Title: United Packinghouse Workers of America Oral History Project Interviews
Inclusive Dates: 1985-1986

Creator:

• United Packinghouse Workers of America Oral History Project

Call Number: Mss 698; Tape 1106A

Quantity: 0.2 c.f. (1 archives box) and 300 tape recordings

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

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

Abstract:

Interviews conducted by Rick Halpern and Roger Horowitz with 128 interviewees, primarily members and former members of local unions of the United Packinghouse Workers of America (CIO). The interviews concern the interviewees' personal backgrounds, experiences during the Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee era, the formation of the UPWA and the growth of government regulation in the 1940s, internal dissension, the aggressive national union civil rights policy and its implementation on the local level, the role of women in the UPWA, union organization and operation within the plants, various job actions and strikes, and plant closings and the decline of the union in the 1960s.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00698

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The United Packinghouse Workers of America Oral History Project, funded by an $84,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, supplements the State Historical Society of Wisconsin's holdings on labor organizations in the meat packing industry. Through interviews with former active union members, local officials, and international union staff, the project fills gaps of information in the UPWA records held by the Society. Moreover, because a major concern of the project was the union's involvement in civil rights and other social reform movements, it provides a link between the Society's labor holdings and its Social Action Collection.

The UPWA records, an unusually detailed collection running to over six hundred archive boxes, provide rich information on the institutional activities of the union. However, this archival base, primarily consisting of the files of the UPWA's international office, reveals little about local unions and their activities in various packing communities. The addition of extensive oral histories to this collection will help researchers to evaluate the impact of the UPWA on the lives of packinghouse workers and to assess the actual implementation of union policies and programs on the local level.

In the course of the eighteen-month project, interviewers Rick Halpern and Roger Horowitz conducted interviews with 117 former members of the UPWA and 11 other individuals who had contact with the union. 85 of these interviewees were white, 42 were black, and one was a female Mexican-American. There were 67 men and 18 women among the whites, and 28 men and 14 women among the blacks.

The great majority of interviews are with single individuals, but there are a few multiple subject sessions. Many interviewees were located with the assistance of officials of local packinghouse unions now affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers, the successor union to the UPWA. The project also received essential help from former UPWA members, many still active in retiree organizations, who actively sought to locate their former union associates. In a few cases, project staff located potential interviewees in local telephone directories and contacted them directly.

In most cases, the interviews were conducted jointly by Halpern and Horowitz in a union office, a private home, or a hotel room. The interviewers prepared for the sessions by conducting background research on the individual's career, the activities of his/her union local, and the history of the particular locality. In the course of the project, the interviewers conducted research in the records of the UPWA, local newspapers, and other sources at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. In addition, project staff made research trips to examine the CIO records in Detroit and the NAACP and National Urban League papers in Washington, D.C.

Historical Background and Significance

After several years of restive rank-and-file organizing initiatives, the CIO founded the Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee in 1937, which gained institutional autonomy as the United Packinghouse Workers of America in 1943. It succeeded in organizing the historically anti-union meat packing industry, and in overcoming the ethnic and racial divisions that had plagued the packinghouse workers and frustrated earlier attempts at unionization. The UPWA reached the peak of its strength in the 1950's, before being undermined by plant closings at the end of the decade. In 1968, the union, in decline, merged with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen, which in turn joined the Retail Clerks to form the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in 1979. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin is now the repository for the non-current records of the UFCW and its predecessor unions.

Study of the UPWA is particularly valuable because of the insights it offers into the CIO, the post-War labor movement, and the complex relationship between organized labor and the communities of which it is a part. Research on the CIO has focused largely on the auto and steel workers, and has tended to extend to industrial unionism as a whole conclusions and generalizations based on the experiences of these two unions.^[1]

The UPWA constituted an alternative to the larger CIO unions. The Packinghouse Workers retained their commitment to social equality and industrial democracy, and resisted falling into the more narrow “business unionism” which characterized other unions in the post-World War II period. Most significantly, the union actively advanced the interests of its black members, supporting--and at times playing a direct role in--the movement for black civil rights in the 1950's. It also took an active interest in the problems of women and hispanic workers in the industry.

Moreover, unlike most other unions, the UPWA did not bureaucratize its governing and decision-making procedures. Despite countervailing pressure, the union retained its tradition of democratic unionism, placing a premium on rank-and-file participation. An impressive array of internal institutions sustained the democratic processes within the union: wage and policy conferences discussed and determined union policy in contract negotiations; biennial conventions served as true forums of discussion and exchange around issues confronting the union; district organizations (with subordinate city organizations in major packing centers) provided an apparatus through which the membership could influence union policy; anti-discrimination conferences evaluated and pursued activities against racial prejudice. At a time when other unions developed more formal and rigid lines of authority, the UPWA's internal institutions neither atrophied nor lost their democratic content but actually increased in strength and resilience. Such responsiveness to its membership's concerns solidified the identification of the rank-and-file with the union, preserving its vitality. Although a relatively small union whose membership averaged slightly under 120,000 at its peak, the experience of the Packinghouse Workers stands out because it represents an alternative to the path taken by most of the rest of the American labor movement.

Thematic Objectives

The history of the UPWA may be divided into four sequential periods: the organizing era, 1933-1941; the consolidation of the union, 1941-1948; organizing against discrimination, 1949-1958; and plant closings and decline, 1959-1968. There are several key themes which run through all four periods: active involvement of the rank-and-file in the union, conscious maintenance of internal union diversity in political and trade union matters, and an unwavering commitment to the interests and needs of black, Hispanic, and female workers. There are also significant geographical variations within each temporal period; depending upon locale, different themes and issues come to the fore. Indeed, even within a particular community, different local unions reacted quite differently to the international union leadership and its programs.

a. The Organizing Era, 1933-1941

A vehemently anti-union industry, meat packing firms were open shop citadels in the early years of the twentieth century. Union organizing efforts in 1904, 1907, and 1917-22 were crushed by the determined anti-union efforts of the packing companies and undermined by ethnic and racial divisions in the workforce. The major division was along racial lines, with most black workers remaining aloof from the unions. As a result, unionism made few gains prior to the labor unrest of the 1930's. Beginning in 1933, workers in several midwestern packing centers began to form independent unions. At about the same time, activists from a number of the large Chicago houses came together to launch the Packinghouse Workers Industrial Union. These fledgling groups struggled independently of one another to win limited concessions from the packers. In late 1937, the CIO moved to centralize the fragmented union movement in packing by forming the Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee.

PWOC enjoyed an unprecedented degree of success. Its base in the plants, and subsequent cultivation of ties with institutions in the packing communities, helped the young union gain a foothold within the industry. PWOC's successful forging of an alliance with the black community proved critical in the large urban centers such as Chicago and Kansas City. There, the union's commitment to racial equality and its willingness to involve blacks at all levels of the union apparatus gained the lasting support of the previously ambivalent black workforce.

The written record is quite thin for this crucial period. Only a few boxes in the UPWA records at the State Historical Society cover the PWOC, and the material contained therein is spotty. A lengthy manuscript by Arthur Kampfert, a PWOC organizer, remains the only comprehensive work, but one that is marred by its partisan bias and lack of documentation.

The oral history interviews will help researchers piece together the pattern and spread of the organizing drive in meatpacking, which includes PWOC and its predecessors. The interviewers solicited insights into problems of organizing, PWOC's successes and failures, and how such factors as race, religion, culture, geography, political climate, and personnel influenced organizing efforts. In this manner, the interviews fill substantial gaps in the Historical Society's UPWA archival collection. The interviewers also collected information on the nature of PWOC-community relations, the origins of the Packinghouse Workers' unique brand of union democracy and rank-and-file participation, and the attitudes towards PWOC's aggressive racial stance in predominantly white communities.

b. Union Consolidation and Survival, 1941-1948

The union consolidated its base in the meat packing industry during World War II, signing national agreements with the four major packing companies. This was a difficult process because of the autonomous development of the union in different localities, tensions between local leaders who rose to the top of the union, and the determined opposition of the packers. Factional strife ran rampant between 1940 and 1943, and subsided only after the CIO gave PWOC an international charter and with it the right to elect its own leaders. The union's strength was tested by the wartime labor turnover, by a demographic transformation of the workforce, which included an increase in the number of women both in the plants in general and in previously male job categories, and by the wave of nonsanctioned job actions which swept meat packing and other industries in the last three years of the war. Restrained by the CIO's no-strike pledge and government regulation of labor relations, UPWA leaders struggled to hold the union together.

With the removal of government controls after the war, the UPWA won a major strike in 1946, conducted jointly with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters of the AFL. The election of a new leadership at the 1946 convention, most notably President Ralph Helstein, marked the consolidation of the disparate elements inside the UPWA into a coalition capable of maintaining an international union. The UPWA's new unity, however, was immediately tested by the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 and the restrictions it imposed on union activity. A strike in 1948, this time without the support of the AFL, ended in disastrous defeat and helped precipitate the revival of severe internal factionalism. The UPWA, however, was able to recover much of its strength within one year after the end of the strike. It won two dozen consecutive NLRB representation elections, demonstrating its popularity among packinghouse workers, and was able to contain factional tensions fanned by the defeat without suppressing alternative and opposition viewpoints.

Interviews focusing on this period elicited membership reaction to two major events--the transformation of PWOC into the UPWA and the 1948 strike. They also addressed a common theme running throughout the period--the impact of growing government regulation of industrial relations upon. the UPWA's ability to organize and function. The involvement of the federal government in collective bargaining during the war and. the constraints placed upon union activity by the Taft-Hartley Act fundamentally altered the character of labor relations. The packers signed national agreements with the UPWA only under direct order from the War Labor Board, and federal labor agencies played an instrumental role in the resolution of subsequent contract disputes. By restricting certain forms of union activity such as the secondary boycott, the Taft-Hartley Act permanently extended the scope of government regulation. Indeed, Taft-Hartley played an important role in the collapse of the UPWA's 1948 strike. The interviews will help researchers determine the precise ways in which government regulation shaped union activity at the local level.

The involvement of the federal government also helped to transform relations between the union's leadership and the rank-and-file in this period. Restrictions upon the ability to strike created sharp tensions between the needs of workers to respond to shop floor disputes and the needs of union leaders to maintain a working relationship with government agencies. The interviewers sought to establish the causes and significance of workplace discontent, and to describe the different pressures affecting workers, their elected officials, and appointed union representatives. Of particular concern was the relationship between wartime tensions internal to the union and the ability of the UPWA to retain an active brand of union democracy based upon internal diversity.

The post-war years also brought a socio-cultural transformation marked by a growth in intolerance towards alternative points of view. This was reflected within packing communities and inside the UPWA, adding to the problems of the union. The UPWA responded by taking a unique middle ground within the labor movement, refusing to suppress dissident viewpoints but conforming to the requirements of post-war legislation such as the Taft-Hartley Act. The oral history interviews sought to identify the impact of this post-war atmosphere on relations inside the union.

c. Organizing Against Discrimination, 1949-1958

In the wake of the 1948 strike, the UPWA expanded its civil rights activities. In contrast to the CIO, which limited such activities to support for the initiatives of other organizations, the UPWA launched its own dynamic anti--discrimination program immediately after the strike's collapse. Starting with a national self-survey of racial attitudes and practices which was followed by a series of local self-surveys, the union successfully used renewed civil rights activity to retain the active interest of packinghouse workers.

The union's program consisted of: 1) ending racial barriers within the plants, including desegregation of plant facilities and elimination of all-white departments; 2) elimination of community racial barriers, especially desegregation of public facilities near the packing plants, as well as schools and housing in particular communities; and 3) eliminating de facto racial barriers within the union, with the UPWA mandating integration of all union-sponsored meetings and local union committees. The union met with a moderate degree of success in breaking down in-plant racial barriers; its activities in the communities were noticeably less successful, with the exception of the Chicago area.

At the core of the union's commitment to racial equality lay the organizational need for unity among black and white workers. However, vigorous activity against prejudice conflicted with racist attitudes among many white members. This tension culminated in an open revolt in 1953-1954 which again revived old factional divisions and resulted in the loss of hundreds of members until it was contained by the international. To a large degree, internal resistance subsided after 1954 as some whites were won over and others chose to leave. The oral histories examined white union members' attitudes towards the UPWA's activism in this sphere and sought to uncover the extent to which deeply embedded racist attitudes and practices yielded to the union's efforts.

The interviews also will permit researchers to evaluate the impact of the UPWA's efforts on the lives of black workers. They reveal the degree to which the union successfully functioned as an agent of progressive social change in both the plants and the packing communities. In a number of cities, especially Fort Worth and Kansas City, the UPWA developed strong ties with black civil rights organizations. Particularly striking in this regard is the role that many packinghouse workers went on to play in local civil rights struggles. The existing archival material is almost silent on this important connection. However, the interviews gathered information which closely elucidates the link between the UPWA's anti-discrimination activity and the emerging civil rights movement.

The interviewers also attempted to fill important gaps in the institutional record for this period. These holes include records of international executive board meetings after 1952, the breakdown of merger talks in 1956 with the AMC, and internal factional tensions among the international's leaders.

d. Plant Closings and Decline, 1959-1968

In 1959 the UPWA had two long and bitter, but, in contrast to 1948, ultimately successful strikes against Swift and Wilson. Yet, despite this collective bargaining success, factors over which the union had little control were conspiring to undermine the union's position in the industry and within the American labor movement.

During the 1950's, the structure of the meat packing industry was transformed. Due in large part to the rise of an integrated highway transportation system and the development of the refrigerated truck, slaughtering and packing operations shifted away from the urban rail centers and relocated closer to the point of livestock production. Simultaneously, the industry became more competitive. The growth of independent packers in the Midwest and South undermined the dominant position of the Big Four Packers--Armour, Wilson, Swift, and Cudahy. These giants embarked upon a comprehensive program of modernization and technological improvement, closing down their older, low-profit facilities and replacing them with a decentralized network of new, highly mechanized plants. Obsolete packing houses in Chicago, Omaha, Sioux City, Kansas City, Fort Worth, and Oklahoma City were closed and operations in the East phased out.

The closings decimated the UPWA. Between 1956 and 1964, over 38,000 packinghouse workers lost their jobs as employment in the industry dropped 22.3 percent while productivity skyrocketed. The UPWA was forced to grapple with the problems of deindustrialization twenty years before it became a widespread phenomenon, and it did so in an innovative manner. The archival material in the State Historical Society provides rich documentation of the UPWA's response to the crisis at the leadership level, particularly the activities of the Armour Automation Committee. A tripartite body composed of labor, corporate, and public representatives, the Committee was established in 1959 to provide a forum in which labor and capital could work together to anticipate problems caused by technological innovation and work cooperatively toward solutions.

What the written record does not provide is information on the UPWA's response to closings at the local level, especially the interaction between municipal authorities, the union, and the corporations. The interviews partially fill this gap, as well as illuminate the union's overall relationship with various packing communities, particularly the experience following the closings. Many interviews cover problems of union organizing in the new plants and in non-meat food industries, the ways in which changes in the labor process altered the character of work relations, and the degree to which Automation Committee-sponsored vocational retraining programs succeeded. Key respondents include leaders and members of UPWA locals in the affected communities as well as workers who elected to transfer to other plants as part of a pioneering program worked out by the Automation Committee. Further, the interviews explore the attitudes of UPWA members towards the 1968 merger with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and the continued decline of unionism in the industry since that date.

A clear majority of the interviews were with unionists who spent their working careers inside a packinghouse. While project interviewers did not adhere to a standard set of questions, they did pursue a number of general areas of inquiry in each interview session.

After soliciting some preliminary information, most of the interviews quickly move to a discussion of the subject's work career. Recollections about securing employment in meat packing generally are followed by information about working conditions in the plant before and after the establishment of the union. Most interviewees offered some commentary about company unionism, as almost all of them either had direct contact with such organizations or were influenced by hearsay. and rumor about them. Subjects were queried about their knowledge of unionism prior to employment in packing, and their awareness of the emergence of the CIO in the mid-1930's. Moreover, many of the interviews contain brief but insightful comments about the meaning of the CIO to industrial workers. Interviewers routinely asked about the subject's first contact with the local union, and attempted to coax out as much detail as possible about these initial encounters.

The bulk of each interview centers around the subject's experiences during the UPWA era. Information about the local union's organization inside the plant, especially the structure of the steward system and its functioning on the shop floor, can be found in most interviews. Similarly, recollections about job actions--slowdowns, stoppages, and more informal activities--run through the entire body of interviews. Testimony about contacts with other packinghouse locals, chain meetings and negotiations, and union conferences was solicited from each respondent. Since the UPWA operated in a highly charged political atmosphere, almost all interviews touch upon attitudes about the union's left-wing and about the internal political battles of which rank-and-file members could not help but be aware. The Packinghouse Workers' 1946 and 1948 strikes were national ones, and practically all interviews contain extended discussion about these conflicts, especially the latter one.

Each subject was asked about his or her views concerning the rival Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen. Sometimes, these comments emerged at an early point in the interview, especially when the subject had some kind of contact with the AMC prior to the emergence of the PWOC. In many interviews, questions about the UPWA's 1968 merger with the Amalgamated provided the springboard for a discussion of the Meat Cutters organization and strikingly different style of unionism.

Most of the production workers interviewed (as opposed to union officials) retired involuntarily when their plants closed. This event often was a traumatic one for those involved, as union efforts to ease the burden of job displacement generally were ineffectual. All subjects were asked about plant closings, and many seized this as an opportunity to discuss the limitations and shortcomings of militant industrial unionism. This leads naturally into a standard set of evaluative questions which close each interview. Asked about their contributions and non-material gains realized through union activity, these closing remarks range from rather mundane, matter of fact statements to exceptional flashes of insight and philosophy.

Summary Chart of Interviews and Themes

The chart below comprises a complete list of the interviewees. They are classified by their primary urban area of residence and the packinghouse where they spent most of their working career. A few non-packinghouse workers who were interviewed because of other factors are listed as “other” under their place of residence. Union staff members who were not packinghouse workers are designated “union staff.” A “miscellaneous” category includes five interviewees who did not fit into the chart for various reasons. A list of interviewees in tape number order is at the end of this document.

To aid the researcher, there are several designations on the chart to provide information at a glance on each interviewee. These are:

• * -- union founder
• B -- black
• W -- white
• M -- Mexican
• AD -- anti-discrimination
• WA -- women's activities
• IP -- internal politics
• SF -- shop floor dynamics
• TN -- tape number

The first group of designations appear immediately adjacent to the name of the interviewee. The second group of four are arranged in columns after the names. An “x” in the column indicates that the interview contains worthwhile material on that subject. The last column indicates the tape numbers of the particular interview. At the end of the chart there is a discussion of the information available in each subject category. The sex of each interviewee can be deduced from their first name.

	AD	WA	IP	SF	TN
AUSTIN
Hormel
Winkels, John (W)*			x		36-37
Winkels, Casper (W)*				x	38-39
Halligan, Lyman (W)*	x		x		43-44
Casey, Marie (W)*		x			45-46
MacAnally, James (W)				x	40-41
Sissel, Rollo (W)				x	42
Losey, Paul (W)				x	97-99
Shatek, Richard (W)				x	97-99
Taylor, Dave (W)				x	97-99
Johnson, Bob (W)				x	97-99
Godfredsen, Svend (W)*	x	x	x	x	143-150
Other
Rasmussen, Paul (W)			x		281-283
CEDAR RAPIDS
Wilson
Lange, Ray (W)					104-107
Townsend, Louise (W)					110-112
Hammond, Jeanette (W)					110-112
Fields, Magnolia(B)	x			x	118-119
Zarudsky, Helen (W)					108-109
Carr, Earl (B)	x				113-115
Rowena, Lester (W)					104-107
Hlavacek, Frank (W)				x	104-107
Tickal, Louis (W)*				x	104-107
Blumenshine, Don (W)*				x	102-103
Melsha, Stella (W)*					100-101
Melsha, Jack (W)*					100-101
Fetter, Tony (W)	x	x	x	x	120-122
Achenbach, Lloyd (W)*				x	116-117
Other
Gibson, Viola(B)	x				141-142
CHICAGO
Armour
March, Herbert (W)*	x		x		1-2;293-298
Norman, Milton (B)	x			x	19-22
Samuel, James (B)					19-22
Tate, Todd (B)	x		x	x	11-12;19-22;23-25
Saunders, Richard (B)*	x		x	x	11-12;19-22
Swift
Starr, Vicky (W)*		x	x	x	234-236
Weightman, Philip(B)*	x		x	x	284-292
Wilson
Hayes, Charles (B)	x		x	x	151-153
Collins, Annie J. (B)					11-12
Parks, Sam (B)	x		x	x	30-31
Independent Plants
Wyatt, Addie (B)	x	x	x		54-56
Taylor, Rosalie (B)					15-16
Allen, Ercell (B)					15-16
Vaughn, Jesse (B)*			x	x	32-33;299-300
Pierce, Eunetta (B)	x	x		x	13-14
CUDAHY, WI
Patrick Cudahy
Nielsen, Harold (W)	x		x		3-5
Tarnowski, Leona (W)		x			34
Thoenes, Ervin (W)*	x				6;35
Becker, Joe (W)*	x				6
EAST ST. LOUIS
Armour
Davenroy, William (W)*	x				214-216
Madakitis, John (W)*			x	x	220-223
Condellone, John (W)*			x	x	220-223
Nash, William (B)	x				209-211
Miller, Curtis (B)					219
Peoples, Clyde (B)	x				217-218
Swift
Randall, Blackie (W)					212-213
FORT WORTH
Armour
Wallace, Frank (B)*	x		x	x	75-78
Niedholdt, Kenneth (W)				x	94-96;191
Salinas, Mary (M)	x	x	x	x	85-88
Jones, Hattie (W)					89-90
Williams, L.C. (B)	x				82-84
Humphrey, Eddie(B)	x		x		79-81
Stockyards
McCafferty, Charles B. (W)	x		x		91-93
KANSAS CITY
Armour
Block, Finis (B)*	x			x	247-249
Fischer, Charles R. (W)*	x		x		263-266
Krasick, Thomas (W)*					275-277
Isom, Nevada (B)				x	261-262
Houston, Virginia (B)	x	x			278-280
Wilson
Bailey, Walter (B)*	x				273-274
Raspberry, William (B)	x		x		250-253
Cudahy
Simmons, Marian (B)	x	x	x	x	254-260
Other
Krasick, Ann (W)					275-277
OMAHA
Armour
Romano, Fred (W)*			x		185-186
Peterson, Nels (W)*			x		162-163
Watson, Betty (W)		x			166-168
Dappen, Emerson (W)			x		157-159
Moore, Rowena (B)	x	x	x		175-178
Swift
Myers, Vic (W)	x		x		154-156
Graham, Max (W)	x	x	x	x	182-184
Early, Homer (B)*	x				160-161
Harris, James C. (B)*	x		x	x	172-174
Fletemeyer, George (W)*	x		x	x	187-190
Cassano, Herb (W)*			x		169-171
Cudahy
Salters, Steve (W)					164-165
Poe, Darryl (W)*	x			x	179-181
Mason, Walt (W)*	x			x	179-181
Dappen, Jeannette (W)					157-159
Other
Fletemeyer, Francis (W)					187-190
ST. JOSEPH
Armour
Chambers, Clyde (W)*					239-241
Thompson, Buford (B)	x			x	271-272
Crowley, Eugene (B)	x	x		x	242-244
Carter, Marjorie (B)	x	x		x	242-244
Webster, William (B)				x	245-246
SOUTH ST. PAUL
Cudahy
Giannini, Henry (W)*			x	x	57-59;67-70
Swift
Nolan, William (W)*			x	x	57-59;60-63
Armour
Wicke, Chris (W)*					57-59;71-72
Cooper, Jake (W)					73-74
Winters, Don (W)					57-59
Other
DeBoer, Harry (W)					59
Hall, Douglas (W)			x		64-66
SIOUX CITY
Cudahy
Shuck, Jenny (W)*		x	x		207-208
Nolan, Bruce (W)*			x	x	204-206
Holbrook, Grant (W)*			x	x	204-206
Armour
Wensel, Clyde (W)*			x		194-196
Edwards, Alvin (W)*					199-200
Edwards, Mary (W)*		x			199-200
Davis, Sam (B)	x				201-203
Swift
Hilsinger, James (W)*					192-193
Callender, Loren (W)					197-198
WATERLOO
Rath
Lamb, Goldie (W)					140
Bremmer, Lucille (W)		x	x	x	123-125
Jones, Viola (W)				x	127-128
Porter, James (B)	x				135-136
Pearson, Charles (B)	x		x	x	224-227
Dietz, Everett (W)					126
Dietz, Vernon (W)*					126
Taylor, Lyle (W)	x	x	x		133-134
Mueller, Charles (W)	x	x	x	x	139;232-233
Treadwell, Ada (B)	x	x		x	228-229
Weems, Anna Mae (B)	x	x		x	137-138
Schrader, Velma Otterman (W)*		x		x	131-132
Burt, Robert (B)*	x			x	129-130;230-231
Union Staff
Alston, Harry (B)	x				51-53
Cotton, Eugene (W)					28-29
Dolnick, Norman (W)			x		26-27
Fischer, Charles (W)	x				49-50
Miscellaneous
Hill, Herbert (W)	x		x		8-10
Lefkowitz, Hy (W)				x	237-238
Pittman, A. J. (W)*			x		267-270
Schultz, Robert (W)*					7;17-18
Prosten, Jesse (W)*	x		x		47-48

a. Theme: Anti-discrimination

Among the richest areas explored in the oral history interviews are those pertaining to race relations in the packing industry in general and the civil rights activities of the UPWA in particular. All interviewees, both black and white, were asked about racial discrimination in hiring, job placement, and promotion before and after the establishment of the union. Likewise, segregation inside the plants and in the larger community forms an important concern in the interviews. The building of interracial solidarity during the PWOC era is explored in considerable detail in many of the oral histories, as is the early anti-discrimination efforts of the union. The changing racial composition of the packinghouse workforce during World War II and afterwards is an important topic which receives much attention.

Anti-discrimination activity varied greatly by both geographic locale and by local union. Information about “A-D” activity initiated by local unions in the plant and in the community was solicited wherever possible. Similarly, the implementation of the international union's civil rights program, especially in the period following the 1948 strike, formed a key area of inquiry in interviews with both union officials and local level activists. The UPWA sought to cultivate ties with other civil rights groups throughout its existence. Interviewees often offered valuable recollections about their union's relationship with local NAACP branches and chapters of the Urban League. Since aggressive civil rights activities often clashed with the sensibilities of white unionists, interviewers sought information on the opinion of the union's “A-D” program held by white workers. Especially interesting are the dramatic divergences between black and white views of the same phenomenon.

b. Theme: Women's Issues

The experience of female packinghouse workers differed in many significant ways from that of males. Information about women's issues and concerns was consciously sought at every opportunity. Women tended to be concentrated in certain departments in the plant, and almost all of the interviews with women include descriptions of women's work itself. In general, women played only a minor role in the initial organization of PWOC locals. Often (but not always) traditionally female departments such as sausage and sliced bacon formed major obstacles to organization. However, several of the oral history interviews are with atypical female packinghouse workers who were early supporters of union organizing drives, and who later emerged as leaders of the women in their plant. These interviews in particular explore the dynamics of female participation in the union.

Several interviews contain superb information on the specific problems facing women workers--sexual harassment, wage differentials, inequities involved in piecework, etc. Likewise, several interviews contain accounts about the organization of women's activities committees in the 1950's, as well as testimony about the other ways in which women organized to forward demands inside the union apparatus. The number of women employed in meat packing increased over time, as did the proportionate number of black women in the industry. This trend began with World War II, and many interviewees comment on it. The project interviewed several black women who broke the color line in previously all-white departments. A major topic in almost all of the female interviews and in a good number of those with male stewards and local leaders is the impact of mechanization on women workers in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Women bore the burden of job displacement due to new technology, and in most local unions this led to protracted and bitter conflicts over the seniority system. Several interviews contain detailed accounts about the struggle over plant vs. departmental seniority and over the related conflict which surrounded the merging of male and female seniority lists.

c. Theme: Internal Politics

One of the distinguishing features of the UPWA was its internal political diversity and democracy. The interviewees range widely in political outlook, from Communists on the left to strong conservatives on the right. There is a great deal of information on the role of the leftists in the union, primarily Communists but also Socialists, Trotskyists, and IWW members. The interviews are particularly informative on the contribution of the left to the initial formation of packinghouse local unions. The opinions of conservative interviewees on Communists and other leftists are especially important, as the vast majority of them do not exhibit the kind of anti-Communism which took hold in other CIO unions. A number of key actors on opposite sides of the factional struggles of 1948 and 1954 were interviewed and provided invaluable personal recollections on their motives as well as sober reflections on their strategy and objectives. The interviewees also discuss the particular influence of UPWA president Ralph Helstein on the liberal atmosphere which prevailed inside the union.

d. Theme: Shop Floor Dynamics

Virtually every packinghouse worker interviewee discusses his or her particular job and how it changed over time. The description of the work process ranges from accounts of the transition from pre-union to union conditions in the 1930's and 1940's to the changes caused by new technology in the 1950's and 1960's. In the better descriptions of shop floor dynamics, the interviewees discuss the relationship in their departments between the work gang, the stewards, and the supervisory personnel. Often these include extensive and precise descriptions of job actions, ranging from an informal slowdown to a carefully planned stoppage. A few interviewees also describe the union apparatus inside the plant, its internal lines of communication, relationship between departmental stewards and the local union officers, and plant-wide job actions. The interviewers took care to solicit the opinions of packinghouse workers on the role they saw the union organization playing inside the plant, especially its importance in securing initial support for the union.

HOW TO USE THE TAPE ABSTRACTS

The tapes for these interviews have two tracks: a voice track containing the discussion and a time track containing time announcements at intervals of approximately five seconds. The abstracts list, in order of discussion, the topics covered on each tape, and indicate the time-marking at which point the beginning of the particular discussion appears. For example, the second page of the abstracts lists the topics discussed during the first fourteen minutes or so of tape one, side one (see copy of page two of abstracts). The numbers (time-markings) on the left margin indicate the point on the second track of each tape where discussion of the distinct topic listed in capital letters begins.

Thus, the researcher, by using a tape recorder's fast-forward button, may find expeditiously and listen to discreet segments without listening to all of the taped discussion. For instance, the user who wishes to listen to the discussion on the topic “ORIGINS OF PWIU” should locate the place on the second track of tape one, side one where the voice announces the 08:40 time-marking (the voice says at this point, “eight minutes, forty seconds”), and at this point switch to the first track to hear the discussion. The discussion on “ORIGINS OF PWIU” continues until approximately 12:40 at which point discussion of the next topic (“IMPACT OF NRA ON UNION ORGANIZING”) begins.

Notice that in most cases sentences beneath each headline explain more about the contents of the topic. For example, the sentences underneath “ORIGINS OF PWIU” give further details on what appears on the tape between 08:40 and 12:40.

The abstract is designed to provide only a brief outline of the content of the tapes and cannot serve as a substitute for listening to them. However, the abstract will help the researcher easily locate distinct topics and discussions among the many minutes of commentary.

The researcher should be aware of related collections held by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It is the nature of oral history that facts and assertions based on memory should be verified by reference to more reliable written sources. Relevant archival collections include:

• Records of the United Packinghouse Workers of America
• Records of UPWA Local 1, Ottumwa, Iowa
• Ralph Helstein papers
• Leon Beverly papers
• Svend Godfredsen papers
• Records of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America

The Society's collection also includes several oral histories not related to this project, but which concern packinghouse unionism. They include:

• Interviews with Ralph Helstein by Rick Halpern and Roger Horowitz
• Interview with Ralph Helstein from Roosevelt University
• Interview with Ralph Helstein from the Illinois Labor History Society
• Interview with Herbert March from Roosevelt University
• Interview with Herbert March from the Illinois Labor History Society
• Interview with Frank Ellis, University of Minnesota
• Interview with Joe Zabritsky from the Illinois Labor History Society
• Interview with Les Orear from the Illinois Labor History Society
• [Other ILHS interviews]
• Interview with Steve Mauser from the University of Texas
• Interview with Sam Twedell from the University of Texas

Access Restrictions

Use of portions of several of the interviews is restricted. Restrictions are noted in boldface at the bottom of the first page of the abstract for each affected interview.

Acquisition Information

Accession Number: M85-308, 366, 394, 395, 408, 418-421, 432, 442-447, 480, 481, 546-551; M86-038-040, 052-058, 098-104, 146-154, 196-207, 223, 250-265, 348-354, 380-386, 394-396, 405, 429-442, 447, 507, 508, 529

Mss 698	Abstracts
Tape 1106A	Interviews
No.   1-2	March, Herbert (Chicago: Armour) Note: See also No. 293-298.
No.   3-5	Nielsen, Harold (Cudahy: Patrick Cudahy)
No.   6	Becker, Joe (Cudahy: Patrick Cudahy)
No.   6	Thoenes, Ervin (Cudahy: Patrick Cudahy)
No.   7	Schultz, Robert (Miscellaneous)
No.   8-10	Hill, Herbert (Miscellaneous)
No.   11-12	Tate, T. (Chicago: Armour) Note: See also No. 19-22 and 23-25.
No.   11-12	Saunders, Richard (Chicago: Armour)
No.   11-12	Collins, Annie J. (Chicago: Wilson)
No.   13-14	Pierce, Eunetta (Chicago: Independent)
No.   15-16	Taylor, Rosalie (Chicago: Independent)
No.   15-16	Allen, Ercell (Chicago: Independent)
No.   17-18	Schultz, Robert (Miscellaneous)
No.   19-22	Norman, Milton (Chicago: Armour)
No.   19-22	Samuel, Jes (Chicago: Armour)
No.   19-22	Tate, Todd (Chicago: Armour) Note: See also No. 11-12 and 23-25.
No.   19-22	Saunders, Richard (Chicago: Armour) Note: See also No. 11-12.
No.   23-25	Tate, Todd (Chicago: Armour) Note: See also No. 11-12 and 19-22.
No.   26-27	Dolnick, Norman (Union Staff)
No.   28-29	Cotton, Eugene (Union Staff)
No.   30-31	Parks, Sam (Chicago: Wilson)
No.   32-33	Vaughn, Jesse (Chicago: Independent) Note: See also No. 299-300.
No.   34	Tarnowski, Leona (Cudahy: Patrick Cudahy)
No.   35	Thoenes, Ervin (Cudahy: Patrick Cudahy)
No.   36-37	Winkels, John (Austin: Hormel)
No.   38-39	Winkels, Casper (Austin: Hormel)
No.   40-41	MacAnally, James (Austin: Hormel)
No.   42	Sissel, Rollo (Austin: Hormel)
No.   43-44	Halligan, Lyman (Austin: Hormel)
No.   45-46	Casey, Marie (Austin: Hormel)
No.   47-48	Prosten, Jesse (Miscellaneous)
No.   49-50	Fischer, Charles (Union Staff)
No.   51-53	Alston, Harry (Union Staff)
No.   54-56	Wyatt, Addie (Chicago: Independent)
No.   57-59	Giannini, Henry (South Paul: Cudahy) Note: See also No. 67-70.
No.   57-59	Nolan, William (South St. Paul: Swift) Note: See also No. 60-63.
No.   57-59	Wicke, Chris (South St. Paul: Armour) Note: See also No. 71-72.
No.   57-59	Winters, Don (South St. Paul: Armour)
No.   59	DeBoer, Harry (South St. Paul: Other)
No.   60-63	Nolan, William (South St. Paul: Swift) Note: See also No. 57-59.
No.   64-66	Hall, Douglas (South St. Paul: Other)
No.   67-70	Giannini, Henry (South St. Pal: Cudahy) Note: See also No. 57-59.
No.   71-72	Wicke, Chris (South St. Paul: Armour) Note: See also No. 57-59.
No.   73-74	Cooper, Jake (South Paul: Armour)
No.   75-78	Wallace, Frank (Fort Worth: Armour)
No.   79-81	Humphrey, Eddie (Fort Worth: Armour)
No.   82-84	Williams, L. C. (Fort Worth: Armour)
No.   85-88	Salinas, Mary (Fort Worth: Armour)
No.   89-90	Jones, Hattie (Fort Worth: Armour)
No.   91-93	McCafferty, Charles B. (Fort Worth: Stockyards)
No.   94-96	Niedholdt, Kenneth (Fort Worth: Armour) Note: See also No. 191.
No.   97-99	Losey, Paul (Austin: Hormel)
No.   97-99	Shatek, Richard (Austin: Hormel)
No.   97-99	Taylor, Dave (Austin: Hormel)
No.   97-99	Johnson, Bob (Austin: Hormel)
No.   100-101	Melsha, Stella (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   100-101	Melsha, Jack (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   102-103	Blumenshine, Don (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   104-107	Lange, Ray (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   104-107	Rowena, Lester (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   104-107	Hlavacek, Frank (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   104-107	Tickal, Louis (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   108-109	Zarudsky, Helen (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   110-112	Townsend, Louise (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   110-112	Hammond, Jeanette (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   113-115	Carr, Earl (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   116-117	Achenbach, Lloyd (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   118-119	Fields, Magnolia (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   120-122	Fetter, Tony (Cedar Rapids: Wilson)
No.   123-125	Bremmer, Lucille (Waterloo: Rath)
No.   126	Dietz, Everett (Waterloo: Rath)
No.   126	Dietz, Vernon (Waterloo: Rath)
No.   127-128	Jones, Viola (Waterloo: Rath)
No.   129-130	Burt, Robert (Waterloo: Rath) Note: See also No. 230-231.
No.   131-132	Schrader, Velma Otterman (Waterloo: Rath)
No.   133-134	Taylor, Lyle (Waterloo: Rath)
No.   135-136	Porter, James (Waterloo: Rath)
No.   137-138	Weems, Anna Mae (Waterloo: Rath)
No.   139	Mueller, Charles (Waterloo: Rath) Note: See also No. 232-233.
No.   140	Lamb, Goldie (Waterloo: Rath)
No.   141-142	Gibson, Viola (Cedar Rapids: Other)
No.   143-150	Godfredsen, Svend (Austin: Hormel)
No.   151-153	Hayes, Charles (Chicago: Wilson)
No.   154-156	Myers, Vic (Omaha: Swift)
No.   157-159	Dappen, Emerson (Omaha: Armour)
No.   157-159	Dappen, Jeannette (Omaha: Cudahy)
No.   160-161	Early, Homer (Omaha: Swift)
No.   162-163	Peterson, Nels (Omaha: Armour)
No.   164-165	Balters, Steve (Omaha: Cudahy)
No.   166-168	Watson, Betty (Omaha: Armour)
No.   169-171	Cassano, Herb (Omaha: Swift)
No.   172-174	Harris, James C. (Omaha: Swift)
No.   175-178	Moore, Rowena (Omaha: Armour)
No.   179-181	Poe, Darryl (Omaha: Cudahy)
No.   179-181	Mason, Walt (Omaha: Cudahy)
No.   182-184	Graham, Max (Omaha: Swift)
No.   185-186	Romano, Fred (Omaha: Armour)
No.   187-190	Fletemeyer, George (Omaha: Swift)
No.   187-190	Fletemeyer, Francis (Omaha: Other)
No.   191	Niedholdt, Kenneth (Fort Worth: Armour) Note: See also No. 94-96.
No.   192-193	Hilsinger, James (Sioux City: Swift)
No.   194-196	Wensel, Clyde (Sioux City: Armour)
No.   197-198	Callender, Loren (Sioux City: Swift)
No.   199-200	Edwards, Alvin (Sioux City: Armour)
No.   199-200	Edwards, Mary (Sioux City: Armour)
No.   201-203	Davis, Sam (Sioux City: Armour)
No.   204-206	Nolan, Bruce (Sioux City: Cudahy)
No.   204-206	Holbrook, Grant (Sioux City: Cudahy)
No.   207-208	Shuck, Jenny (Sioux City: Cudahy)
No.   209-211	Nash, William (East St. Louis: Armour)
No.   212-213	Randall, Blackie (East St. Louis: Swift)
No.   214-216	Davenroy, William (East St. Louis: Armour)
No.   217-218	Peoples, Clyde (East St. Louis: Armour)
No.   219	Miller, Curtis (East St. Louis: Armour)
No.   220-223	Madakitis, John (East St. Louis: Armour)
No.   220-223	Condellone, John (East St. Louis: Armour)
No.   224-227	Pearson, Charles (Waterloo: Rath)
No.   228-229	Treadwell, Ada (Waterloo: Rath)
No.   230-231	Burt, Robert (Waterloo: Rath) Note: See also No. 129-130.
No.   232-233	Mueller, Charles (Waterloo: Rath) Note: See also No. 139.
No.   234-236	Starr, Vicky (Chicago: Swift)
No.   237-238	Lefkowitz, Hy (Miscellaneous)
No.   239-241	Chambers, Clyde (St. Joseph: Armour)
No.   242-244	Crowley, Eugene (St. Joseph: Armour)
No.   242-244	Carter, Marjorie (St. Joseph: Armour)
No.   245-246	Webster, William (St. Joseph: Armour)
No.   247-249	Block, Finis (Kansas City: Armour)
No.   250-253	Raspberry, William (Kansas City: Wilson)
No.   254-260	Simmons, Marian (Kansas City: Cudahy)
No.   261-262	Isom, Nevada (Kansas City: Armour)
No.   263-266	Fischer, Charles R. (Kansas City: Armour)
No.   267-270	Pittman, A. J. (Miscellaneous)
No.   271-272	Thompson, Buford (St. Joseph: Armour)
No.   273-274	Bailey, Walter (Kansas City: Wilson)
No.   275-277	Krasick, Thomas (Kansas City: Armour)
No.   275-277	Krasick, Ann (Kansas City: Other)
No.   278-280	Houston, Virginia (Kansas City: Armour)
No.   281-283	Rasmussen, Paul (Austin: Other)
No.   284-292	Weightman, Philip (Chicago: Swift)
No.   293-298	March, Herbert (Chicago: Armour) Note: See also No. 1-2.
No.   299-300	Vaughn, Jesse (Chicago: Independent) Note: See also No. 32-33.

A recent example is the otherwise excellent book by Nelson Lichtenstein, Labor's War at Home: The CIO in World War II (Cambridge University Press, 1982).