The Decree Collection here microfilmed represents a variety of documents related to the amended and consent decrees which attempted to rectify discriminatory practices and to establish fair and equitable seniority practices (based on plant rather than department service) in the basic steel industry. The consent decree was an agreement entered into by the union, the steel companies, and the government in 1974, and committees were set up at affected plants to implement the provisions of the decree. The implementation committees were made up of representatives of union, company and government. The documents in this collection are the union records of the consent decree and the amended decree implementation committees at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Lackawanna Plant preserved by the union's representative on these committees, David Woody, Jr. . They represent both union and company minutes of implementation committee meetings, supplementary documents and background materials including the text of the decrees and other decree-related documents, letters of resolution of decree related complaints and grievances, decree related correspondence, directives, memos, and records of action. Cases that the committees were unable to resolve were referred to a court appointed Special Master for adjudication. This collection also encompasses files pertaining to those cases, including union exhibits, correspondence, resolutions, and Orders of the Special Master. These documents provide a historically rich and insightful look at the workings of the implementation committees. The minutes of the implementation committee meetings reflect the statements of employees appearing before the committee to make their complaints. These records document as well case by case the grievances and complaints that fell under the jurisdiction of the court decrees and their implementations committees.
