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About 22,000 employees of major American [[steel]] manufacturer [[U.S. Steel|USX]] stopped work from August 1, 1986 to January 31, 1987 after the [[United Steelworkers of America]] and the company failed to agree on new employee contract terms. This event was characterized by the company as a [[strike action|strike]] and by the union as a [[lockout (industry)|lockout]]. This event surpassed the [[steel strike of 1959]] as the longest steel industry work stoppage in US history.
The stoppage resulted in most USX facilities becoming idle until February 1, 1987, seriously degrading the steel division's market share. A compromise was brokered and accepted by the union membership on January 31, 1987.<ref name="NashThesis">{{cite web |url=http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04272000-10360018/ |date=2000-04-19 |author=Nash Jr., Bradley |title=Labor Law and the State: The Crises of Unions in the 1980s, chapter 6. PhD thesis in sociology}}</ref>
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==Work Stoppage==
The USAW delivered a letter to USX on July 31, one day before the contract expired, offering to continue work under the terms of the previous contract until a deal could be reached, provided that the union maintained the right to go on strike at any time with 48 hours' notice.<ref name="NashThesis"/> USX rejected the offer as it had already begun lengthy and expensive plant shutdown procedures in anticipation of a strike; furthermore, the ability to stop work on 2 days' notice would have given the union the ability to cost USX even more money by disrupting deliveries and requiring another expensive and unplanned plant idling operation.<ref name="NashThesis"/> USX maintained that this offer was never meant to be taken seriously and was a "[[legal fiction]]" designed to permit striking workers to collect [[unemployment benefits]], since most US states allowed payment of unemployment in the case of a management [[lockout (industry)|lockout]] but not in the case of a worker-initiated [[strike action|strike]].<ref name="NashThesis"/>
Negotiations were at an impasse, and most USX facilities remained idle for months. Management-level employees began loading trucks and trains with previously produced steel kept in inventory themselves and shipping it to customers, which led to violent clashes with striking workers.<ref name="NashThesis"/>
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