My dad began working at Lukens Steel Company in 1927, he was 17 years old. I could see the pain on his face when he talked about “working and extra” during the pre-union days.“Working an extra” meant working 36 straight hours. The normal work week was 70 hours; 5-12 hour weekdays and 10 hours on Saturday. Working one “extra” brought your total work week to 82 hours. Working two brought your total work week to 94 hours. I believe being paid "overtime" was just a dream.
He started working at Lukens Steel Company and stayed until he retired. In 1927 Lukens was one of the best and safest heavy industry US companies to work for.
When I worked at Lukens it was dangerous work. I was injured on the job on my first day. It was a minor injury a 2 inch by ½ inch burn.
I watched while a man walked outside the yellow guidelines and stepped up on a pile of steel plates just as a crane magnet was being lowered to pick it up. His hard hat prevented a serious injury.
A few days later I saw the indentation left in the floor of a mill building from a crane magnet that came loose and fell to the ground. It was just inside an entrance to the building. A man walking up to the building entrance allegedly watched it land just in front of him. He went home early that day.
There was a sign at the entrance to the plant that said, “Number of Days Since Last Disabling Injury”. It never got above 27.
It was the 1960s and we had a union then, I can’t imagine how dangerous it was pre-union.
When working people, that’s people whose money comes in the form of a paycheck and not a stock dividend, hear “Conservative” or “Libertarian” they should recoil in fear.
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