“The reason the Edmund Fitzgerald sank (11/10 UC Labor History) is known,” writes Kurt Stand. “It was because shipping authorities consistently allowed Lake Carriers Association (in league with US Steel) to raise the limit on how much the ship could carry. That wasn't officially acknowledged, but (at least briefly) they did begin to limit carrying capacity. I was working there then, and had friends who worked there many years (one almost shipped on the Fitzgerald) and they researched it at the time. It was a steelworker local, good people for the most part, but in a weak bargaining position.”
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