Strikes Off at Bethlehem, National Steel : Labor: New accords could mark a trend to exchange wage concessions for union-picked board members and longer-range influence.

Labor settlements over the weekend with two big steel companies mark the early fruits of an effort by U.S. unions to exchange short-term wage benefits for long-range corporate influence--by forcing union-picked members on company boards of directors.

A strike by more than 15,000 steelworkers was averted Sunday when the United Steelworkers of America tentatively approved a contract with Bethlehem Steel Corp. that will place a union-nominated member on Bethlehem’s board, union officials said. Bethlehem is the nation’s second-largest steelmaker.

On Saturday, National Steel Corp.--the fourth-largest producer in the country--reached a similar agreement with the union, avoiding a strike by 6,300 steelworkers.

Earlier this summer, Inland Steel Industries Inc. agreed to do the same. And two smaller steel companies--Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. and the LTV Corp.--will also add union-picked board members in agreements reached as they were coming out of bankruptcy.

The steelworkers’ union had set a goal to win a director’s seat in each company with labor contracts up for renewal in 1993.

Other industries are likely to see demands to place union representatives on corporate boards as U.S. workers strive to gain more say-so in a slimmed-down economy where job security has become more important than wage increases, economists said.

Such union representation is relatively common in Europe, where unions are more powerful, particularly in Germany.

U.S. workers have concentrated more on increased involvement at the plant-floor level, typically on union-management committees. The University of Southern California’s Center for Effective Organizations estimates that eight out of 10 U.S. companies now have some form of shop-floor employee involvement.

If higher-level union involvement becomes a successful trend, it could have a major effect on U.S. companies, Gerald E. Ledford Jr., a senior researcher at the USC center, said Sunday.

“What’s different about board-union representation,” Ledford said, “is that it gives the union the opportunity to influence strategic direction and strategic decisions that are far beyond the scope of plant-level or shop-floor activities.”

Board members, Ledford noted, participate in decisions “about what business to go after, about costs--including wages--and employment levels.”

Also, the unions will inevitably have access to much better information about the financial operations of the company, “which doubtless will have an influence on bargaining,” Ledford said.

Already, unions in the airline industry have made similar demands, with some success. On Friday, the last of Northwest Airlines’ six unions approved $886 million in wage concessions, in exchange for 15% union-picked participation on the board and employee ownership of 30% of the company’s stock.

“It’s not surprising that this sort of thing appears first in industries that are troubled,” Ledford said, “because although it represents a fundamental change in the way management views unions, it doesn’t mean a lot of outlay of cash.”

The Bethlehem settlement averted a strike by steelworkers at plants in Maryland, Indiana, New York and Pennsylvania. Saturday’s pact with National Steel avoided a strike by steelworkers in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana.

Union officials and company negotiators declined to give details of the six-year agreement with Bethlehem until union rank and file could be notified. But union spokesman Gary Hubbard praised the precedent-setting pact.

*

The union will “be able to influence ‘big decisions,’ ” Hubbard told the Associated Press. “It will breathe new life into this company.”

Union officials voted 14 to 2 to accept the Bethlehem offer. Both the Bethlehem and National locals expect to receive membership approval for the pacts in two to three weeks. The terms would be effective today.

Also on Saturday, a smaller producer, Armco Steel Co., agreed with the union to continue talks aimed at averting a strike of 2,400 members at its Ashland, Ky., mill, by extending its existing contract terms until negotiations resume Aug. 12.

Next on the union’s agenda are contract talks with the nation’s largest producer, giant USX-U.S. Steel Group. That contract expires Jan. 31, 1994.

Preliminary talks between the steelworkers and USX have already broken down, in part, reportedly, due to USX’s reluctance to agree to seat a union designate on its board.