Title: American Federation of Teachers. Local 557: Records
Inclusive Dates: 1938-1989

Creator:

• American Federation of Teachers. Local 557 (Kenosha, Wis.)

Call Number: Parkside Mss 85

Quantity: 4.0 c.f. (10 archives boxes), 1 reel of microfilm (35mm), and 3 photographs

Repository:

Housed at the Archives & Area Research Center, Library/Learning Center, University of Wisconsin-Parkside; 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-Parkside Library / Parkside Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Records of the Kenosha Teachers Union, a local founded in 1938 to represent public school teachers in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Included are constitutions and bylaws, minutes, correspondence, membership records, financial miscellany, publicity materials including microfilmed clippings and runs of The Kenosha Teacher and The Rambler, and files on legal actions brought before the Wisconsin Employment Relations Board primarily deriving from the local's loss in a special 1965 election of a bargaining representative. In addition, there are incomplete meeting minutes of the Kenosha AFL-CIO Council and its predecessor, the Kenosha Trades and Labor Council, and copies of the Kenosha Educational Association Bulletin. Photographs include images of union members.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-pks0085

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

The Kenosha Teachers Union was organized and chartered by the American Federation of Teachers at a meeting on March 17, 1938. The organization grew out of a longstanding local salary freeze and conditions within the Kenosha Educational Association, the professional organization for Kenosha teachers affiliated with the National Education Association. Because the KEA was dominated by principals and the Superintendent of Schools, it was thought by some to be ineffective in representing the interests of classroom teachers. At the same time the local situation was such that the Board of Education only met behind closed doors.

Among the first achievements of the new local were open school board meetings held in the evenings and free textbooks for all children. The KTU also initiated bargaining talks with the school board before the law provided this right, winning such benefits as teacher tenure and a single salary schedule. The KTU also took an active part in the labor movement in Kenosha, and W.W. Martelle, an officer of the KTU, served as a leader of the Kenosha Trades and Labor Council for many years.

Although KTU and KEA had bargained jointly with the school board for many years, in 1963 the Wisconsin Employment Relations Board ruled that the KEA was a labor union and subject to the election rules that governed unions. In the 1965 election held because of the labor rules KTU was defeated in a contest to become the sole bargaining agent for Kenosha teachers. KTU was also unsuccessful in subsequent recertification elections and in legal cases arising from the first certification vote.

Although never selected as the recognized bargaining agent for Kenosha teachers, after 1965 KTU became a responsible minority party in contract negotiations, and it continued to work to influence the outcome of educational problems in Kenosha. During these years KEA gradually became more like a union, and in 1972 it authorized a strike, the first in Kenosha, in which all teachers were allowed to vote regardless of their affiliation. The KTU supported this action, and in the following months relations between the two organizations improved. However, merger talks repeatedly collapsed during the 1970s over the issue of KEA affiliation with the AFL-CIO. In 1976 KTU membership declined further when it lost in a fair share election that required that all teachers pay dues to the KEA regardless of their membership.

The records are organized as CONSTITUTIONS AND BY-LAWS, MINUTES, CORRESPONDENCE, PUBLICITY, and MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS.

The CORRESPONDENCE is divided into incoming and outgoing correspondence. The early incoming correspondence is incomplete, although it includes some important material such as a long letter from attorney Joseph A. Padway commenting on the 1938 contract offer of the Kenosha School Board. The later material consists of routine business from the American Federation of Teachers and the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers, the Superintendent of the Kenosha Schools, the Kenosha Education Association, and from other Kenosha union organizations. The correspondence of the 1980s consists primarily of letters from elected officials. Scattered information concerning contract negotiations and the legal cases that arose from the 1965 certification election are included in the incoming correspondence.

The outgoing correspondence, which was written by the corresponding secretaries, is more complete for the early years of the organization, providing useful insights into the local's advancement of its members' interests and its involvement in the political situation in Kenosha during the early 1940s.

PUBLICITY is a special strength of the records. Included are runs of two newsletters and an extensive file of press releases and clippings. (The clippings are available only on microfilm.) Also included are drafts and notes for speeches delivered by Virginia Tenuta, a long-time officer of the local; printed radio editorials; a few photographs; and miscellaneous mailings.

The MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS include financial records, and minutes of the Kenosha AFL-CIO. There are no treasurer's reports in the KTU collection; the monthly receipt and expenditure ledgers are the only documentation of this aspect of the local's history. The ledgers exist only for the period 1938-1957. There are also no true membership records in the collection, although there is a dues register in this section that covers the years 1966-1980, a list of members in the minutes volumes covering the years 1938-1950, and scattered membership lists in the post-World War II outgoing correspondence. Although not complete, these lists adequately identify the individuals who chose affiliation with a labor union rather than a professional organization. The dues register also allows for an examination of changes that took place as a result of KTU's minority bargaining status. This section also includes an incomplete run of the KEA newsletter and minutes of the Kenosha AFL-CIO and its predecessor, the Kenosha Trades and Labor Council.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Catherine and Virginia Tenuta, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1989-1990. Accession Number: M89-250, M90-120

Processing Information

Processed by Joe Abel (1996 intern) and Carolyn J. Mattern, 1998.

Parkside Mss 85 Box   1 Folder   1	Constitutions and by-laws, 1938-1978
	Minutes
Box   1 Folder   2	1938-1939, June
Box   2 Folder   1-6	1939, September-1965, July
Box   3 Folder   1-5	1965, September-1989, March
	Correspondence
	Incoming
Box   3 Folder   6-8	1938-1950
Box   4 Folder   1-9	1951-1964
Box   5 Folder   1-10	1965-1988
	Outgoing
Box   6 Folder   1-7	1938-1964
Box   7 Folder   1-9	1965-1988
	Publicity
Parkside Micro 24/Micro 2061	Clippings, 1941-1976
Parkside Mss 85 Box   8 Folder   1	Miscellaneous mailings
	Newsletters
Box   8 Folder   2	Kenosha Teacher, 1938-1947
Box   8 Folder   3	Rambler, 1959-1967
	Photographs
PH Parkside Mss 85	Originals (in Visual Materials Archive)
Parkside Mss 85 Box   8 Folder   3A	Xerox copies of photographs
Box   8 Folder   4-7	Press releases
Box   8 Folder   8	Radio editorials, 1964-1968
Box   9 Folder   1	Programs for banquets
Box   9 Folder   2-3	Speeches by Virginia Tenuta, 1960-1981
	Miscellaneous files
	Financial records
Box   9 Folder   4-6	Receipts and expenditures, 1938-1957
Box   9 Folder   7	Miscellaneous accounts and membership list, 1942-1946
Box   9 Folder   8	Membership dues, 1966-1980
Box   10 Folder   1-2	Kenosha AFL-CIO Council minutes, 1952-1967
	Kenosha Education Association
Box   10 Folder   3	Bulletin
Box   10 Folder   4	Miscellany
	Legal material
Box   10 Folder   5	General correspondence
Box   10 Folder   6-15	Case files, 1942, 1964-1976