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Sustaining the Rust Belt: A Retrospective Analysis of the Employee Purchase of Weirton Steel

A retrospective analysis of the employee purchase of the Weirton Steelworkers by 11,000 union workers brings into relief the critical role collective bargaining agreements had in motivating the original parent corporation, National Steel, to seek an alternative to closing the plant and subsequently to enabling employees to balance their desires for secure incomes and pensions with the company's financial obligations. There are three critical lessons from Weirton's experience. First, labor progressives created a political context that enabled the union leadership to leverage concessions from National Steel. Second, democratic practices instituted by the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and the Independent Steelworkers Union's collective bargaining agreements enabled worker-owners to secure incomes and pensions. Third, collective action and collective interests created and sustained majority support for the ESOP. Had employees acted individually it is unlikely they would have sustained employment and pensions for twenty years.