The records of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America are far
from complete. Briefly stated, the collection contains virtually no records from the
International's early years, and even for the more recent past, many functions and
activities are incompletely documented, and some are not represented at all. The library of
the State Historical Society compensates in part for this weakness; its collections include
published constitutions, international convention proceedings, a complete run of the Butcher Workman, and the newsletters of many locals.
This finding aid to the AMCBWNA collection describes the processed portion of the
collection as well as nine accessions of the unprocessed additions. These records are
described below in five series: ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS, DEPARTMENTAL FILES, AUDIO RECORDINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS AND OTHER VISUAL MATERIALS, and FILM AND
VIDEOTAPES.
The ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS consist of International Executive Board Files, Convention
Files, Local Correspondence, and Subject Files, available only on microfilm; and additional
unfilmed Administrative Records in the unprocessed portions.
The DEPARTMENTAL FILES document the Fur and Leather Department; Packinghouse Department;
Poultry, Seafood & Food Processing Department; Research Department; Retail Department;
and the Washington, D.C. office. Coverage varies for each department, and except for the
Research Department contract files, this series is in the unprocessed portions of the
collection and has not been microfilmed. In general, the International's departments, where
most day-to-day matters were handled, are documented incompletely, and some offices such as
membership and education are not represented at all.
Only some of the AUDIO RECORDINGS in the collection are described in this finding aid. They
include speeches, interviews, statements, memoranda, and off-the-air recordings. Many are
only incompletely identified. A number of the audio recordings concern Iowa Beef Processors
(IBP) and its impact on the meatpacking industry. These recordings also document activites
of Skip Niederdeppe and Louie Anderson, staff of the Packinghouse Department. The recordings
include radio news stories about the violent Dakota City strike, IBP annual meetings,
speeches by IBP executives, and interviews with various workers detailing aspects of the
slaughtering and meatcutting process. The majority of the AMCBWNA audio recordings are,
however, unprocessed and unidentified.
PHOTOGRAPHS AND OTHER VISUAL MATERIALS, largely unprocessed, include images of union
members and officials, union activities, strikes, and conventions, as well as industry
operations. Formats include 35 mm, 4x5-inch, and 5x7-inch negatives; 35 mm transparencies;
photo albums; and loose prints, as well as a small quantity of ephemera and drawings.
FILMS AND VIDEOTAPES received with the records have been processed. Included is footage of
national conventions and conferences; speeches and remarks by leaders Patrick J. Gorman,
Thomas Lloyd, and Harry Poole; views of the International Headquarters in Chicago;
activities at local headquarters in Texas and California; political and recruiting film; and
miscellaneous other visual documentation. Of special interest is the speech by Academy
Award-winning actor Harold Russell at the 1956 National Democratic Convention about his
experiences as a member of AMCBWNA and speeches and remarks by Hubert Humphrey, Edward
Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, and Eugene McCarthy.
ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS: Processed Records
The processed paper records of the AMCBWNA are only available as microfilm. The
ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS, which make up the largest portion of the processed part of the
collection, document the union from the perspective of its executive board and its
international officers, primarily Earl Jimerson, Patrick Gorman, and Thomas Lloyd. As a
result, the processed portion of the AMCBWNA collection is best at documenting high-level
policymaking rather than day-to-day activities of individual members, local unions, or even
the departments of the international organization. The records of the executive board
provide the most comprehensive and concise coverage. However, because of the record
practices described above, most of the earliest administrative records have been lost. Of
special importance are the Executive Board minutes, which begin in 1920, and the
chronologically-arranged bulletins, which were mailed to various categories of the
membership (for example, certain bulletins went to all executive board members, others went
to all district officers, still others went to all local presidents, and finally some went
to the entire membership). For the documented period, the bulletins provide an excellent
summary of the union's activities and issues.
Convention files, which cover only the years 1948 to 1976 are also files created by the
executive office, rather than official convention records. The files cover arrangements and
planning, but contain little about proceedings. That type of policy information can be found
in the published convention proceedings in the Historical Society Library.
The microfilmed Local Correspondence of the administrative office is arranged as AMCBWNA
locals, Packinghouse locals, and Fur and Leather locals, with the AMCBWNA files being the
most extensive. Little correspondence for either the UPWA or the Fur and Leather Workers
that predates their respective mergers is included. In general, this section consists of
exchanges of the International executive secretary with the locals; it is not a
comprehensive file of all contacts of the headquarters with a particular local. Topics of
concern to the executive office include strikes, important disciplinary cases, and contract
matters. Additional correspondence concerning individual locals can be found throughout the
records. Except for their different provenance, the distinguishing characteristics of each
of these sets of local correspondence is not clear. Following the secretary's local
correspondence and similar to it, is a separate file regarding the issuance or withdrawal of
charters.
The Executive Office Subject Files are the heart of the processed portion of the AMCBWNA
collection, and they cover the full range of union concerns although not the union's entire
history. The subject files are actually three overlapping files, each of which is
alphabetically arranged. Subject File #1 covers 1919 to 1952, Subject File #2 covers 1937 to
1972, and Subject File #3 covers 1962 to 1979. Subject File #1 is the smallest, and it
primarily dates from the post-World War II years. This file includes information on
relations with the AFL and its Union Label Trades Department, various central district and
state labor organizations of the AMCBWNA; the War Labor Board and the National Labor
Relations Board, and negotiations with the Retail Meat Dealers Association and with Swift,
Armour, and other national meatpackers.
Subject File #2, the largest subject file, is organized as a flat file, with each
individual, organization, and subject entered directly under its own name. Once again, the
files contains extensive information on contacts with George Meany, the AFL-CIO, and its
Food and Beverage Trades Department. These contacts focus on internal disputes and
negotiations with various national meatpackers. This period also witnessed complex relations
with other international labor organizations such as the International Union of Food and
Drink Workers and particularly with the internationals with which AMCBWNA eventually merged:
the Fur and Leather Workers and the Furriers Joint Council of New York, the United
Packinghouse Workers of America, and the Retail Clerks International Union. There is also
correspondence with the Teamsters, particularly regarding joint organizing efforts during
the 1950s. Additional files concern mergers between various AMCBWNA locals and their
relations with their respective local employers. Major topics here include wages, benefits,
the Amalgamated Labor Life Insurance Company, the National Labor Relations Board and the
U.S. Department of Labor, proposed labor legislation, and various charities. Many files
concern the internal operations of the International such as construction of the new Chicago
headquarters and programs of the Education Department.
The third subject file covers most of the same topics as File #2, although this file is
arranged first into broad alphabetical subject categories, such as associations,
legislation, and professional services, and then alphabetically into more specific topics.
Once again the AFL-CIO, its Industrial Union Department, and the resolution of internal
disputes between locals of various internationals is a major issue. Charitable interests,
which had previously included the state of Israel and various Jewish organizations in the
United States, expand to include interests in the civil rights movement, the war in Vietnam,
and cancer research. Contract negotiations here include not only the major packers, but also
national grocery store chains. The concern for wages appears in extensive files on the
wage-price freeze and the Economic Stabilization Program of the Nixon Administration.
Subject File #3 indicates an increased concern with public relations, and there are
materials concerning the officers' involvement with the publication of Butcher Workman.
ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS: Unprocessed Records
The unprocessed paper records described here consist of three accessions, M79-516, M80-118,
and M84-042. Each accession has been arranged to correspond to the overall organization plan
of the collection, and each accession is included in the contents list based on its
intellectual content. Additional unprocessed accessions that include additional sound
recordings, and additional paper records are not described in this finding aid.
Accession M79-516 , 1960-1979.
Quantity: 9.0 cubic feet (21
flat boxes)
Scrapbooks, 1960-1979, of clippings about the international,various locals, and the
businesses in which its members were employed. Several miscellaneous volumes have been
photocopied for preservation, but the remainder, which form an almost continuous run from
1969 to 1979 were received from a clipping service. This accession is listed on the contents
list as part of the unfilmed ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS.
Accession M80-118 , 1903-1979.
Quantity: 46.2 cubic feet
(32 records center cartons, 2 flat boxes, 28 card boxes, 24 archives boxes, and 1 oversize
folder)
Unfilmed ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS such as audits, International Executive Board minutes and
bulletins, subject files, AMCBWNA publications, and a few files identified as
“historical records” because of their early date. Additionally, there are
DEPARTMENTAL FILES of the Fur and Leather Department, the Packinghouse Department, the
Poultry Department, the Research Department, the Retail Department and the Washington, D.C.
Office.
Within the unfilmed ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS, the “Historical” files consist of
correspondence received by John T. Joyce, a Chicago organizer, from early leaders Michael
Donnelly, Homer T. Call (1905-190), and various locals; Joyce's statistical reports on
cattle killed, “hours made,” and the prevailing wages for particular jobs
(1904); and miscellaneous other material. Also included are published proceedings of a
national meeting of cattle butchers in 1903. Although these early records are limited, they
coincide with the disastrous national strike of 1904, which the union barely survived. This
section also includes transcripts of the Samuel Alschuler arbitration hearings, printed
rulings, and two clipping scrapbooks that detail the development of the 1921 strike, a
strike that has been described as “an ignominious defeat that approached the disaster
of 1904.” (Labor Unions, 1977).
The unfilmed administrative records also include several poorly defined internal card
indexes. Index #1 includes personal names and organizations on blue cards and subject
entries on white cards. Index #2 lists employers and subjects.
Minutes of the International Executive Board dating from 1920 to 1969 were microfilmed as
part of the processed collection after which the originals were discarded. In 2002 a second
run of IEB minutes was found among the unfilmed records that carried the coverage through
1979. These records are filed here and are not available on microfilm. In addition to the
minutes themselves, some meetings for the 1969-1979 period are documented by agenda
materials and draft items.
The subject files in this accession are an amalgam of material from various sources. Some
files are comprised of materials overlooked during the earlier microfilming; other material
consists of information removed by Hilton Hanna to his own papers for his research about
Patrick Gorman. Most folders contain only a few documents, with the most extensive being the
material on the Peyton Strike in Texas. Also of special interest is Gorman's personal
notebook on the 1956 merger. Following the subject file are publications arranged
alphabetically by title and subject. This file ranges from published histories (Our First Sixty Years) to Christmas cards sent by the union
leadership; a few issues of the rare title Research Reporter
to conference materials and numerous brochures dealing with retirement and pensions.
The remainder of the accession consists of DEPARTMENT FILES documenting the International's
Fur and Leather, Packinghouse, Poultry, Research, and Retail department and the Washington,
D.C. office. Coverage varies for each department, and none are fully covered. It is possible
that additional departmental files were moved to Washington, D.C. and are still in
existence. The DEPARTMENTAL FILES are arranged alphabetically by department name.
Thereunder, the order varies.
The Fur and Leather Department records represent the leadership of Abraham Feinglass
(1910-1981), who was head of the department from 1955, when the International Fur and
Leather Workers Union became part of the AMCBWNA, to about 1965. About half of these records
were received at Historical Society in an unfoldered condition, and, as a result, their
arrangement was established by the Archives. The papers consist of Feinglass' correspondence
with Patrick Gorman and other leaders of the International, but there is also extensive
correspondence and reports from local organizers and officers. The files are particularly
strong on Feinglass' management of the trusteeship of the Furriers Joint Council of New
York; on negotiations with shoe manufacturer Endicott Johnson Corporation; and on organizing
in Winnipeg, Montreal, and other Canadian localities. Feinglass also had numerous contacts
within the fur business such as the Fur Information and Fashion Council and numerous
individual manufacturers. Documentation about the internal operation of the Fur and Leather
Department is incomplete, but there are detailed reports about several annual conferences.
Well represented locals include #87F and #213L in Los Angeles, #29L, #54F, #63L, and #88.
The papers also include personal correspondence, some of which concerns Feinglass' friends
and his interests in the civil rights movement and numerous Jewish organizations.
The Packinghouse Department is represented by 1.8 cubic feet feet of files of Vice
President Jesse Prosten and Skip Niederdeppe about master agreement negotiations in 1967 and
1975. Clearly, this is only a small portion of the negotiation files that once existed. The
1967 files include corrrespondence, minutes, memoranda, and draft agreements for Hygrade,
Swift, and Wilson. The 1975 files primarily document preparations for the negotiations that
took place at the Packinghouse Conference, rather than the negotiations themselves. Also
included is a file of materials about the attempt to organize the Iowa Beef Packers (IBP)
plant at Emporia, Iowa, and carbons of general outgoing correspondence, 1975-1978.
Poultry Department records were created by S.W. (Shirley) Barker, director of the
department during the late 1950s, and Jasper Rose and Steven Coyle, two later
vice-presidents. Although the records span the period from the mid-1950s to the dissolution
of AMCBWNA, they are not complete. The Barker files consist of correspondence about
negotiations with Armour, Denison, and Swift, and with many locals regarding contracts,
grievances, arbitration, and strikes. The documentation is strong on organizing in the South
and on the union's support for federal compulsory poultry inspection laws. The Rose and
Coyle files are less complete. They document negotiations with Swift, Tyson, Campbell Soup
(and its Swanson & Sons subsidiary), and F.M. Stamper (owner of Banquet brand products).
Of special note are files on a representation election at American Home Products that was
contested with the United Mine Workers Union and on joint negotiating with the Teamsters at
Stamper. There is also information on the joint committee of the AFL-CIO's Industrial Union
Department that negotiated with Campbell Soup. Two additional folders concern southern
organizing. Locals that are well documented here include #127, #199, #231, #271, #340, #405,
#431, #454, #480 (and the Texas Broiler Association), and #700, for which Coyle was acting
president.
The alphabetical subject files of Marvin W. Hook, head of the Retail Department, include
correspondence with Patrick Gorman, other International leaders, and with numerous AMCBWNA
locals that included retail workers. Among the most extensive are the files on his
management of the Local #88 trusteeship. Also included is background information on
departmental conventions and correspondence with retail employers such as the Kroger Company
Hook's position required extensive involvement with the Retail Clerks International Union
with which the meatpackers eventually merged. These files, however, are about pre-merger
litigation concerning jurisdictional disputes. Hook's correspondence includes exchanges with
RCIU leader James Selfredge.
The Washington, D.C. office files cover only the years 1971 to 1979, and even these are
incompletely covered. Included are a few subject files and a chronological file of the
outgoing correspondence of Arnold Mayer. There are also mass mailings distributed to the
leadership on national legislative issues and copies of Mayer's congressional testimony
(1974-1979). The subject files concern food stamps, wage and price controls, and sugar
tariffs.
DEPARTMENTAL FILES: Unprocessed Accession M84-042 , 1960-1979.
Quantity: 46.6 cubic feet (44 records center cartons, 5 archives boxes, and 2 flat
boxes)
This accession consists of additions from the Research Department to the DEPARTMENTAL FILES
series. These paper records divide into three sections: correspondence with locals, a
classified reference file, and a subject file. The Research Department is the best
documented of all of the international's organizational units. The local correspondence is
arranged by local number, with the former Packinghouse locals and Fur and Leather locals
following the AMCBWNA locals. Much of this correspondence is concerned with contracts.
Although a few files date to as early as the 1940s, the majority of the local correspondence
concerns the 1960s and 1970s. The well documented locals include #7, #34, #55, #56, #78,
#81, #88, #115, #117, #127, #173-174, #195, #227, #282, #301, #304, #327-328, #340, #342,
#347, #371, #405. #421, #424, #425, #427, #444, #448, #464, #545, #551, #563, #569, #590,
#627, #653, and #657.
The original purpose of the Research Department's classified file was to organize
background materials for use in the departmental publications, to inform the leadership
about labor issues, and for other reference purposes. Information of a general, background
nature has been weeded, with the remaining documentation largely consisting of material
created by AMCBWNA itself. This material is arranged in its original classification scheme
so that topically related papers are filed in proximity to related material. Major topics of
concern are contract analyses and surveys conducted by the department on matters such as
wages, benefits, and employment patterns.
Although they contain many similar files, the subject files differ from the classified
files in that they also include documentation about internal operations. Here researchers
will find the most extensive documentation in the collection about collective bargaining.
These files date from the post-World War II era to 1960 and include records on relations
with the War Labor Board and the National Labor Relations Board. Also filed here is
information and some printed transcripts of International conferences and relations with
major employers in the meat cutting and grocery store industries.
DEPARTMENTAL FILES: Contracts and Agreements
Listed in the contents list with the unprocessed Research Department records are the 87
reels of processed and microfilmed local union contracts. The contracts are the only portion
of the DEPARTMENT FILES that are available on microfilm. They date primarily from the 1960s
and 1970s, and they represent a 10% sample of the total quantity received by the Archives.
In addition to the 10% sample, the microfilm includes all contracts received for Wisconsin
locals and contracts for a small number of locals filmed at the request of the
International.