Out of This Furnace: Part 4, Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

Fed up with the union’s inaction, 250 rank-and-file delegates assemble under the leadership of veterans from the Weirton and Clairton strikes to approve a program to present to the AA convention in April. Their central demand is “that the convention authorize all lodges to ask for recognition simultaneously, and to set a strike date if recognition [is] refused.” When the AA sends paperwork requesting a meeting with the Braddock mill management, Dobie asks Walsh how the papers should be delivered to Flack. Flack offers no help and says he will be leaving the post soon, and he warns Dobie that Pittsburgh will offer no help to the renegade union delegates. Incensed at the delegates’ decision to undermine his authority, Tighe withdraws all AA organizers and leaves the rebellious lodges to fend for themselves.

Dobie helps write letters listing the collective bargaining committees for the various mills and mails them to Flack. The latter ignores most of the letters and the company adamantly refuses to meet with the independent delegates. Flack, however, does agree, per management’s policy, to meet with anyone who identifies as “spokesman for those employees whom they represented.” Dobie is part of his department’s bargaining unit and thinks about what he will say to Flack in the meeting. During the meeting with the bargaining units, management successfully stalls any progress towards recognizing the union.

Flack first introduces the men to Mr. Forbes, a city official overseeing the meeting. He then asks the attendees to identify themselves, as well as which section of the mill they represent. He explains that in order to consider recognizing the union, the company must first “have proof that the spokesmen really do represent the employees they say they do and that those employees have authorized the spokesmen to speak for them.” He calls for a list of all union members, claiming that his request is only a matter of “discrimination.” Burke explains to Flack that the membership list is supposed to be confidential. “The only reason you brought that up was to have an excuse for not recognizing the union,” he argues, “because you know damn well no union is going to expose its membership.”

Burke further demands that Flack and Forbes not only recognize the union, but also confer with its representatives over the issues of wages, hours, vacations, and seniority. Flack and Forbes claim that they have no authority to negotiate any contracts with workers for the company. Dobie tells Forbes that, as union secretary, he will have to report to the union members about this meeting, and that the men will not be happy. Forbes says he does not care. Sensing the futility of further argument, the bargaining units leave Flack’s office.

Dobie goes home that night and voices his frustrations to Julie. At dinner, however, he brags that times have changed now that someone like him can hold a union meeting with management representatives. Kracha, irked by Dobie’s boasting, tells him that the Braddock mills were once unionized and had an eight-hour day contract with the company. This union existed “before you were born, before your father even came to America!” Kracha adds. Dobie is surprised how often his perceptions of what happened in the past clash with Kracha’s history lessons.

Julie chides the two men for arguing. She asks if the union will go on strike. Dobie is unsure but knows that a strike requires experienced participants and extensive funds. Rumors swirl that the company is hiring strike-breakers and guards, buying ammunition, and dusting off supplies from the 1919 strike. Tighe calls a special convention to ward off the strike. He enlists the help of the AFL president, who tells the workers that it is not the time to strike. The inexperienced delegates yield to his advice.

Dobie is relieved to hear over the radio that there will be no strike, but he is puzzled that the AA has voted to accept the AFL’s proposal for a special “Labor Board,” supposedly endorsed by President Roosevelt. Back at the union office, Dobie complains that Labor Boards are notoriously unhelpful. Burke largely agrees, but insists that there is no point fighting on so many fronts. “The company was against us, the Government was against us, the A.F.L. was against us, our own union was against us, the papers were against us,” he says. Steelworkers across the country share Burke’s weariness, and they steadily become more skeptical of unions.