Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1952-04-08
Sparrows Point Plant
Busy on Eve Of Strike
In Big Steel Industry
BY George Kennedy
Star StoH Correspondent

world was still in production to-
day on the eve of the steel strike.
But one by one, the tall tubu-
lar blast furnaces and the stacks
of the open hearths are going cold
at Bethlehem Steel Co.'S Spar
rows Point plant near heree.
The plant management gam
bled on the chance that the
strike would be called off yester-
day and kept most of its great
battery of % blast furnaces in
operation over the week end. It
takes two or three days to close
down the operations of these
giant hues of flame that turn red
ore into molten iron.
Business Dropping Off.
The men who checked out after
the day shift yesterday afternoon
their next to last checkout be-
fore the scheduled strike-seemed
cheerful enough. But Allen Saw
age. safety man who guided this
reporter and photographer
through the huge plant, said:
Families aren't so cheerful in
the little community on this neck
where I live. They are wonder
ing how they can tide themselves
over if the strike lasts four or
five weeks"
The attitude of the merchants
in Dundalk, the steel workers
town across Bear Greek from the
plant, was the same.
Business is off already in an
ticipation of the strike" said one
If they really go out, we're sunk"
Eight Furnaces Cut.
The payroll of the plant is $50
million a year-$1.8 million on
good week. It is anybody's
estimate how much that will be
reduced when only Office, super
visory and maintenance personnel
can go to the paywindow. That
the payroll will go down by SIS
million a week probably is not far
off.
There are $4,000 workers at
Sparrows Point and 1000 of them
we're laid off yesterday when eight
Of the blast furnaces were tapped
for the last time before the shut
down.
On the way out to the Point
we visited the family of one of
the workers before he went on
the evening shift.
He was Frank Radonich, a
crane operator. Mr.. Radonich is
So. He comes from the Dalma-
tan Islands in the Adriatic off
the Yugoslavian coast. He has
five children, four grown daugh-
tiers who are married, and little
boy. Francis, 10.
Live in Traditional Row.
Mr.. and Mrs. Radonich live in
a traditional Baltimore row house
on Eastern avenue. They have
it up for sale for $4,000. This is
about the same price they paid
for it nine years ago, but the
sale has nothing to do with the
strike.
The house is nicely furnished.
They have 16-inch television set
and Mr.. Radonich is we'll
dressed man when he goes to work
in his 1888 Hudson.
AS to the increased pay recon-
mended by the Wage Sterilization
Board-an increase. to begin at
1871 cents an hour and to go up
S cents on July l, which has
become the issue of the strike
Mr.. Radonich had this to say:
1T won't give us anything. The
cost Of living will go up. What
the Government ought to do is to
keep the cost of living down."
Attitude of Illustration.
That was the attitude of other
men we talked to in the plant.
1t is one of Illustration. They
need the money but they are
afraid it won't do them any good
because of rising prices.
The Sparrows Point plant pro-
duces million tons a year when
operating at capacity. sizeable
item in the Nations 1O9-million-
ton total.
Two of it's three BeSSemer con-
verters were in operation. When
the BeSsemer blows it throws a
volume of fame and sparks that
would make any fireworks display
look tame.
A Bessemer pours every II min
utes and the men at the controls
were keeping them going at top
speed. The crane operators were
lifting the big ladies full of molten
steel and pouring it into the ingot
moldS. The little narrow-gauge
diesel locomotives were hauling
away the molds as if there was
to be no interruption along the
line of process.
Continuous Operation.
The Sparrows Point plant does
It's basic steel making in a con-
tinuous operation. The molten
iron from the blast furnaces-the
first step in the process-is not
puddled into sand to cool and
broken up into pigs" It is poured
into tank cars" vessels lined with
fire brick and mounted on trucks
Of the narrow gauge railway.
Then it is hauled to the steel
making areas where it is poured
into ladies for the Bessemers or
the opean hearths.
Sparrows Point products are
steel plates, steel sheets, tin plate
pipe and wire.
The American Iron & Steel In
stitute has issued figures showing
how a two-week strike in the in
dustry would cut production about
4.3 million tons.