Hundreds of USW members turned out for a protest outside U.S. Steel’s Gary, Ind., Works in April 1998 amid the company’s attempts to cheat them out of profit-sharing pay.
When police commandeered the microphone, a tussle ensued. A newspaper photograph snapped at that very moment shows a scowling Tom Conway, then secretary of the Basic Steel Industry Conference (BSIC), helping to wrest back the mic.
The scene perfectly depicted Conway, who stood at the forefront of the union’s battles for 45 years and led legions of workers to better lives.
Conway, the USW’s eighth international president, died Sept. 25, 2023, at the age of 71. David McCall, Conway’s successor, praised his longtime friend for embracing “two simple guiding principles: the dignity of work and the power of working people.”
Tall, burly and imposing, Conway embodied that power.
Paul Gipson, former president of Local 6787, met Conway in the late 1970s at what was then Bethlehem Steel’s Burns Harbor, Ind., mill. He recalled thinking the young millwright was sharp, with leadership potential, and eventually the two of them ran—along with McCall and others—on a slate for local union leadership.
Conway moved on to a union staff position and then to head the BSIC and serve as the union’s international vice president for administration, helping to save USW members’ jobs and pensions amid economic downturns in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. His fights for fair trade ensured a more level playing field for workers—and a more secure future for manufacturers—in steel and numerous other industries.
Along the way, he built a reputation as a hard-nosed negotiator who backed bosses into corners and left nothing on the table.
“I couldn’t be any more proud when I think back and remember how Tom worked them the way he did,” said Dan Simmons, longtime president of Local 1899 at U.S. Steel’s Granite City Works in Illinois.
Case in point: During one protracted round of negotiations, U.S. Steel balked at the union’s proposals, demanded givebacks and even tossed around the word “bankruptcy.”
Conway was out of patience by the time company negotiators invited him and a few other union leaders to a small-group meeting at the Omni William Penn in Pittsburgh, Simmons said.
This time, when the executives mentioned bankruptcy, Conway slammed his fist on the table and told them to cut the bullshit. The outburst left one of the bosses “looking like a scared little kid,” Simmons recalled.
“No, Tom, we have the assets,” the rattled executive admitted.
“Then get the fuck off of that,” Conway roared.
“That was their meeting,” Simmons said. “But by the time we got done, it was Tom’s meeting. That’s the presence that Tom carried.”
In another round of negotiations years later, U.S. Steel’s greed raised Conway’s ire once again.
He started doodling on a napkin during a break in bargaining one day and produced a meme that perfectly captured the bosses’ hypocrisy in lining their own pockets while attempting to screw workers out of a fair wage. The drawing showed the backsides of five pigs—representing the company’s top officials, lawyer and consultant—feeding at a trough as dollar bills wafted through the air.
“Yum—chow down guys!” oinked one of the pigs.
“Free food,” grunted another.
Locals slapped the sketch on coffee mugs, shot glasses and T-shirts—making it a touchstone of the talks, which resulted in yet another good contract.
As gifted as Conway may have been in the trenches, however, Gipson considered him even more adept at arbitration.
“He could call management a liar without using the word. Arbitrators really appreciated that, in my opinion,” said Gipson, who learned how to read his colleague.
“When Tom shrugged his shoulders, he knew he was winning,” he explained. “It was just so obvious. He knew he was winning.”
With his preference for rolled-up shirtsleeves and open-necked shirts, Conway cut a strikingly different figure from the C-suite grifters who crossed his path. And while openly despising some of them, he kept an open mind and open door.
Conway worked with companies to navigate tough times. He was a founding director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, established to advance the common goals of labor and industry, and he co-chaired the BlueGreen Alliance to promote the mutual interests of unions and environmental groups.
In a host of other ways as well, Conway steered the USW into the future.
As international president, he led the union's battles for federal legislation making historic investments in manufacturing, new technology and union jobs.
"Our work built this country, and we're going to do it again," he declared in headlining a multi-city USW bus tour supporting the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in 2021.
Just as Conway envisioned, the IIJA and other union-backed laws created jobs, contributed to organizing victories in emerging industries and opened new opportunities in core sectors such as mining and steel. Some of these success stories are highlighted in other sections of this Officers’ Report.
Conway also grasped the nation’s post-pandemic need for an expanded labor movement and welcomed into the union growing numbers of workers in health care, public service, higher education and the technical and cultural sectors. Realizing the power in workers talking directly with workers, he deputized local union members as organizers and sent them into the field to carry the USW to others.
As an Air Force veteran, Conway understood the challenges facing workers with military backgrounds.
He oversaw the USW’s Vets of Steel program, which not only established a forum for current and former service members but catalyzed the union’s fight for legislation benefiting military families. Building on that success, delegates to the 2022 convention passed a resolution creating a Vets of Steel committee in every local.
Conway dedicated his life to lifting others up and empowering those needing support.
While that often meant going toe-to-toe with management, in perfect keeping with his gruff and tough-as-steel persona, he also responded to individual workers’ needs with a compassion that some say was truly his finest quality.
During a rally in Miami many years ago, a participant fainted in the heat, recalled Bill Pienta, president of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees and the former District 4 director.
Conway quickly left his place at the head of the protest and made his way over to his fallen brother. He moved the man to a safe space, got him water and made sure he was OK.
“He saw that somebody needed help, and he gave it to him. That’s what we’re supposed to do,” said Pienta. “That had a big impact on me.”
