Selection of J.P. Stevens as the Union's Main Organizing Objective
Scope and Content Note: A TWUA committee was formed to select a target to make use of Reuther's new organizing assistance from the AFL-CIO's Industrial Union Department (IUD). Stevens company had some characteristics which it was thought lent them to this type of organizing. 1) Plants for the most part were larger. 2) Relatively small number of plant locations. 3) Stevens' predecessor firms had bargained with TWUA in the north. 4) Robert Stevens had been Eisenhower's Secretary of War and it was felt that his having been a public figure might make the company sophisticated in its view of labor relations.