Steel’s Glory Days Remembered at SMMC Talk

It’s been nearly 20 years since the last piece of steel was forged in Bethlehem, but for some of the people who proudly worked there–men like Roger Malitzki Sr.–it could have been yesterday.

Malitzki spoke about his 31-year Bethlehem Steel career and witnessing the end of an era during a recent men’s group presentation at Steel City Mennonite Church in Lower Saucon Township, where he and his wife are members.

He worked there from 1964 until the main plant’s closing in November 1995, when he immediately qualified to receive a pension since he had worked for the company for more than 30 years.

Some of his co-workers fell just shy of that work anniversary and received no pension, which left many with understandable bitterness, he noted.

In two videos produced by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation shortly before the plant’s closing, however, those feelings were not apparent.

One of the videos featured interviews with employees from a variety of departments, while the other narrated the steel-making process.

When asked what he thought led to Bethlehem Steel’s collapse, Malitzki cited several things.

Management at the company was both “very, very tough, and very, very rich, and they forgot about the working man down here,” he said.

Mini-mills that were able to produce steel for much less also hurt Bethlehem Steel.

“There were so many combinations that caused the demise,” he said.

Although his father, father-in-law and grandfather all worked for the steel company, when one of his four sons toured the plant in 1991 he told him, “don’t come back, there’s no future here,” Malitzki recalled.

“Bethlehem Steel’s gone. It is no more,” he said. “It’s a shame.”

Malitzki answered many questions from curious audience members–including a couple of former co-workers–during the meeting in the church’s sanctuary, where he was thanked for sharing his perspectives by Steel City Mennonite Church’s pastor, Rev. David Kochsmeier.