Buffalo's Voices Of Steel

Buffalo’s Voices of Steel captures an important aspect of Western New York’s history and culture through first-person stories, archival photographs and film, personal photos and home movies of those who experienced the steel industry era in the region.
This WNED PBS production premiered in September 2010.
Visit www.wned.org/television/wned-... to see more WNED PBS Original Productions
Buffalo's Voices of Steel has been made possible in part by Western Region Off Track Betting and by the Members of WNED.
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[@springsummerwinterorfall]

My father came from Pennsylvania to work in the steel plant and he was a foreman. I am 74 years old.

[@Golfing422]

I wish I had this version of America. By the time I’d come of age in 92, the politicians had destroyed most major industries. It was shit part time jobs and if your dad wasn’t in a big union job neither were you. Great program btw.

[@jamesdellaneve9005]

My Uncle was one of the last guys to be laid off there. He was a specialty steel rolling operator.

[@xltoth]

Another monumental film on the steel. ❤

[@armathis2647]

My grandfather work at at Bethlehem steel plant in buffalo back in the early 50’s into the mid 60’s his name was JC Mathis. He died at the early age of 34 of a massive heart attack. Never got a chance to meet him.

[@bobashby3106]

I was fortunate to have had a tour of the Bethlehem Lackawana plat as a high school student in the 1960s. As impressive as the former workers there describe. The level of pollution that accompanied the plant is amazing by today's standards. The smell was pervasive, as one of the people in the video mentioned . When my family drove through Lackawana to visit relatives in Hamburg, my mother would insist on rolling up the windows, even in summer, in a car that did not have AC. All the roofs in Lackwana were tinted orange from the dust. I remember flying from Buffalo to Detroit in the 70s, and seeing the water in Lake Erie a dark orange color for a considerable distance offshore, up to a very sharp line of demarcation where the water was its natural blue. My dad was not in the steel industry, but worked all his life in the Huntley Station, a coal-fired electric power plant ion the Niagara River that finally closed only a few years ago. It was also a hot, dirty, polluting place (though not as spectacularly so as the steel plants). Like the steelworkers quoted in the video, he had a good unionized job, with vacation time, sick leave, medical insurance, and a defined benefit pension, in a job that enabled him to support his wife, send me to college, own a home in the Town of Tonawand, get a new car every few years, and ultimately retire to Florida. I find all these people wholly admirable, who were able to live the middle class lives they did because their careers, and my childhood, coincided with the "great compression," that period in U.S. economic history with the least income inequality, which existed in large part because of the influence of industrial unions and effective regulation.

[@bobpalka2085]

Spent 30 yrs at Beth. Stl Lackawanna. Got married , raised children owned a house, car and vacationed every summer all on one salary, until my wife a nurse went to work weekends at OLV Hospital on weekends after oldest child was 9yrs old. That life style doesn't exist anymore. The end came in 1983. Went to a culinary school and worked in the food business for the next 30 yrs. .

[@FirstPeterr]

It still does. If you are a smart with career choice, budgeting and are driven in your career.

[@clivewinters2228]

I really enjoyed this video and the fine people who told their stories about this amazing industry. I’m 74 years old and English. I’m a metallurgist and a furnace designer, project engineer and sales guy, so I related very well to this video and to the talented hard working guys who worked in this industry. I’m sad it has declined but optimistic for its future in this changing world. 🇬🇧🍻

[@BuffaloTorontoPublicMedia]

Thanks for sharing!

[@kevinsnell5031]

U.S.still still at number one steel of the world.

[@kelvintorrence5994]

not any more they are now owed by Nippon steel of Japan ,they are the big dogs now

[@kevinsnell5031]

When I was 18, 1968 quit school went to work in the steelmill, in Lockport basically called the tall smoke stacks. how did I get here? My father was a welder. My brother was a heater on a 16 inch barmall 13:39 . My brother was a 8:16 rougher and then he was in Vietnam My brother-in-law worked in bars shipping my cousin worked in the office, and then I was told i was making more money than my guidance teacher back in high school. I remember going to a union contract meeting drunk, and our president of the union yelling out saying here’s something else they gave us that we didn’t ask for.

[@bxb590]

My dad was the funeral director on Lake Ave in Blasdell. I remember burying these guys after they met a grizzly death. One day when I was a high school senior, I visited the BOF. That day I decided to get a college education.

[@jamesdellaneve9005]

My friend in High School had an older brother that got roasted by molten steel. He lived 3 days. It was sad. Basically, he was operating a crane carrying a bucket full of molten Steele and the crane tipped over.

[@chrisherman7531]

My dad worked the open hearth. He then became an inspector . He worked there when the union first got in. After refusing to join the union , they pressured him to finally join.... he ended up being a shop steward.

[@jugg1492]

VERY WELL PUT TOGETHER!!!!!!! NONE OF THE JOBS TODAY COMPARE.

[@WAL_DC-6B]

Class 1, railroad, train service jobs compare.

[@FirstPeterr]

Lots of jobs do.

[@markbaltich7703]

I started in Weirton Steel Corporation in the blast furnace..Never forget the experience..

[@curtislowe4577]

Offshore oil and gas are similar for hard work, 12 hour days, get it done whatever it takes and pride in the work. The main difference is its like being in a well-paid prison coz you don't go home after your shift. You're on for 28 days straight.

[@khenya73]

My husband worked there after his enlistment in the service at 17, at 20yrs.old in 1955 he started work at Bethlehem Steel, worked there 40 yrs.

[@deanjames7277]

Very powerful and very emotional at the same time,i shall shortly experience the same outcome at the Port Talbot site in South Wales working at its Blast Furnaces it's in our blood sad times to come unfortunately.

[@lisk3822]

Terrific documentary. The stories were just great.

[@BuffaloTorontoPublicMedia]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@randomvideos466]

when you work with someone who is much older than you, even the same age as your parents and the job has a high risk that person will treat you like his child, his immediate family is just his junior, he will teach you what his senior taught him (mostly by very firm and extraordinary discipline) where the juniors will inherit the same enthusiasm, confidence, firmness and discipline as their seniors and that is an extraordinary life experience.

[@theprofessional3847]

I missed the bus leaving from school and I walked from McKinley elementary across The Bridge. I remember all the railroad tracks running underneath. Lackawanna.. the Original Steelers

[@BuffaloTorontoPublicMedia]

Thanks for sharing

[@peterszar]

Only one tavern? heck in the St. John Kanty neighborhood of Buffalo NY, we lived on Swinburne St., there were 3 within a 5 minute, okay maybe 10 minute walk. One each belonged to my Uncle Louie and Uncle Pee Wee. Before and after my time in the military I tended bar at my uncle Lou's place, 8am 'til 3pm Mon.> Friday and on Saturday nights I would bartend at my uncle Pee Wee's place and Sundays I nursed as hangover, ha ha. I loved it, good times, for sure. Uncle Pee Wee's had a band on Sat. which led to a lot of ladies.

[@BuffaloTorontoPublicMedia]

Thank you for sharing.

[@k.c.wingert7179]

$27/hr in 1982 = $87/hr in 2023. That is INSANE. That's $4,582/week or $18,328/month in today's money. No wonder the Chinese eat our lunch in steel production.

[@clineshaunt]

Yes but those wages paid a lot of taxes and bought a lot of things, thus creating demand for other goods and services therefore creating jobs. Replacing these jobs with low paying service jobs basically creates a class of employees who make enough to eat, pay utility bills, and an apartment. Then demand disappears for other goods and services and then those places shut down. Then the little mom and pop bars and restaurants go. Then all of your young people leave and you replace them with even lower paid immigrants. This describes Dayton, Ohio where I formally lived. Key word, "formally".

[@curtislowe4577]

Your inflation calculator returns a far different number than mine does. The inflation calculator app on my phone (which I checked against the USG CPI website calculator) thinks $27/hr in '82 is $87.65/hr which translates to $182k/yr (for a 2080 hr yr) w/o OT. NY is an income tax state and union dues came out that but it still wasn't chicken feed.

[@k.c.wingert7179]

@@curtislowe4577 you're right my number is wrong. I'll correct it.

[@curtislowe4577]

@@k.c.wingert7179 according to my inflation calculator your numbers were essentially correct if he had said 1979. Inflation in that time frame was painful. I blame LBJ. His massive expansion of the Vietnam War and the Great Society programs (welfare) and I suspect that the race to the moon wasn't an inconsequential amount. All done by printing money. Which caused Nixon to unlink the dollar from the price of the gold in August 1971. And it was all downhill from there until Reagan tamed the runaway economy with double digit loan interest.

[@jeffreysheridan5205]

Great documentary!

[@BuffaloTorontoPublicMedia]

Thank you!

[@joesmith7427]

My father worked at the Wickwire plant on the river rd in town of tonawanda. Owned by Colorado Fuel and Iron. It closed in early 60s. My mom and dad were into iron and steel, my mother would iron and my dad would steal !!

[@curtislowe4577]

I understand this was a human interest story. I recommend adding some facts for the next revision. Some of the exterior stills had clues such as automobiles which allow an approximate date. There were scenes of the raw materials to pig iron to steel then to finished products. The individual parts of the steel making process should be identified. One of the stills showed Hulitt unloaders, the taw material stockpile and the stoves and pig iron blast furnaces in the background. Translating the hourly wages to the current (at the time of the documentary production) equivalent as well as comparing the very early starting wages to the then minimum wage. Also the economic impact to the Greater Buffalo area as steel grew then died would be useful big picture data. Buffalo didn't copy Detroit but the loss of steel wasn't good.

[@joesmith7427]

My cousin worked there, Belmo Avoli, And my old friend Jim Crean. He ran the railroad, he was a surveyor. I lived in tonawanda, we had Columbus- McKinnin chain company, they made chain hoists and chain. My wife worked at Semet Solvay Coke co. On the river rd. She ran the boilers burning coal !!

[@davebollmann5292]

I worked at Lackawana plant , i was in bethelehem pa Homer Research on a project to improve the BOF process

[@joesmith7427]

I remember in the evening when American Standard in North Tonawanda on the river rd dumped slag. The whole sky would glow red, the whole sky!! And the smell of bleach for International Paper co. On Tonawanda Island, and Continnel can co.

[@wookieebear]

Them bois got hard hands !!

[@joesmith7427]

In 1976, chevy on the river road in tonawanda paid $12.50/hr for a sweeper to sweep the floor plus benefits!! I stood in front of the plant at 6am, on a wednesday( only 1 day a week to apply) and by 7am there was 1500 people behind me, maybe more!! I never got a job there!

[@genesauter4755]

You close up industry of any kind we all suffer

[@kltnrjnnfr]

My grandfather was president of his union when he worked there, John (Jack) Meta

[@OldSkoolF]

I miss the smell and the flame from the stacks at the end of Ridge Rd. @11:29 Looks like my Grandfather Frank F Josker II, on the right in a plaid shirt behind the guy with 2 stripes on his sleeve.

[@jimrager4770]

What the hells goin a happen to the United States of America now that there is no more Steel.

[@joesmith7427]

When the mill closed, i moved out of buffalo. I remember when you wouldnt eat food from a black guy you worked with, and after work you when to the bar and drank and had a bite to eat, charlie the black guy was the cook in the kitchen, but you ate his food in the booze joint! Everyone got along in western new york, white, black, indian, asian, I remember when a guy that worked in the mill who pulled a wade out, he couldnt read or write, but he was a hella good welder! Just show him the print, how many of them do u want?? They were better than the original !!

[@brucekuwik3896]

My Father in law worked there many years Donald Lazaros.. my wife his daughter used to go pick him up I forget what gate.. but it was when the plant was alive and booming

[@BuffaloTorontoPublicMedia]

Thnak you for sharing.

[@gwendolynjordan3988]

My father died in the 1967 gas leak at the age of 33, leaving a 32 year old widow with four children. Never hear anything about this accident, I've come to realize the older I become this incident was a racial incident.

[@bobwild9995]

I totally understand what your saying, but remember back before the 80's and 90's industrial and construction "accidents" didn't get a lot of reporting, except for a brief headline. OSHA didn't exist until 1971. There still looking for Jimmy Hoffa, if you know what I mean.

[@gwendolynjordan3988]

Totally different circumstances. Doesn't relate at all

[@clineshaunt]

It would be great to be able to work in the same place for 30-40 years and have the camaraderie these guys had. But unfortunately for most jobs now, in order to get promotions or better pay raises, it requires moving around every 4-5 years. I'm a software engineer and in order to keep your skill set relevant, you have to move around a bit if a company isn't keeping up with the latest trends or you could find yourself struggling to get a job if your skills start to become stale.

[@jamesdellaneve9005]

I knew people who worked in Steel and autos. The auto guys got bored out of their minds. These guys made more than engineers. It was good pay. When the end came, I knew a lot of guys that had toys like snow mobiles, boats and cars. And no money in the bank. Imagine…..they grossed more per year than what it cost to buy a home. And when the end came, many had no money saved.

[@donbruhn3037]

In. 73. We. Made. 3dolloar. Hr. Roll builder 🇺🇸

[@bobwild9995]

Yup, and my first job was minimum wage at $1.85/hour back then.

[@joesmith7427]

United Steelworks of America!!

[@chrismcdonald3221]

If you want to know what it was like to work in a competing mill, (Youngstown Sheet and Tube, in nearby Youngstown Ohio, please get a copy of my book about my 43 year career spent there titled, “Steeltown Down,” available at Amazon Books and it has a 4.6 star rating. I describe what a day is like as a steelworker as well as what it was like to be one of the last three employees to leave Sheet and Tube on its very last day in 1987..

[@joesmith7427]

They are living without you, whats the matter with the way it is now! Bigger isnt better!

[@junesorenson279]

My husband was an ironworker, in the meaning of he was on a raising gang, he was part of the group that built the highrise in Los Angels the one with the round top. It was great money, I was able to be a stay at home mom and wife. But the wife had to understand that being the wife of an ironworker that after that job was done, that they might have to go out of town for the next job.

[@Tweedle457]

Off topic, Rick Coughlin is very striking….very handsome man ….💋

[@joesmith7427]

Steel Workers

[@halspencer6613]

Remember that the houses in Lackawanna and that region were coated in a dark coat of dust and grit from the steel ovens and furnaces. When they opened up the blast furnaces at night we see the glow in the sky 30 miles away. We always knew when the furnaces were being opened.

[@jamesdellaneve9005]

Yes. The entire town was covered in soot.

[@tree8238]

Did he say $2.83 😳more than the police and fire fighters that’s crazy. Today in 2024 where barely living min wage between 16hr and 20hr Food high ass hell now and if you rent $800 to $1200 for rent they was living back then.

[@bobwild9995]

As of today = $26.54 including Joe-flation, which is less than cops, fire fighters and teachers. But, back then.........was top money, which didn't last like they thought it would.

[@joemount9614]

They rob my bad

[@lucmarchand617]

When the news come close plant with beth. Steel i was at fording coal elkford bc mines we just load a train with coal with beth steel coal car all new and paint beth steel and then news on tv,radio,newspaper was complete shock.i work later pipelines construction union job for 30 years and people still talk about beth.steel pipeline pipe yup after they close.the video very good education what going on.thank you😢

[@BuffaloTorontoPublicMedia]

Thank you for sharing.

[@joesmith7427]

They are UAW, United Auto Workers!!

[@user-uc9qk6wm2j]

No

[@joesmith7427]

Do u know we hat the AFL-CIO is??

[@joesmith7427]

The American Federation of Labor & the Congress of Industrial Organizations!!

[@edgarandrews3691]

It was all good till they sold us out