de obra era escasa. Pocos nativos americanos querían trabajar en las acerías, pero se dio la circunstancia de que llegaron en gran número inmigrantes de Gran Bretaña y Alemania (y más tarde de Europa del Este) para realizar estos trabajos.[36].
En 1869, el hierro ya era una industria importante y representaba el 6,6 % del empleo manufacturero y el 7,8 % de la producción manufacturera. Para entonces, la figura central era Andrew Carnegie,[37] que convirtió a Pittsburgh en el centro de la industria.[38] Sin embargo, para dedicarse a sus actividades filantrópicas decidió vender su compañía en 1901 a la U.S. Steel, que se convirtió en la corporación siderúrgica más grande del mundo durante décadas.
En la década de 1880, la transición del hierro pudelado al acero Bessemer fabricado en masa aumentó considerablemente la productividad del sector. Los trabajadores altamente calificados siguieron siendo esenciales, pero el nivel promedio de calificación disminuyó. Sin embargo, los trabajadores siderúrgicos ganaban mucho más que los herreros, a pesar de tener menos habilidades. Los trabajadores, en un entorno de producción en masa integrado y sincronizado, ejercían un mayor poder estratégico, ya que el mayor costo de los errores reforzaba su estatus. La experiencia demostró que la nueva tecnología no disminuyó el poder de negociación de los trabajadores, a pesar de que implicó la introducción de una fuerza laboral fácilmente reemplazable y no cualificada.[39].
Alabama
In Alabama, industrialization was generating a voracious appetite for the state's coal and iron ore. Production was booming and unions were trying to organize miners who were not forced prisoners. Convicts provided an ideal captive labor force: cheap, generally docile, unable to organize, and available when workers went on strike.[40]
The agrarian economy of the South did not accommodate the use of convicts as well as did the industrial economy, whose jobs were often unattractive or dangerous, with very hard tasks and low wages. The competition, expansion, and growth of mining and steel companies also created a large demand for labor, but unionized labor posed a threat to expanding companies. As unions bargained for higher wages and better conditions, often organizing strikes to achieve their goals, growing companies were forced to accept union demands or face immediate production shutdowns. The rate companies paid for the lease of convicted workers, a system in which nothing was paid to the worker, was regulated by government and state officials who intervened in labor contracts with the companies: "The companies built their own prisons, fed and clothed the inmates, and provided guards as they saw fit." (Blackmon") 2001)[40] Alabama's use of convict leasing was dominant; 51 of its 67 counties regularly rented to convicts serving misdemeanor charges at a rate of about $5 to $20 per month, equivalent to about $160 to $500 in 2015 dollars.[41] Although the influence of unions forced some states to move away from profitable convict leasing arrangements "The largest user of forced labor in Alabama at the turn of the century was the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company," owned by the U.S. Steel"[40].
Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant, promoted the cheap and efficient mass production of steel rails for railway lines after adopting the Bessemer converter. After an early career in railroads, Carnegie foresaw steel's potential to rack up big profits. He asked his cousin, George Lauder&action=edit&redlink=1 "George Lauder (Scottish industrialist) (not yet redacted)"), to join him in the United States from Scotland. Lauder was a noted mechanical engineer who had studied under William Thomson, and devised several new systems for the Carnegie Steel Company, including the process of washing and coking coal mine slag, which resulted in a significant increase in the company's scale, profits, and value.[42]
Lauder would go on to lead the development of the use of steel in armor and weaponry for the Carnegie Steel Company. Thus, after spending significant time in 1886 at the Krupp factory in Germany, he returned to build the factory for mass production of armor plates (called Homestead Steel Works), which would revolutionize war tactics.[43].
Carnegie's first steel mill was the Edgar Thomson Works plant in Braddock, Pennsylvania, outside Pittsburgh. In 1888, he purchased his rival company, the Homestead Steel Works, which had an extensive plant supplied by tributary coal and iron mines, a 425-mile (685 km) long railroad, and a line of steamboats in the Great Lakes. He would also add the Duquesne Works to his empire. These three steel mills on the Monongahela River would make Pittsburgh the steel capital of the world. By the late 1880s, the Carnegie Steel Company was the largest manufacturer of pig iron, steel rails, and coke in the world, with the capacity to produce about 2,000 tons of pig iron daily. The consolidation of the assets of Carnegie and its associates occurred in 1892, with the creation of Carnegie Steel. Company.[44].
In 1889, American steel production surpassed that of Great Britain, and Andrew Carnegie owned a large share. By 1900, the profits of Carnegie Bros. & Company amounted to $480 million, of which $225 belonged to Carnegie.
Carnegie, through the Keystone Company, supplied the steel and owned shares in the historic Eads Bridge project across the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri (completed 1874). The project was an important practical test to demonstrate the viability of steel technology, which marked the opening of a new market for this material.
The Homestead Strike was a violent labor dispute that occurred in 1892, which ended in a battle between strikers and private security guards. The dispute took place at Carnegie's Homestead Steel Works, where members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers and agents hired by the Carnegie Steel Company clashed. The end result was a major defeat for the union and a setback for efforts to unionize steelworkers.[45]
Carnegie sold all of his steel holdings in 1901, which were merged into US Steel. This company was not unionized until the late 1930s.
US Steel
By 1900, the US was the largest producer and also the lowest-cost producer, and the demand for steel seemed inexhaustible. Production had tripled since 1890, but it was the customers, not the producers, who mainly benefited from the situation. Productivity-enhancing technology encouraged increasingly rapid rates of investment in new plants. However, during recessions, demand fell sharply, reducing production, prices and profits. Charles M. Schwab of Carnegie Steel Company proposed a solution: consolidation. Financier J. P. Morgan agreed to acquire Carnegie's business and most other major firms, and put Elbert Gary in charge of the company. The massive Gary Works steel plant on Lake Michigan was for many years the largest steel production facility in the world.
US Steel combined rolled steel production companies (such as American Tin Plate, controlled by William Henry "Judge" Moore"), American Steel and Wire and National Tube) with two major integrated companies, Carnegie Steel and Federal Steel. The enormous conglomerate was capitalized at $1,466 million and included 213 factories, a thousand miles of railroad, and 41 mines. In 1901, it accounted for 66% of steel production of the United States and almost 30% of the world. During World War I, its annual output exceeded the combined output of all German and Austrian companies.
The steel strike of 1919 disrupted industry-wide production for months, but the union lost its grip on the company and its membership declined dramatically. The rapid growth of cities made the 1920s a period of great growth. In this context, President Warren G. Harding and social reformers forced an end to the 12-hour day in 1923.[47].
In 2016, the company's profits (already far from the dominant role it had in the sector on an international scale) amounted to $2.65 billion.[48].
Bethlehem Steel
Charles M. Schwab (1862–1939) and Eugene Grace" (1876–1960) built Bethlehem Steel into the second-largest American steel company in the 1920s. Schwab had been chief operating officer of Carnegie Steel and U.S. Steel. In 1903 he bought the small Bethlehem Steel company and in 1916 named Grace president. Innovation was the keynote at a time when U.S. Steel, under Under Judge Gary's direction, it moved slowly. Bethlehem concentrated on government contracts, such as ships and naval armor, and on construction girders, especially for skyscrapers and bridges.[49] Its subsidiary, the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation operated 15 shipyards during World War II and produced 1,121 ships, more than any other builder during the war and nearly a fifth of the US Navy's fleet. 180,000 workers, from a company-wide peak of 300,000 people. After 1945, Bethlehem doubled its steel capacity, a measure of widespread optimism in the industry. However, the company ignored new technologies being developed in Europe and Japan. Seeking labor peace to avoid strikes, Bethlehem, like the other large companies, agreed to steep wage and profit increases. keep their costs high. After Grace retired, executives focused on short-term profits and postponed innovations, leading to long-term inefficiency. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2001.[50]
Republic Steel
Cyrus S. Eaton (1883–1979) purchased the small Trumbull Steel Company of Warren, Ohio, in 1925 for $18 million. In the late 1920s he also bought undervalued steel and rubber companies. In 1930, Eaton consolidated his interests in the steel sector by creating Republic Steel, based in Cleveland, which became the third largest steel producer in the US, after US Steel and Bethlehem Steel.[51].
Unions
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) tried and failed to organize steelworkers in 1919. Although the strike gained widespread support from the middle class due to its demands and the reduction of the 12-hour day, the strike failed and unionization was postponed until the late 1930s. Steel mills ended the 12-hour day in the early 1920s.[52].
The second wave of unionization occurred under the auspices of the militant CIO in the late 1930s, when it created the Steel Workers Organizing Committee. The SWOC focused almost exclusively on achieving a signed contract, with the small steel mills (known as "Little Steel", they were the main producers with the exception of US Steel). However, among a large part of the population, such as the women of the steel auxiliaries, the picket workers, and middle-class liberals throughout Chicago, there was an attempt to transform the strike into something more than a confrontation for union recognition. In Chicago, the so-called small steel mill strike raised the possibility of steelworkers adopting the "civic unionism" that inspired the left-wing unions of the time. The attempt failed and, although the strike was won, the resulting powerful union United Steelworkers of America" nullified the opinions of the rank and file.[53]
Heyday and decline
Integration was the watchword, as large corporations united the various processes, from extracting iron ore to shipping the finished product to wholesalers. The typical steel mill was a gigantic facility, including blast furnaces, Bessemer converters, open hearth furnaces, rolling mills, coke ovens and foundries, as well as ancillary transportation facilities. The largest steel complexes were concentrated in the region from Chicago to St. Louis, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Buffalo. Smaller factories appeared in Birmingham, Alabama and in California.[54].
Beginning in 1950, the American steel sector grew slowly, while other industries grew much faster, so that by 1967, when the downward spiral began, steel accounted for 4.4% of manufacturing employment and 4.9% of industrial production. The post-1970 "steel crisis" revealed that American steel producers could no longer compete effectively against low-wage producers elsewhere. Imports and local mini-mills undermined the sales of large steel companies.
Per capita steel consumption in the US peaked in 1977, then fell by half before experiencing a modest recovery to levels well below the peak.[55].
Most steel mills were closed. Bethlehem went bankrupt in 2001. In 1984, Republic merged with the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company"), although the resulting new company also went bankrupt in 2001. US Steel diversified into oil (with Marathon Oil, which was spun off in 2001). US Steel eventually re-emerged in 2002, maintaining plants in three US locations (plus another in Europe) that employed less than a tenth of the 168,000 workers the company had in 1902. By 2001, steel represented only 0.8% of manufacturing employment and 0.8% of manufacturing production in the US.[56].
The global steel industry reached a new peak in 2007. That year, ThyssenKrupp spent $12 billion to build the world's two most modern plants, one in Alabama and the other in Brazil. However, the great global recession that began in 2008, with its sharp cuts in construction, drastically reduced demand and prices fell by 40%. ThyssenKrupp lost 11 billion in its two new plants, which had to sell steel below the cost of production. Finally, in 2013, ThyssenKrupp offered the plants for sale for less than 4 billion.[57].
Legacy
The President of the United States is authorized to declare each May "Steel Brand Month", in order to recognize the contribution of the steel industry to the development of the United States.[58].