Title: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Local 1169: Records
Inclusive Dates: 1934-1987

Creator:

• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Local 1169 (Milwaukee, Wis.)

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss 175; Tape 1345A

Quantity: 4.8 c.f. (11 archives boxes and 2 card boxes) and 5 tape recordings

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Records, mainly 1955-1981, of a Milwaukee local of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) established in 1939 to represent workers at two Milwaukee areas plants of the Square D Company. In 1991 the local was amalgamated into Local 2336; Local 2336 in turn became defunct in 1998. Included are bylaws and charter documents; minutes, 1934-1939, of the local's predecessor, the Federal Labor Union Local 19926; minutes of general membership, executive board, and other administrative meetings, 1939-1981; membership and election information; correspondence of leaders such as Arthur Jaraczewski and Walter Scanlan; newsletters; and other administrative records. Several special meetings are documented only by tape recordings. Incomplete files of printed contracts, letters of agreement, background information and detailed minutes of bargaining sessions document collective bargaining dating from 1939 to 1985, and transcripts, correspondence, briefs, and background information partially represent grievances from 1960 to 1981. Subject files document social gatherings, charitable support, union solidarity, the construction of the union hall, and the Square D company. Financial records consist only of check stubs, 1972-1983.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil00175

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The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local No. 1169 represented electrical workers at two Milwaukee plants of the Square D Company, the international electrical equipment manufacturer: one located at 4041 North Richards Street and the second at 3333 West Good Hope Road in Glendale.

Local 1169 dates to the chartering of Federal Labor Union Local No. 19926 on December 20, 1934. Edward Harris was the first president of Local 19926. In 1939, the IBEW officially approved chartering the local as its Local 1169 to represent employees from Square D's Controller Division. Until the 1940 election, the officers of Local 19926 continued to function as the officers of the new union. In this election Edward Fieder who had been president of local 19926 was replaced by James Watson. However, in September 1945, Fiedler was again elected president, and he continued to hold the office until 1956. Fiedler was succeeded by Walter Scanlan whose presidency lasted until 1964. A highlight of Scanlan's presidency was the construction of a union hall in 1957 at 3879 N. Port Washington Road. (Drastic deceases in membership forced the local to sell the property in 1973.)

Scanlan was succeeded by David Bienart and in 1966 Arthur Jaraczewski was elected president. Because of his leadership in the international union as well as the National Council of Square D Unions Jaraczewski resigned in 1968 and was succeeded by Donald McAdams. Subsequent presidents included James Buth, James Pouros, and Frank Finch . In 1976 IBE the local achieved the milestone of nationally coordinated bargaining, a longtime goal.

The 1970s presented many hardships for the local. In 1970 Square D announced that it planned to move its Milwaukee operations to a plant in Asheville, North Carolina or to a new plant either in Virginia or Tennessee. This decision affected about half of the local's 1,700 members. The advancing average age of the membership (the average member was 57 in 1977) also posed a problem to the local. In 1970, the local's contract proposal was also rejected by Square D. Negotiations in 1973 were also unsuccessful.

On September 1, 1991, when Square D finally closed both plants where the local members were employed, Local 1169 was amalgamated with IBE Local No. 2336, which represented the Sorgel Electric Company, a division of Square D. However, upon the January 26, 1998 closing of that plant, Local 2336 became defunct as well.

The records of the IBEW Local 1169 are an incomplete collection of labor records, but they nevertheless contains important documentation about the local itself and IBEW workers in Wisconsin, and also about the collective bargaining process. Because the papers were donated via labor historian Darryl Holter when the local was still in existence there are only a few post-1980 items and none concerning the eventual demise of the local. The papers consist of ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS, CONTRACTS AND NEGOTIATIONS, GRIEVANCES, SUBJECT FILES, and FINANCIAL RECORDS. The minutes contained within the ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS series are complete from 1939 to 1981, but other types of records common to labor collections including bargaining, grievance, and membership files and financial records are incomplete to varying degrees. Despite these weaknesses, the records are the only known archival documentation about Square D, once a major Milwaukee employer, and they also provide useful documentation about the decline of manufacturing and industrial unions in Milwaukee during the troubled 1970s and 1980s.

The ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS include organizational and historical documents, minutes, election files, membership files, and newsletters. The organizational records include several versions of bylaws (the oldest version being issued in 1951), a copy of the 1939 founding charter, and handwritten notes extracted from the early minutes, probably for an anniversary event. No formal history of the local is known to exist.

The correspondence includes both incoming and outgoing letters, with the incoming being much more extensive. There is no correspondence concerning the organization and early years of the union. Most useful are the exchanges with the national and district offices and the Milwaukee County Labor Council. From Square D there is a file of exchanges with the Director of Industrial Relations primarily concerning voluntary terminations and a few interesting interoffice memoranda concerning company and union operations.

Although the collection includes no true membership records, several types of documents provide an incomplete substitute. There are membership cards which date from 1939 to 1949, but they are probably not complete even for this period. These cards include name, address, age, job classification, and wage. For a later period the lists of holiday pay also function as a sort of membership record. These lists indicate the starting date for employment with Square D and the holiday pay. Also included are weekly transfer lists, 1963 and 1971, and "house telegrams" lists, 1977-1981, the purpose of which is uncertain. Also useful are fragmentary files on initiations and resignations and miscellaneous files on transfers and other issues concerning individual members, 1956-1969. In addition, the contract files described below sometimes include information on wages and job classifications for individual employees.

The minutes are the most complete and detailed set of records in the collection, spanning the period from 1934 to 1981. Included are minutes for the Federal Labor Union 19926, one of only a few FLU collections currently in Historical Society custody; for the weekly and sometimes biweekly general membership meetings dating from 1939 to 1963; and for the Executive Board meetings dating from 1952 to 1981. Minutes of the Executive Board are sometimes internally referred to as reports. Interspersed within the board minutes are occasional minutes of general membership meetings, grievance meetings, contract negotiations, meetings with Square D, and stewards meetings. This fact is noted in the container list by the respective abbreviations U, G, N, BS, and ST. In addition to paper records this section also includes a tape recording of a special meeting in 1968 that discussed appointment of Arthur Jaraczewski as IBEW international representative. Less extensive administrative records consist of an incomplete run of the local's newsletter and documentation about internal elections, for 1954-1966 only.

The chronologically-arranged CONTRACTS AND NEGOTIATIONS files primarily document the 1950s and 1960s. Perhaps reflecting the shift to nationally coordinated negotiations in the 1970s, the post-1975 files provide less complete documentation of the process, not even including any printed contracts for that period. Documentation in the series variously includes letters of agreement, published contracts, letters of agreement and supplemental letters of agreement, pension agreements, and reference material used in bargaining. Setting Local 1169's records apart from those of other IBEW locals held by the Historical Society and even from those of other unions held by the Society are the bargaining session minutes. While the minutes do not document every contract, they do provide much more detailed information about the bargaining process than is generally available.

Two tape recordings document special a 1973 meeting with IBEW representatives about the local's lack of bargaining success and a second meeting at which the board first announced the final version of the new labor agreement and at which the membership debated whether to accept the controversial offer.

The GRIEVANCES are also incomplete, perhaps because documentation about minor complaints was not retained by the union. The files are chronologically arranged by internal grievance number and by Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service number if the local number is unknown. The types of documentation present variously include correspondence, information forms, transcripts of arbitration hearings, briefs prepared by Goldberg, Previant and Uelman, and arbitrators' decisions.

The alphabetically arranged SUBJECT FILES document social activities such as dinner dances and children's Christmas parties, construction and operation of the union hall, support for the striking J.I. Case workers, and involvement with C.O.P.E. and other community activities. Of special interest is the material collected about Square D's financial situation and the reference material for a 1982 work analysis.

The final series, FINANCIAL RECORDS, consists of 21 chronologically arranged volumes of check stubs, the only available records about the local's financial affairs. The stubs cover only the years 1973 to 1983. They are primarily valuable for their periodic notes of account balances and for their documentation of reimbursements made to individual members for pay lost while participating in union activities.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Darryl Holter, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1989. Accession Number: M89-080

Processing Information

Processed by Nanako Kodaira, 1999.

Milwaukee Mss 175	Series: Administrative Records
Box   1 Folder   1-2	By-laws, 1951-1963, 1983
Box   1 Folder   3	Founding charter, December 1, 1939
Box   1 Folder   4	History notes, undated
	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   5	Outgoing, 1951-1976
	Incoming
Box   1 Folder   6	IBEW Chicago district, 1956-1976
Box   1 Folder   7	IBEW National headquarters, 1946-1983
Box   1 Folder   8	Milwaukee County Labor Council, 1963-1983
Box   1 Folder   9	Miscellaneous correspondence
	Square D
Box   1 Folder   10	Director of Industrial Relations, 1956-1964
Box   1 Folder   11	Interoffice memoranda, 1952-1972
Box   1 Folder   12-14	Elections, 1954-1966
	Membership materials
	Membership cards
Box   12	1939-1943
Box   13	1944-1949 (Also active military cards, transfer cards, membership receipts, 1970)
Box   1 Folder   15	Holiday pay, 1976-1981
Box   1 Folder   16	House telegrams, 1977-1978
Box   1 Folder   17	Initiation list, 1959
Box   1 Folder   18	Resignations
Box   2 Folder   1	Weekly transfer lists, 1963, 1971
	Miscellaneous member issues
Box   2 Folder   2	1956, Henry Moenck union transfer
Box   2 Folder   3	1962, Lawrence La Brosse traveling card
Box   2 Folder   4	1964, Leonard Stefaniak and Douglas Siegel cases
Box   2 Folder   5	1968, Julius Yatchak and William Hoffman
Box   2 Folder   6	1969, Adam Bieneck
Box   2 Folder   7	1969, Doctors' statements
	Minutes
Box   2 Folder   8-9	Federal Labor Union No. 19926, December 13, 1934- November 11, 1939
	General union meetings
Box   2 Folder   10-12	1939 December 8-1952 February 8
Box   3 Folder   1-2	1952 March 14-1963 December 14
	Board meetings minutes and reports
Box   3 Folder   3-9	, 1952 April-1961 June 22 (includes ST)
Box   3 Folder   10	, 1961 July 27-September 20 (includes G)
Box   4 Folder   1	, 1962 (includes BS &G)
Box   4 Folder   2	, 1963 January 8-March 19 (includes BS & G)
Box   4 Folder   3	1964 February 19-May 8 (include G, N, & U)
Box   4 Folder   4	1967 April 18-1968 February 2
Tape 1345A No.   1-2	, 1968 November 8 Special meeting re resignation of Arthur Jaraczewski
Milwaukee Mss 175 Box   4 Folder   5	, 1969 March 14-August (includes G & U)
Box   4 Folder   6	1971 January 1-1972 January 24 (includes BS, G & U)
Box   4 Folder   7	, 1972 June 20-1973 December 27 (includes BS & U)
Box   4 Folder   8	1973 November 9-1974 November 8
Box   4 Folder   9-12	1976-1979
Box   5 Folder   1-2	1980-1981
Box   5 Folder   3	Newsletters, 1956-1986
	Series: Contracts and Negotiations	⇧
Box   5 Folder   4	, 1939-1940 agreement
Box   5 Folder   5	, 1944 Incentive Plan for Productive Employees
	1959
Box   5 Folder   6	Letter of Agreement
Box   5 Folder   7	Supplemental Agreement
	1960
Box   5 Folder   8	Minutes, 1959
Box   5 Folder   9	Labor Agreement, 1960-1962
Box   5 Folder   10	, 1961 Agreement and Supplementary Agreement
Box   5 Folder   11	, 1962 Letter of Agreement and Published Contract , (1962-1963)
	1963
Box   5 Folder   12	Minutes and Published Contract
Box   5 Folder   13	Pension Agreement; Insurance Agreement
	1964
Box   5 Folder   14	Agreement, 1964-1966
Box   5 Folder   17	Agreement, 1966-1967
Box   5 Folder   18	Pension Agreement
	1965
Box   5 Folder   15	Minutes and Wage Provisions
Box   5 Folder   16	Supplemental Agreement
	1966-1967
Box   6 Folder   1	Strike Sanction Request
Box   6 Folder   2	Agreement, 1967-1970
	1970
Box   6 Folder   3-4	Negotiation Minutes with Square D, 1969-1970
Box   6 Folder   5	Report of Negotiating Committee, 1969
Box   6 Folder   6	Pension Agreement, 1969-1970
Box   6 Folder   7	Pension Agreement, 1970-1973
Box   6 Folder   8	Union Proposals, 1970
Box   6 Folder   9	Published Contract, 1970-1973 and Supplemental Materials
	1973
Box   6 Folder   10-11	Negotiation Minutes of Board with Square D, 1972-1973
Box   6 Folder   12	Published Contract, 1973-1975
Tape 1345A No.   1B, 3	Special Meeting, 1973 June 3
No.   4-5	Special Meeting, 1973 July 15
Milwaukee Mss 175	1975
Box   6 Folder   13	Coordinated Bargaining, 1974-1979
Box   6 Folder   14	Local Issues, 1975
Box   6 Folder   15	Negotiation Minutes of Board with Square D, 1975
Box   7 Folder   1	Negotiation Minutes, continued
Box   7 Folder   2	Letters of Agreement, 1975-1977 and Supplemental Materials
	1978
Box   7 Folder   3	Pension Agreement, 1978-1981
Box   7 Folder   4	Bargaining Materials, 1977-1978
Box   7 Folder   5	Negotiation Minutes, 1978
Box   7 Folder   6	Proposals, 1978
Box   7 Folder   7	Agreement, 1978-1981
	1981-1985
Box   7 Folder   8	Proposals, 1981
Box   7 Folder   9	Insurance Provisions, 1982-1983
Box   7 Folder   10	Miscellaneous Agreements, 1984-1985
	Series: Grievances	⇧
Box   7 Folder   11	1960-1961
Box   7 Folder   12	1961, Grievance 87 (Seniority)
Box   7 Folder   13	1961-1964 (112, 222, 250)
Box   7 Folder   14	1964, Grievance No 252 (Production standards)
	1965
Box   7 Folder   15	No grievance number (Job removals)
Box   8 Folder   1	Grievance 293 (Work classification and assignments)
Box   8 Folder   2	Grievance 333 (Work classification and assignment)
Box   8 Folder   3	Grievance 440 (Discharge of Fannie Sims for absenteeism)
Box   8 Folder   4	1966, Grievance 588 (Work classification and assignment)
	1968, Grievance 736 (Seniority)
Box   8 Folder   5	Union brief
Box   8 Folder   6	Transcript
Box   8 Folder   7	Reference material
	1969
	Grievance 747 (work classification and assignment)
Box   8 Folder   8-9	Facts, minutes and notes, and reference material
Box   8 Folder   10	Correspondence
Box   8 Folder   11	Union brief
Box   8 Folder   12	Grievance 774
Box   8 Folder   13	Grievances 775, 884, and 1025
Box   8 Folder   14	Grievance 820
Box   8 Folder   15	Grievance 900
Box   8 Folder   16	1970, Grievance 998
	1971
Box   8 Folder   17	Case 30-CA-1438
Box   8 Folder   18	Grievance 1164
Box   8 Folder   19	Grievance 1196
Box   8 Folder   20	, 1971-1975 (No grievance number)
	1971-1972
Box   8 Folder   21	Grievances 1213, 1255, 1419
Box   8 Folder   22	Case 30-CA 1169
	1973
Box   8 Folder   23	Grievances 1441-1443, 1461
Box   8 Folder   24	Case 30-CC-204
Box   9 Folder   1	1975, Grievance 1506
	1977
Box   9 Folder   2	Grievance 1558 (Classification of work)
Box   9 Folder   3	Arbitration re PROM 1C Chip
Box   9 Folder   4	1978, Grievance 1573
Box   9 Folder   5	1979, Grievance 1584
Box   9 Folder   6	1980, Grievance 1612 (Vacation for voluntary termination)
Box   9 Folder   7	1980-1981, Grievances 1611 and 1633 (Bereavement pay)
Box   9 Folder   8	1981, Grievance 1634
Box   9 Folder   9	Miscellany
	Series: Subject Files	⇧
Box   9 Folder   10	Anniversary with IBEW, 1969
	Building
Box   9 Folder   11	Construction correspondence, 1955-1957
Box   9 Folder   12	Contracts, 1956
Box   9 Folder   13	Maintenance, 1959-1966
Box   9 Folder   14	Community Service actions, 1964-1969
	C.O.P.E.
Box   9 Folder   15	1962 Constitution and early records, , 1956-1960
Box   9 Folder   16	Form letters, 1960-1979
Box   9 Folder   17-22	Christmas parties, 1956-1970
Box   9 Folder   23-24	Dinner dances, 1960-1967, 1976-1979
Box   9 Folder   25	Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service orientation program, 1968
Box   9 Folder   26	Goldberg, Previant, Uelmen, 1976-1978, undated
Box   9 Folder   27	Milwaukee Building and Construction Trade Council negotiation procedures, 1948
Box   9 Folder   28	Miscellany
Box   9 Folder   29	National Council of Square D Unions, 1957-1979
Box   9 Folder   30	Safety issues, 1959, undated
Box   10 Folder   1	Retirement dinner and Old Times Dance, 1961
Box   10 Folder   2	Square D reports and information, 1957-1983
Box   10 Folder   3	Steel strike donation (J.I. Case), 1959-1960
Box   10 Folder   4	Vocational education, 1959, 1969, 1976
Box   10 Folder   5	Work analysis study, 1982
	Series: Financial Records	⇧
Box   10 Folder   6-9	1970-1973, September 25
Box   11	1973, September 25-1983