Ceferino Orta’s Arrival to Bethlehem

Ceferino Orta emigrated to the small, yet bustling town, of Bethlehem in 1926. Orta, like many other Mexicans at this time, came to Bethlehem because he had family ties in the Lehigh Valley, and was seeking work. The Bethlehem Steel company used recruiters and advertisements which guaranteed minimum wages, protections against exploitation, and provided for the treatment of work-related injuries and schooling for laborers’ children.  Such advertisements included, like an ad placed in La Prensa by Bethlehem Steel: “we will leave in special trains on Friday. . . . come ready to leave if you are a good worker.” http://hsp.org/sites/default/files/legacy_files/migrated/windowonthecollection.pdf

Mexican immigrants began to arrive in Bethlehem and throughout growing industrial cities in the early 20th century. Mexican immigrants were recruited by companies to fill mostly dangerous and labor-intensive jobs while American men were away at war. In the case of the Bethlehem Steel, this meant Mexicans were enlisted in the coke works. The coke works were some of the most dangerous jobs at the Bethlehem Steel, the workers of the coke works were constantly exposed to noxious gases, fire, and explosions.

Housing for Ceferino Orta and Other Mexican Workers

“I lived in East 3rd Street [Bethlehem, Pennsylvania], where I live with my sister and my mother, right in front of—what’s the number, Mom, where we live? The barbershop where my brother—because my brother had a barbershop on East 3rd Street. I think it was about five or six block” says orta. Orta actually had favorable living conditions as he did not live in the labor camps, instead living in a more residential area.

When Mexican immigrants arrived in Bethlehem, they actually lived on the outside of Bethlehem in Northampton at labor camps. Here the Bethlehem Steel Company gave Mexicans little to nothing. The homes were crammed, dirty, small, and filled with disease-ridden rats. Mexican immigrants like, Ceferino Orta, never complained about their new homes because as bad these homes may sound, these were nothing compared to their living conditions in Mexico

Jobs worked by Orta and Other Mexican Workers

Ceferino Orta began working almost immediately after arriving in Bethlehem. Orta describes his jobs, “I work in different departments, you know. I work in labor gang, and I work in—two years I work in different places, labor gang and foundry, and then 1928 I started working in cold-rolled department.” Orta was actually an outlier when it came to his jobs as most Mexican workers worked in the coke works.

One main ingredient in the steel making process is a material called coke. Coke is produced by heating coal in a large refractory oven or retort, from which air is excluded, which in turn drives off volatile contents of the coal and leaves behind a residue of pure carbon in the oven. Coke produced in these ovens is then typically charged in a blast furnace along with iron ore and limestone. The end product of this reaction is molten iron.[1] This was a very labor-intensive job as the coke ovens ran twenty-four hours a day and had to be manned by several workers. Workers in the coke ovens were exposed to noxious gases, explosions, and fire. A staggering, five hundred employees died in work-related incidents before 1941, and many of these deaths occurred in the coke ovens.

[1] “Coke Ovens and Evidence of Lung Cancer” http://www.lipsitzponterio.com/jobsites-Bethlehem_Steel_Coke_Ovens_Lung_Cancer.html

 

Ceferino Orta’s Involvement in Unions 

The picture below is of Bethlehem Steel’s Ship Building Union comprised of mostly white men.

Mexican workers were often restricted to the coke works along with many other new immigrants. This was a strategy made by the Bethlehem Steel Company to create a language barrier between workers to keep revolts down. This allowed for mistreatment toward immigrant workers, with low wages, little movement between classes, and dangerous working conditions.

Ceferino Orta’s Retirement and Discrimination 

Orta describes his troubling attempt to receive his pension and retire, below:

“In 1966, I take my pension for the cold-rolled department. My boss, he not want to give me my pension. He tried to hold me because I had a good record in my shop. I was a good worker. My boss tried to hold me. He called me in the office and he say—he called me ‘Sticks.’ He says, ‘Sticks, why you want to quit?’ I said, ‘Because I 65 now. I feel health, strong man.’ He says, ‘Well, that’s why I want to try to hold you.’ I don’t want any taking my pension when I was—maybe later I (inaudible) sick or something like that, you have to take for to the hospital. I got the time in. He said, ‘Well, in one way you right.’ My superintendent, Zigfeld, Charles Zigfeld (sp?), he said, ‘Well, Sticks, congratulations. You’re taking your pension, and I like keeping you (inaudible) over here, keep you over here because you got a good record. The company like to keep you over here.’ Because I know why he try keeping me over here, because I have too much experience in the (inaudible) area. I was a pickler, see. (inaudible) person, nobody do the way I do my job, see, and that’s why they trained me foreman. I quit when I was sixty-six. I take my pension.”

There is very apparent discrimination in this interaction. First, the boss denies the pension and persists Orta that he needs to continue to work. Would this happen if Orta was a white man with the same credentials and age? Also he doesn’t refer to Orta by his name, only by his nickname which demeans him to a lesser-person to his boss. Despite this Orta denies ever being discriminated against.

Ceferino Orta: A Bigger Picture

Orta’s experience is a singular insight into an untold story of Mexican workers at the Bethlehem Steel. Since the closure of the Bethlehem Steel many stories have been told of white men of the Bethlehem Steel. However, Mexicans seem to be faded out of its history. Why is this, I ask? Mexicans filled an integral role for the Bethlehem Steel when they had worker shortages in the 1920s and beyond. So why not share their story? Well for one, the deeper the story is uncovered more and more untold truths are let out. This means it is in the best interest for the company to just act like the events never happened and keep them out of the public eye.

Every year the Bethlehem Steel’s newly transformed “Steel Stacks” presents dozens of shows, concerts, celebrations, and tours on the same grounds the old Bethlehem Steel was located, in the heart of South Bethlehem. The company is celebrated for its production of steel for a growing country throughout the industrial age. But what homage is made to the workers of Bethlehem Steel, in particular, Mexican workers? Very few pictures, audio files, interviews, or newspaper articles exist that accurately tell the story of the Mexican workers. Thus, it is very important that we tell the story of Mexican workers so we fully grasp all of Bethlehem Steel’s history, as bad as it may be.

Written by: Andy Hoke