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Msg. 13592 of 21975
(This msg. is a reply to 13591 by micro) |
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Also the Golden Gate and George Washington bridges. But not just bridge cable, micro. Roebling was the primary supplier for Otis and Roebling wire rope lifts the elevators in the Eiffel Tower. The Wright Brothers used Roebling's wire in their Flyer. Roebling made insulated electric and telephone wire as well. For many years, Roebling dominated the steel cable biz from its NJ hq. They made their own steel and built a company town (Roebling, NJ) to solve both expansion and union problems. It's a classic story told well here: ...The '30s and '40s were the high point for Roebling the company and Roebling the town. The Blue Centers, a semipro football team featuring husky mill workers, was the pride of the town. The plant made the wire rope used to hold up the Golden Gate and George Washington bridges. World War II and military contracts brought employment up to 5,000. But after the war, the company began to slowly contract. First, it sold off all its houses to the workers. In 1952, the company sold out to Colorado Fuel and Iron Inc. Finally, in 1974, CFI closed down the plants in both Roebling and Trenton, leaving behind a sprawling wasteland of 70 empty buildings... http://www.capitalcentury.com/1905.html What is not really mentioned in that piece is the role of the unions in the decline of the company. The CFI deal was really the Roeblings walking away from union demands. It's mentioned in this article: [img]George Washington once reversed the Revolutionary War just up the street from the Roebling plant, and John Roebling's son was named after him. Roebling was a patriot and an active Republican. But there was enough Prussian in him to prefer German workmen, and to hate unions. When the company grew large, he was forced to hire immigrants from what he called the Hapsburg Empire, although he never completely trusted them. Judging from his writing, he regarded unions as merely trying to take away control of the company without investing in it, certainly without earning it. Surviving numerous fires, recessions, and wartime demands for expansion without profit, it was plainly obvious that when times were tough and money had to be raised, there was no one except the owner to produce it. It is not difficult to imagine the hatred in the minds of union leaders, confronting a family that regarded lowered wages during a depression as normal and necessary. In the Roebling view, standing up to worker protests in such circumstances was simply a test of character, something an owner simply had to find the courage to do. When it became necessary to build a huge new plant at some distance downriver, the Roeblings had to contend with a shortage of labor in a region without houses. So they built a company town which they declined to name Roebling but the railroad named the stop Roebling anyway. Using engineering skill that had made Roebling the world leader, the homes were inexpensive but elegant for the time, and even today. The company had to build stores, streets, schools, and everything else a town needed. The new headaches of this project took time and attention away from the central business of making steel cables, and Washington Roebling once wrote it was enough to drive you crazy. So, guess what, the unions felt they had to take the lead in complaining and forcing the Roeblings to make changes. Guess what happened next; the Roeblings just sold it and walked away.[/img] http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/1463.htm
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