Word: mcdonaldization
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Halfhearted Session. The strike in the nation's basic industry had come as something of a surprise. In the preceding month negotiating teams headed by the Steelworkers' President David McDonald (see below) and U.S. Steel Vice President John A. Stephens had argued the issues in smooth, gentlemanly tones−first in Pittsburgh, then, to get away from local pressures, in Manhattan's Hotel Roosevelt. But gentlemanly tones or no, it became apparent last week that neither companies nor union were going to yield in time to stop a walkout. Six hours before the Saturday night deadline...
There were other differences, but what the Steelworkers' McDonald wanted most was to boost the average $2.47-an-hour pay of his union members by package benefits of some 20? in the coming year, while avoiding the encumbrances of the four-year-and-four-month master contract asked by the industry. (Without making a formal offer, the union let it be known that it might settle for a suitable three-year contract.) What steel's Stephens and the dozen companies most wanted was to keep package benefit increases to 14 or 15? an hour in the coming year...
...solitary passenger, a handsome, meaty man with wavy silver hair. He was dressed in a businesslike grey summer suit, red and white striped bowtie and soft black loafers. Stepping to the pavement, he turned slightly, tossed the driver of the rented limousine a "Thank you, James." Then David John McDonald, 53, president of the United Steelworkers of America, strode confidently past the smiling doorman, through the revolving door of the elegant apartment hotel...
Puffing a cigar instead of his customary burnished brown pipe, Dave McDonald marched into the elevator, rode 20 floors to his three-room, $65-a-day suite. He changed into tailored lounging clothes, considered which of two books−Auntie Mame or a condensed edition of Toynbee−to pick up for relaxation. Another bargaining session between the steelworkers' union and the country's three largest steel companies had ended a few minutes before. McDonald, who had been leading the union delegates at the sessions in the Hotel Roosevelt, was anxious to be away from the stress...
...spoken the final word before this week's strike deadline: while letters from Bethlehem and Republic Steel to their employees emphasized that they stood firm on the five-year pact, the letter from U.S. Steel, the industry leader, failed noticeably to take such an adamant position. Union Leader McDonald indicated that he too would welcome a compromise "if it is a reasonable agreement we can live with." Some seasoned observers even discerned the possible shape of compromise: a three-year pact, a package increase of 20? an hour...