Retirement and Death
Various union leaders and members began to criticize Abel after the 1977 contract. Despite Abel's successes at the bargaining table, steelmakers continued to cut back production and union membership sank by 650,000. Older union members were also angry over the 1974 consent decree, which stripped them of their seniority.
One Abel's most prominent critics was Edward Sadlowski, director of District 31 (then the union's largest district). Sadlowski, a member of the union's Rank and File Caucus, had mounted an insurgent campaign for the post of director of District 31 in 1973. Although unsuccessful, he sued to have the election overturned on the grounds that it violated the fair election procedures of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. Sadlowski won a re-run election in 1974. Sadlowski was widely considered to be a challenger to Abel in the 1977 presidential election.
But Abel announced his retirement instead. An Abel protégé, Lloyd McBride, the director of District 34, ran as Abel's successor. Sadlowski ran for the presidency as well. Abel spent a significant amount of time campaigning for McBride. The election was a bitter one, but McBride won.
After his retirement, Abel moved to Sun City, Arizona. In 1984, he and his new wife moved to Malvern, Ohio.
I.W. Abel died of cancer on August 10, 1987, at his home in Malvern, one day before his 79th birthday.
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