Steel strike of 1986

About 22,000 employees of major American steel manufacturer USX stopped work from August 1, 1986 to January 31, 1987 after the United Steelworkers of America and the company failed to agree on new employee contract terms. This event was characterized by the company as a strike and by the union as a lockout. This event surpassed the steel strike of 1959 as the longest steel industry work stoppage in US history.

The stoppage resulted in most USX facilities becoming idle until February 1, 1987, seriously degrading the steel division's market share. A compromise was brokered and accepted by the union membership on January 31, 1987.

The United States steel industry had been in decline since the late 1970s. Unions blamed management for underinvestment in capital improvements, and management blamed unions for demanding exorbitant pay, benefits, and strict limits on non-union subcontracting. A previous collective bargaining agreement expired at the end of July, 1986. The union and management were unable to agree on terms, and over 99% of the USWA membership voted to go on strike when the current contract expired.

The USW delivered a letter to USX on July 31, one day before the contract expired, offering to continue work under the terms of the previous contract until a deal could be reached, provided that the union maintained the right to go on strike at any time with 48 hours' notice. USX rejected the offer as it had already begun lengthy and expensive plant shutdown procedures in anticipation of a strike; furthermore, the ability to stop work on 2 days' notice would have given the union the ability to cost USX even more money by disrupting deliveries and requiring another expensive and unplanned plant idling operation. USX maintained that this offer was never meant to be taken seriously and was a "legal fiction" designed to permit striking workers to collect unemployment benefits, since most US states allowed payment of unemployment in the case of a management lockout but not in the case of a worker-initiated strike.

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