February 24 1932
Monroe plant is temporarily shut down. The Newton Steel Company decides to close the Newton Falls plant.

April 19 1932
For the past several weeks the Monroe plant is operating on a part-week schedule.

April 26 1932
The plant has been open for the past week and will remain open several more days

May 7 1932
The Newton Steel Company signs a contract with the City of Monroe for their share of the cost of developing a new Monroe harbor.

May 10 1932
The Hot Mill, the most crucial part of the plant, resumes activity after being shut down for a week from a lack of business. U.S. Steel, a larger national steel company cuts worker wages by 15%. The Newton Steel Company follows suit, but with lesser wage reductions.

May 25 1932
Around this date, rumors surface about a possible merger with Corrigan-McKinney of Cleveland Ohio. Corrigan-McKinney is the source of raw steel that Newton Steel uses to produce its’ sheet steel.

August 8 1932
After a shutdown of 10 days, the hot mill resumes work.

August 12 1932
Newton Steel reports a loss of $346,900 for the first half of the year.

August 17 1932
A Merger between Newton Steel and Corrigan-McKinney is approved by their stockholders.

December 5 1932
Newton Steel Moves its offices to Cleveland after the merger.

December 31 1932
A full week of production is planned for the next week using 950 workers.

February 4 1933
Rumors surface about worker dissatisfaction. A plant manager denies this and says that these issues have been resolved. Due to a lack of orders the Hot Mill has been shut down. At this time period, the Newton Steel Company is the largest employer in Monroe.

May 6 1933
The mill has been operating continuously for the last 5 weeks.

May 16 1933
Newton Steel stock prices are no longer listed

June 3 1933
The mill is running at 60% capacity. The Newton Falls plant remains shut down.

June 10 1933
It is rumored that Corrigan-McKinney will merge with the Republic Steel Corporation.

Steel workers. Those who worked in the
Hot Mill experienced the harshest working conditions.

July 1 1933
Workers in the hot mill area strike. The plant reduced wages the previous February after workers agreed. The hot mill workers are upset that after business has picked up their pay rate did not increase, which was the normal practice.

The workers hold a meeting. At this meeting they kick out Communist leaning individuals and troublemakers from their group.

The company responds to the strikers by saying that the price of steel has not risen enough to cover a wage increase.


July 3 1933
Workers at the Mill are given a 5% raise over the basic February rate in the hot mill area. The rest of the workers are given a 10% raise.

July 11 1933
Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin workers open an office in Monroe at 34 S. Monroe St. (A.F. of L.)

July 19 1933
The company has advanced plans for a company union.

July 28 1933
A local affiliate union of the AFL will be formed in Monroe. It is the first in Monroe in recent years.

July 31 1933
A sub-lodge of the AFL will be formed. 500 members are ready to join.

August 9 1933
The number of workers on the payroll at the Newton plant rises to 1,361.

August 29 1933
The Custer Lodge of the AFL is formed to represent steel and tin workers. This is the third lodge in the state of Michigan.

September 9 1933
The Custer Lodge will represent labor in Monroe on the Local Labor Board of Monroe, a National Recovery Act board.

October 10 1933
Newton pay scales are printed

December 8 1933
The Custer Lodge asks for a public apology from attorney Barron for his statement that crime has increased in Monroe since the Newton plant came