 The strike was also affecting the automaking industry, which was threatening to lay off tens of thousands of Walter Reuther's members from a steel shortage.On September 28, 1959, Eisenhower met privately with McDonald and Goldberg and threatened to invoke the back-to-work provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act.McDonald was unwilling to budge on Section 2(b) without other concessions from the steelmakers.