Records in PART 1 of Local 19 of the United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum, and Plastic Workers of America consist of four subseries, BACKGROUND INFORMATION, ARBITRATION RECORDS, MINUTES, and TIRE FINISHING AND INSPECTION DEPARTMENT RECORDS. The records thoroughly document the formation, growth and development of the union from 1933 to 1938; and contract negotiations and the settlement of grievances with Uniroyal, Inc. (later Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company) from 1946 to 1987. Records also document the role of the union in the community, its relationship to other state, regional, and national labor organizations, and the impact of changing technologies and economic conditions in the tire industry on the labor force.
The most notable item in the BACKGROUND INFORMATION is a 1979 MA thesis by Donald E. Severson detailing the formation of United Rubber Workers Local #19 and its predecessor, Federal Labor Union 18684; the union's activities and demands; and the rubber industry and labor relations prior to 1937-1938. Additional information about wages, benefits, employment, profits and sales in the rubber industry during the late 1940s is available in reports prepared by the national URCLPWA research department.
Records documenting the history of collective bargaining and grievance settlement at the Eau Claire plant are divided between the records of Uniroyal Inc. (Eau Claire Mss CB) and the records of Local #19. Uniroyal Inc. records contain contract negotiation files and grievance case files. Grievances which reached the arbitration stage are documented in the records of Local #19. The ARBITRATION RECORDS consist of hearing files and indexes to cases and decisions. The hearing files contain briefs and exhibits prepared by the company and the union and the umpire's decision in the case. Exhibits often consisted of diagrams, photographs, flow charts, employment records, job standard bulletins, and other company forms which provide significant evidence of the tire manufacturing process, working conditions in a tire factory, and the functioning of the Eau Claire Plant. The hearing files are arranged in rough chronological order by decision number which corresponded, after 1950, to the date the decision was issued and the name of the arbitrator who reviewed the case. Often more than one decision was issued in a single day, although for some years, no grievances were referred to arbitration. Arbitration hearings for four cases involving the Office Workers Unit of Local 19 from 1953 to 1964 are filed last. The hearing files are preceded by an index to arbitration cases for all United States Rubber Company/Uniroyal plants from 1947 to 1982. The index lists cases by subject and date of decision and includes a synopsis of each case and its outcome.
The formation, administration, activities, and finances of Local #19 are well documented in the MINUTES of executive board meetings, business meetings, and meetings held with company representatives. From September 1933 to May 1943, notes and minutes of all three types of meetings are combined in seven bound volumes in chronological order and filed as general minutes. After 1943 there are separate sets of typewritten minutes for business meetings and meetings with the company; and for executive board meetings beginning in 1946. Each set of minutes is preceded by an index to subjects or actions taken.
Local #19's executive board was comprised of the president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, guide, and guard plus three additional persons also elected by the general membership. The board functioned mainly as an advisory body which presented its recommendations to the membership at business meetings, which were then subject to a vote. The regular membership could also accept, reverse, or override decisions and actions of the executive board. Topics of executive board meetings included administration and finances, legislation and political activity, grievances, transfer requests, and the findings of various committees and investigations requested by the board. Meetings prior to 1951 were held weekly, but after 1951 the meetings were less frequent. Minutes from 1939 to 1945 are missing.
Business meetings were held weekly for the most part and attended by officers and interested members. Minutes document the election of officers and delegates to various conventions, the presentation of financial, committee, and executive board reports, the initiation of new members, discussions and votes on issues brought before the membership, and the union's social, community, and political activities. Local leaders in the farm, labor and cooperative movements often addressed the meetings, and communications or reports from the international or labor press were read to the membership. Early minutes reflect the union's concerted efforts to expand its membership, obtain higher wages, enforce seniority, influence legislation, and maintain a secure financial base. Minutes from 1942 to 1943 document the activities of the union during the time that rubber production was restricted and the Eau Claire plant was operated as an ordnance factory by the United States Rubber Company on behalf of the government. At issue were extensive layoffs, the observance of seniority rights and conflicts with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) over the hiring of union members for plant conversion and construction work. Interfiled with the minutes of regular business meetings are records of occasional mass meetings and special meetings. Minutes from May 1943 to November 1946 are mostly missing with the exception of a few scattered meetings.
Meetings with the company primarily document grievances and contract negotiations and include meetings between the Local 19 executive board and company representatives, and between union department chairmen, stewards or committeemen, and the company. Minutes from 1933 to 1938 reflect the union's effort to secure a 100 percent union shop, recognition of Local #19 as the exclusive bargaining agent, observance of seniority, dues check-off, and a written contract with the Gillette Tire Company. In addition to grievances and contract negotiations, minutes from the 1980s reflect the phasing out of off-road and bias tires, increasing radial production, cost-cutting measures such as union give-backs, lay-offs and job combining, and in 1986 the merger between B.F. Goodrich and Uniroyal Inc. There is also a separate file documenting meetings between cafeteria workers and the company. Minutes from 1939 to 1945 are missing. Company records of contract negotiations from 1940 to 1960 and grievance cases from 1944 to 1976 are available in Eau Claire Mss CB.
INSPECTION AND FINISHING DEPARTMENT RECORDS consist mainly of minutes and agendas of department-level union meetings. Included are minutes of general inspection and finishing department meetings, meetings of the department committee, and meetings with the company mostly concerning grievances, production schedules, work rules or departmental agreements, safety and working conditions, transfers, and department finances. Until 1981, there are only minutes of annual department meetings chaired by the department steward. After 1981 meetings were held more frequently to discuss grievances, working conditions, work rules, repairs and safety devices, and department agreements on policies such as overtime, transfers, bumping, shift changes and the like. In 1983, task forces on improving quality and efficiency were established in the department, and agendas and minutes of these meetings also appear here. Some joint meetings with the shipping department were held to resolve inter-departmental grievances. There is some material regarding the implementation of TQM and Quality Circles in the inspection and finishing department in 1984 and 1985. Other company programs reflected in the minutes include cost relief measures in 1977, JSIP (job security investment), ECAP (employee cost adjustment) and “radialization” or conversion to radial tire production in the early 1980s. After 1985, filed with the minutes and agendas are seniority lists, monthly production schedules for finishing and inspecting tires, data on number of persons employed on each job in the department (called personnel requirements), some company and union notices, memoranda of agreement, and records of transfers. Following the minutes are detailed records of quarterly collections for various funds administered by the department and records of expenditures from the funds. The three accounts, the lunch, retirement, and chairmen and stewards funds, appear to have been expended mainly on refreshments for meetings, party supplies, and retirement gifts. Records include the amounts collected from individual members of the department, totals collected from each shift per quarter, and annual summaries of collections.
Records in PART 2, 1933-1992 (mainly 1986-1992), consist of correspondence, meeting minutes, grievances, negotiations, agreements, contracts, and clippings. The bulk of Part 2 consists of materials prepared for or related to Local 19's unsuccessful lawsuit against the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company (UGT) after they announced the closure of the Eau Claire plant in 1991. One month after the closure was completed, the union accepted a $2.88 million settlement and dropped the suit. There are also files related to a second lawsuit in which Local 19's lawyer, Michael Shaw, sued for a portion of the settlement. Related photographs are at the Chippewa Valley Museum, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Part 2 consists of the following subseries: BACKGROUND MATERIALS; ARBITRATION RECORDS; MEETING MINUTES; NEGOTIATIONS, AGREEMENTS, AND CONTRACTS; MISCELLANEOUS LOCAL 19 OFFICE FILES; CLOSURE OF EAU CLAIRE PLANT; URW v. UNIROYAL GOODRICH TIRE COMPANY-- CLOSURE LITIGATION; and MICHAEL SHAW v. LOCAL 19.
BACKGROUND MATERIALS include union records of the World War II-era, including records of the Rubber Workers Club, as well as later Club records, Local 19 financial statements, and plant job descriptions. Most folders include 2-3 departments; the folder title indicates the highest department number described in that folder.
ARBITRATION RECORDS consist of grievance review records.
MEETING MINUTES are those of the executive board, international policy committee, union local, and meetings with the company.
The NEGOTIATIONS, AGREEMENTS, AND CONTRACTS subseries includes general company-wide contracts and local agreements. The 1988 agreement was in force when the plant closed, and both the lawsuit and final settlement were based on this agreement. The final effects bargain, phase down agreement, etc., are to be found in this series rather than the closure series.
MISCELLANEOUS LOCAL 19 OFFICE FILES include newspaper clippings, 1983-1992, Total Quality Performance materials, and files on pension-related and employee benefits issues.
The CLOSURE OF EAU CLAIRE PLANT subseries consists of miscellaneous, subject and chronological files. The subject files and chronological files are in their original order and have been kept together rather than moving the lawsuit files to the lawsuit series. The main difference between the closure files and the lawsuit files is that the subject files do not include legal documents, and cover more topics than just the lawsuit. These may have been the files of Darrel Wekkin or Jack Zais, two union officials.
UNITED RUBBER WORKERS v. UNIROYAL GOODRICH TIRE COMPANY--CLOSURE LITIGATION (URW v. UGT) subseries consists of court documents, as well as miscellaneous related office files and numbered index files. Most of the series contains financial information on the three companies, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports, etc.
The court documents by subject and number (probably discovery documents) retain the original order of two original numbered sets. Miscellaneous court documents were originally not foldered, and have been loosely grouped in numerical order. The indexed files contain information about both lawsuits, but more on URW v. UGT. These files retain original numerical order. Index lists are found at beginning of each file, and the index list number is noted on each file folder.
MICHAEL SHAW v. LOCAL 19 subseries mainly consists of court documents and legal correspondence.
