Summary Information
United Steelworkers of America. Local 1533: Records
1953-1975
- United Steelworkers of America. Local 1533 (Beloit, Wis.)
Whitewater Micro 4; Micro 594
3 reels of microfilm (35mm)
UW-Whitewater Library / Whitewater Area Research Ctr. (Map)Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Records of the steelworkers union serving members at the Fairbanks, Morse Engine Division (Division of Colt Industries) plant in Beloit, Wisconsin, the largest United Steelworkers local in Wisconsin by the 1950s. The records include by-laws of the local union, a constitution of the Beloit Industrial Union Council, minutes (1956-1973), general administrative records, correspondence (1953-1973), contracts, election materials (1961-1970), radio scripts (1959), printed materials, and newspaper clippings (1975). Social and educational activities of the union, as well as collective bargaining with Fairbanks, Morse and other official activities, are reflected in the records. The correspondence, primarily incoming, consists mostly of form letters from national, district, state and local labor organizations, with a small proportion of general correspondence of the local union. Included are some materials about the August 1975 strike against Fairbanks, Morse, and Company.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-micr0594 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Local 1533 of the United Steelworkers of America, was first certified by the National Labor Relations Board in 1937 as an affiliate of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers of North America. Its members work at the Fairbanks, Morse Engine Division (Division of Colt Industries) plant in Beloit. The first contract between the local union and Fairbanks, Morse was signed in 1939, but this was essentially a written record of what was in practice at the time.
By the early 1950s the union had become the largest United Steelworkers local in Wisconsin. In 1950 the union achieved the establishment of the first joint union-company insurance program in Beloit, which was among the first policies of this type written by large insurance companies. In the same year a retirement plan paid for by the company was also established. For twenty-five years after this time the local union continued to work to improve the wages and benefits of its members without strikes. However, on August 16, 1975, the union voted to strike after contract talks stalemated in a dispute over wages and retirement benefits. The strike lasted one week and resulted in a contract, which essentially granted the union's wage demands but compromised on the retirement benefits.
Scope and Content Note
The records of the United Steelworks of America, Local 1533 include by-laws of the local union, a constitution of the Beloit Industrial Union Council, minutes, general administrative records, correspondence (mostly incoming), election materials, radio scripts, printed materials, and newspaper clippings.
Organizational Records of Local 1533 consist of copies of its by-laws including a working copy from 1954, a section on rules and regulations regarding finances from 1959, and an incomplete copy dated 1967; and an incomplete working copy, Article VII to the end, of the constitution of the Beloit Industrial Union Council.
The Administrative Records include the minutes of the local union covering all general and special meetings from August 1956 until December 1973, and the August 1975 general meeting. Monthly summary financial reports are appended to the minutes from August 1956 to May 1958, and some election tallies and results are scattered throughout. This segment of the records also contains guidelines for conducting local meetings; sample agenda; officers' attendance records, originally compiled for recording the minutes; a list of officers in October 1975; resolutions passed by the local union amending the local constitution, endorsing public housing, civil rights, and the Medicare program, and commending local and international officers. Also filed here is a copy of an insurance agreement between the union and Fairbanks, Morse, dated 1969.
The majority of the Correspondence of the local union is composed of incoming letters primarily from three sources: the national office of the United Steelworkers of America, and the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. Almost all of these letters are printed and addressed to all affiliates. The letters from the United Steelworkers national office are concerned with by-laws and their amendment and general union policy. The correspondence from the district office of the Steelworkers and the state AFL-CIO contains many similar types of materials: notices of conventions and conference and related materials, information on educational programs of the unions, requests for support of political candidates endorsed by the unions, pleas for financial assistance to affiliated unions on strike, and notices of sports and recreational activities sponsored by the unions. In addition to the correspondence from these three sources, there are also letters from other local unions and other organizations, most of which are requests or acknowledgments for financial support of striking workers, charities, or political campaigns. There is only a limited amount of general correspondence reflecting the functioning of the local union in relation to its members and its members' employed, including notification of the expiration of contracts, notifications of disputes between local 1533 and Fairbanks, Morse, resignations of officers, the establishment of officers' training sessions, requests for sponsorship of sports events, and other miscellaneous material.
Election Records of the union cover mainly the local elections of international officers in 1961 and 1966, and of local officers in 1967 and 1970. A few materials refer to the election of local officers in 1966 and other years.
Other Records, the final segment of the collection, includes three radio scripts from a series of broadcasts made by the local union about the aims of the Steelworkers over Station WBEL in Beloit in 1959, printed publications, and newspaper clippings from the Beloit Daily News, August 16-26, 1975, covering the progress of this strike. Among the printed materials are a pamphlet about Local 1533, “14 Years of Progress 1939-1953,” contracts between Fairbanks, Morse and Local 1533 (1958, 1959, 1972), Local Union Elections Manuals (1960, 1962), publications of the U.S. department of Labor on union elections (1961, 1962), pamphlets on retirement and insurance plans, the 1974 Constitution of the International Union, United Steelworkers of America, and a summary of economic contract improvements demands by the union in the August 1975 strike.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Most of the records were loaned for microfilming by United Steelworkers of America, Local 1533 through President Walter Knight on October 2, 1975 and February 19, 1976. One folder of materials including three radio scripts, 1958-1959; agreements with Fairbanks, Morse, 1956-1959; international constitutions, 1958 and 1960; and the pamphlet “14 Years of Progress” were presented by Dee W. Gilliam, Beloit, Wisconsin on February 16, 1961. These were returned to Local 1533 with the other records. Accession Number: M61-45, M75-448, M76-62
Processed by Rachel Collins (FGH intern) and Joanne Hohler, July 1976.
Contents List
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Organizational Records
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Reel
1
Original Folder
1
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By-Laws, Local 1533, 1953, 1967
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Reel
1
Original Folder
2
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Constitution of Beloit Industrial Council, undated
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Administrative Records
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Reel
1-2
Original Folder
3-11
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Minutes , (1956-1973)-1975
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Reel
2
Original Folder
12
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Guidelines for local meetings, undated
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Reel
2
Original Folder
13
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Officers' Attendance Records, (1957-1970)-1973
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Reel
2
Original Folder
14
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List of Officers, October 1975
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Reel
2
Original Folder
15
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Resolutions passed, 1958-1968
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Reel
2
Original Folder
16
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Insurance agreement, 1969
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Correspondence
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Incoming Letters
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Reel
2
Original Folder
17
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United Steelworkers of America, 1954-1972
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Reel
2
Original Folder
18
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United Steelworkers of America, District 32, 1966-1973
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Reel
2
Original Folder
19-20
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Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, 1966-1973
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Reel
2
Original Folder
21
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Other local unions, 1956-1970
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Reel
2
Original Folder
22
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Other organizations, (1966-1970)-1973
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Reel
3
Original Folder
23
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General Correspondence, memoranda, and related material, 1953-1970
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Election Records
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Reel
3
Original Folder
24-25
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Election of International Officers, 1961, 1965
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Reel
3
Original Folder
26-28
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Election of Local Officers, 1966-1970
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Reel
3
Original Folder
29
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Miscellaneous Election Materials, 1961-1968
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Other Records
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Reel
3
Original Folder
30
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Radio Scripts, 1959
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Reel
3
Original Folder
31
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Printed Materials, 1953-1975
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Reel
3
Original Folder
32
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Newspaper Clippings, August 1975
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