Community Corner
'30 Years Under the Beam: Bethlehem Steel Exposed'
Frank Behum, author of a new book, "30 Years Under the Beam: Bethlehem Steel Exposed," met with retired steelworkers from Sparrows Point at their recent monthly meeting at the old Local 2609.
When Frank Behum, Jr. bellowed, “I have good news and bad news for all of you here. You’re all going to Heaven because if you worked for Bethlehem Steel, you’ve already been to Hell,” there was not a sound of disagreement.
Behum, author of a new book, 30 Years Under the Beam: Bethlehem Steel Exposed, was talking with retired steelworkers from Sparrows Point at their monthly meeting March 16 at the old Local 2609 union hall on Dundalk Avenue.
The retirees meet monthly to catch up on important news—like the recent sale of the Sparrows Point plant—and to stand for a moment of silence for co-workers who have passed away. The retirees tell stories, play cards and eat a catered lunch. But Behum was a unique speaker, sharing a behind-the-scene look their own history as a former union negotiator.
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As an officer in the United Steelworkers union, Behum worked on national negotiations with officers—now retirees—from the Sparrows Point local in the 1980s.
“We did all that was asked of us,” Behum said. “We carried the plant the last 30 years, and what did we get?”
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Bethlehem Steel declared bankruptcy in 2002, dumping all of its pension obligations to the retirees in the audience.
Behum’s book includes transcriptions of 47 oral interviews with workers from the “home” plant in Bethlehem, PA, now—in a sign of a changing America—a casino. His interviews cover many of the departments, the work situations, and the union and personal issues of steelworkers. The interviewees range from laborers to superintendants, giving a broad and often conflicting view of one of the major corporations in the U.S.
Behum, accompanied by his wife Nancy, drove in from Bethlehem for the book signing and sale. He retired in 1997 and started conducting his interviews in 2007.
“It took me nine years to get them to speak up and then it took me four years to get them to shut up,” he said, joking, so that he could publish his book, which came out in November.
He sold several dozen books, with one retiree laughing, "Got any pictures? I’m an ironworker and everyone knows we can’t read.”
To conclude his brief presentation, Behum sang the first verse of "Solidarity Forever," the union hymn. He later mentioned singing it at a memorial service for one of his late co-workers, a solid union man. After he finished singing, the family told him, “Somewhere he’s smiling down on us after hearing you sing.”