Title: Textile Workers of America Oral Histroy Project: Edward Todd Interview
Inclusive Dates: 1978

Creator:

• Todd, Edward, 1911-

Call Number: Tape 711A

Quantity: 4 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:

One of a series of tape-recorded oral interviews conducted with union leaders by James A. Cavanaugh of the Historical Society staff, documenting the origins, growth, and decline of the TWUA, internal disputes, relations with other unions, and organizing drives. The interviews document textile unionism prior to the formation of the TWUA, as well as discussing major strikes and gains made through collective bargaining. Specific references are made to organizing activities in Illinois, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The Edward Todd interview is part of the Textile Workers Union of America Oral History Project.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-tape00711a

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Edward Todd, the first Afro-American to be elected to the TWUA Executive Council, was born in rural Mississippi in 1909. His family moved to Chicago in 1920; and, because of the death of his father two years later, Todd went to work after finishing grammar school. Todd had no union background and did not become involved in unionism until 1939 when a co-worker asked him to help get signatures on TWOC cards at the United Felt shop in Chicago. When Local 335 was formed at United Felt, Todd was elected president and spent the rest of his career organizing workers into TWUA. For many years his organizing was done on his own time. Eventually he was hired as a business agent for the Chicago Joint Board and later became manager of this predominantly white joint board. In 1964 he was elected to the TWUA Executive Council and was named Midwest Regional Director the following year. Throughout his career with TWUA, Todd maintained active membership in several civil rights organizations and, after his retirement from TWUA in 1965, continued this civil rights activity.

Interview

I [interviewer James Cavanaugh] interviewed Todd for three-and-a-half hours on September 28, 1978, in his room at the Los Angeles Hilton where he was attending the ACTWU convention as an honored guest. Todd was selected as an interviewee for several reasons - his ten years on the Executive Council, his Midwest perspective, his black perspective, and his organizer/local-level-leader perspective. Todd, in the interview, spoke from each of these perspectives and provided an additional dimension as a leader of many non-textile workers in a textile union.

The Todd interview is most useful for his description of the textile industry in Chicago and how it and some non-textile Chicago industries were organized into TWUA. Todd is also very good on race relations in TWUA and the labor movement in general. An enthusiastic interviewee, Todd was rather weak on dates and facts, but he was highly opinionated and fairly strong on concepts.

Abstract

The tapes for this interview have two tracks: a voice track containing the discussion and a time track containing time announcements at intervals of approximately five seconds. The abstract lists, in order of discussion, the topics covered on each tape, and indicates the time-marking at which point the beginning of the particular discussion appears.

Thus, the researcher by using a tape recorder's fact-forward button may find expeditiously and listen to discrete segments without listening to all of the taped discussion. For instance, the user who wishes to listen to the topic on “Establishment of the Chicago Joint Board” should locate the place on the second track of side one, tape one, where the voice announces the 04:20 time-marking (the voice says at this point, “Four minutes, twenty seconds”), and at this point switch to the first track to hear the discussion. The discussion on “Establishment of the Chicago Joint Board” continues until approximately 05:05 at which point discussion of the next topic (“Biographical Information”) begins.

Notice that in most cases sentences beneath each headline explain more about the contents of the topic. For example, the sentences underneath “Establishment of the Chicago Joint Board” give further details on what appears on the tape between 04:20 and 05:05.

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 when used with the index will help the researcher easily locate distinct topics and discussions among the many minutes of commentary.

Index

There is a master index for most of the TWUA Oral History Project interviews in the collection-level finding aid.

The TWUA collection contains joint board and regional files: for 1946-1960, including materials from the Chicago Joint Board and the Midwest Region. These materials, however, are largely routine reports. The Chicago Joint Board has agreed to deposit its records with the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, but final arrangements have not yet been made and the quantity and quality of these records is unknown at this time. The TWUA collection for Todd's years on the Executive Council is quite complete.

Processing Information

Finding aid prepared by James A. Cavanaugh, Madison, Wisconsin, November 24, 1978.

Tape/Side   1/1 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   00:30	Todd Organized Local 335 for TWUA and Was Elected Its President Scope and Content Note: His shop made cotton felt for mattress and cushion filling and also made rug pads. He organized the shop in 1939. From there he went out into the rest of Chicago to organize the other cotton felt shops, and then the bag plants, and then other industries. All these shops came into his local; the local grew from his one shop with 50 members to fifteen shops with about 2,000 members. For several years this organizing was done on his own time without pay.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   04:20	Establishment of the Chicago Joint Board Scope and Content Note: The Joint Board was established in 1940 with four locals. As president of one of the locals, Todd became a member of the Joint Board's Executive Council.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   05:05	Biographical Information Scope and Content Note: Born March 2, 1909, in Mississippi, the youngest of four boys. Moved to Chicago in 1920 where he finished his grammar school education. In Mississippi his father owned a virtually self-sufficient cotton and corn farm which employed two other men. His father worked on the bridge gang of a railroad because more money could be made from that than from working the farm. His father moved to Chicago so his children would not have to be “raised under the political atmosphere of segregation, etc. in Mississippi.” His father worked in cold storage at the stockyards, caught pneumonia and died two years after moving to Chicago. All of the family's assets, including the farm, were dissipated by the father's illness. Todd's mother had to go to work as a domestic; Todd did not like this, so he quit school and got work in a pool room, passing for the legal age of 18 even though he was only 13. His mother did not have to work again for the rest of her life. His oldest brother died two years after his father's death.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   11:55	Employment Scope and Content Note: Todd had no union background. After his job in the pool room he got work in a small (15-employee) felt shop, working for 37½ cents per hour as a mechanic, from 1926-1936. United Felt advertised for mechanics at 52½ cents per hour. Todd applied, was hired, and offered his old boss a chance to match the pay, which he did not. Todd then went to work for United Felt, the company he organized in 1939. Married in 1937.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   14:40	Organizing United Felt Scope and Content Note: There was no union in any Chicago cotton felt shops. Employees at United Felt were the highest paid in the industry in Chicago, but they worked twelve hours a day, six days a week, and eight hours on Sunday. Todd, as a mechanic, was in charge of one to four machines and about five or six workers. A good friend of his, a baler who was working for 32½ cents per hour, signed a TWOC card and asked Todd if he, as a leader in the shop and a person who was well liked, would help get signatures. Todd agreed and they signed up forty-five of the fifty workers within three weeks. The employer knew nothing about this because they avoided asking for signatures from the five employees who were not trusted. When the employer was informed by means of a telegram from the Union representative, he called the workers together and asked them individually if they had signed. The employer was Jewish and when he found out that the one Jewish employee had signed, he sent everyone back to work and agreed to sign a recognition agreement.
Tape/Side   1/1 Time   20:00	Organizing the Rest of the Chicago Cotton Felt Industry Scope and Content Note: The first contract with United Felt was for one year. The workers got increased wages, vacation, holidays, and the union shop. Todd's hours were cut back so that he was not working any overtime, but he did not object since that gave him more time for union work. The employer said he would give another increase in wages in the second contract if the union would agree to organize a majority of the other Chicago cotton felt shops. Since United Felt had been paying the highest wages and was paying even higher wages under the first contract, Todd agreed to this. Since he was no longer working such long hours, he had more time to organize and was able to organize nine of the ten other cotton felt shops in Chicago within a week. Contracts with these included the same fringe benefits as the United Felt contract. One argument Todd used when organizing the other shops was that he had approached the Wage and Hour Bureau, before organizing United Felt, in an effort to force the employer to pay time-and-a-half for overtime; he could get no action. After organizing the local and becoming its president, he again went to the Bureau, this time as the representative of a union, and got immediate action.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   00:30	More on the Formation of the Chicago Joint Board Scope and Content Note: Sidney Devin was the TWUA staff person assigned to the Chicago area. When he went into the Army, William Tullar assumed his responsibilities and guided the Chicago locals into a joint board setup. At the time of the establishment of the Joint Board in 1940, Local 335 was the only multi-shop local in the Joint Board. The other locals were a bag shop with about 50 employees, the Western Felt local with about 700, and the Union Asbestos local with about 150. A total of 800-900 members made up the Joint Board at first. There was no manager or president at first; the presidents of the four locals formed the governing body and the Western Felt local, because of its size, more or less assumed leadership.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   03:30	Racial Makeup of the Chicago Joint Board Scope and Content Note: Other than Local 335, the locals were virtually all white. Local 335 was about ninety percent black, but the ten percent white held the higher-skilled jobs.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   05:30	Organizing the Tenth Cotton Felt Shop In Chicago Scope and Content Note: It was about three years before the tenth, and last, cotton felt shop was organized by Todd because the employer always implemented immediately all the gains won by the organized shops. Finally, Local 335 negotiated a seven-cent-an-hour night differential which the employer in this tenth shop did not find out about. Todd used this to sign up the shop during the lunch hour and went to the employer and asked for recognition. It took a day-and-a-half strike, but recognition was won.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   07:35	Blacks Were Employed in the Cotton Felt Industry Because It Was So Dirty Scope and Content Note: Description of the dusty, linty conditions. Exhaust fans did not help much. Finally oil spray was introduced to cut down on the dust. Cotton felt was made out of used burlap bags and the lowest grade of new cotton. Woolen felt, made at Western Felt, was a much higher-grade product and provided a cleaner work environment; that was why Western Felt had mainly white employees.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   10:15	Why United Felt Was Able to Pay Higher Wages Scope and Content Note: The owner had a secret formula which permitted him to take the cheapest cotton and produce a higher-grade felt than his competitors. United Felt also made some woolen felt.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   11:35	Organizing the Chicago Bag Industry Scope and Content Note: After organizing all the cotton felt shops, Todd began organizing the new and used bag industry. The agreement was that any shop he organized would go into his local; he was still not paid for his organizing work. New bags were used, sent to a used bag shop, cleaned and repaired, and sent out for more use as a bag. Once these bags were no longer repairable, they would be purchased by a cotton felt manufacturer and used as part of the raw product going into cotton felt. Although the used bag industry was cleaner than the cotton felt industry, it was still largely made up of black employees. Workers in the used bag industry were 80-90 percent female and about 99 percent black. These shops usually employed 100-200 workers. Often a new bag department would be included in a used bag factory, but it would usually amount to only about ten percent of the work force; and this ten percent would be mostly white. There were a total of about ten bag shops. When Todd went into organizing a new industry, like bag factories, he and others would set themselves up as a council for that industry, and any shops organized would come into his Local 335.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   16:50	Todd Then Moved on to Organizing the Mattress Industry and Then the Box Springs Industry Scope and Content Note: For the first time there were other unions interested in organizing what Todd was trying to organize - the Upholsterers and the Furniture Workers. These two claimed that TWUA had no jurisdiction, but “in Chicago” there was no such thing “as a jurisdiction.” Also, if TWUA had stuck to its dyeing and weaving jurisdiction in Chicago, it would not have grown. By the time Todd began organizing box springs, he was a business agent, and he had hired another business agent. Hence, to accommodate the other business agent, the box springs shops were set up as a separate local.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   19:50	How Earl McGrew Became Joint Board Manager and Todd Became a Business Agent Scope and Content Note: Because McGrew was an anti-communist, he was purged from the Executive Board of the United Electrical Workers (UE) and lost all his representative duties except for two locals. TWUA Midwest staff representative William Tullar hired McGrew part time as Chicago Joint Board manager. Meanwhile, Todd, while involved in the bag shop campaigns, suffered a work injury which resulted in lockjaw. While recovering, he did more and more organizing. When he went back to work, he worked only half time in the shop, and the Joint Board picked up the other half of his salary in exchange for his organizing and servicing of Local 335. Meanwhile, Harry Kurshenbaum, a member of one of McGrew's UE locals, was fired from his job, and reinstated. After reinstatement, however, he was given only menial jobs, and he could not take that. So McGrew hired him as a business agent for the TWUA Chicago Joint Board. When Kurshenbaum was inducted into the Army, McGrew asked Todd to serve as full-time business agent until Kurshenbaum's return. Kurshenbaum returned after about a year, but Todd stayed on as business agent.
Tape/Side   1/2 Time   25:35	Earl McGrew Became Full-Time Manager of the Chicago Joint Board Scope and Content Note: McGrew was a good organizer. He handled the large shops, while Todd and Kurshenbaum handled shops of about 300 employees or less. McGrew was servicing two UE locals part time and the Chicago Joint Board part time. Finally, the president of the United Electrical Workers complained to TWUA President Emil Rieve about McGrew's dual status, and Rieve told him to choose one or the other. He chose TWUA and became full-time manager of the Chicago Joint Board.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   00:30	The Inclusion of Mattress Shops in Local 335 Increased the Percentage of Whites in the Local Scope and Content Note: Mattress shops did not necessarily have a majority of white employees, but they had a higher percentage than cotton felt or used bag shops.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   01:10	Source of Todd's Paycheck after World War II Scope and Content Note: When Kurshenbaum returned from the Army, Todd stayed on with his salary paid in part by Local 335 and in part by the International. As the Joint Board membership increased, the Joint Board first picked up the local's share of the salary and then, by the late 1940s or early 1950s, the entire salary.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   02:50	Other Industries Organized into Local 335 Scope and Content Note: Draperies, which did not amount to too many members. Rag shops, where disposed cloth items were cleaned and repaired and sold as industrial rags. In general, the types of industries organized into Local 335 were low wage and dirty, and thus not of much interest to other unions. However, the Teamsters and another union did have an interest in rag shops, so Todd was not able to organize that entire industry into Local 335.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   04:40	Chicago Joint Board Peak Scope and Content Note: The Joint Board reached its membership peak sometime between 1955 and 1960 when a Johnson & Johnson plant with about 800 employees was organized. Peak membership was about 4,800.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   05:45	United Textile Workers (UTW) Scabbed on TWUA Strike at Johnson & Johnson Personal Products Plant Scope and Content Note: It was a thirteen-week strike. A UTW local got its business agents hired into the plant with other scabs and then organized the scabs. The company then called for an election, and TWUA was decertified.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   06:50	Use of the Race Issue by Chicago Companies to Thwart TWUA Organizing Scope and Content Note: Johnson & Johnson, Western Felt, and Union Asbestos avoided hiring blacks, and they told their employees that, if they were organized by the CIO (TWUA), the Union would bring blacks into the plant. Hence, in order for TWUA to organize those plants, Todd could not get directly involved in the campaign.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   08:15	More on UTW Scabbing in Johnson & Johnson Personal Products Plant Scope and Content Note: TWUA was conducting a contract-renewal strike. [Later on in this tape (see 24:40), Todd says that this may have been a strike for a first contract, not a renewal.] UTW came in the back door and still has that plant today. [Todd's description of this episode is the over-simplified TWUA version. There is some question as to which union was the raiding party. The AFL-CIO awarded the plant to the UTW after the TWUA had protested the situation.]
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   09:10	Race and the TWUA in Chicago Scope and Content Note: TWUA did not pioneer integration in its plants. It was felt, and Todd agreed, that the white workers did not want integrated shops, so the Union did not force the issue. Joint Board meetings, however, were always integrated, and Todd was always a Joint Board vice president. During World War II, some lily-white plants, like Johnson & Johnson, were forced to hire some blacks. Although they remained integrated, the blacks were never accepted, and they never became a majority. Hence, the fear played upon by management in these “white” plants was not that TWUA would bring blacks into the plants, but that it would bring in more blacks and give them better jobs.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   14:40	Todd as Business Agent under McGrew's Tutelage Scope and Content Note: One of the first assignments McGrew gave Todd was to appear before the War Labor Board (WLB) opposite a vicious anti-union, anti-black attorney. Todd did not like having this difficult assignment so early in his career as a business agent, but looks back on it as a great learning experience. Todd serviced all the shops he organized, and McGrew assigned Todd to all the small shops and to any shops with Jewish employers. When McGrew was gone from the office, he put Todd in charge of financial matters. Because Todd was black, there were certain places he could not go - for instance, the Kenosha local's Christmas party. Yet, McGrew thought Todd should succeed him as Joint Board manager; Kurshenbaum had more seniority, but Todd was more competent. McGrew knew it would be difficult for Todd to succeed him, so he suggested several times that, if he should die, Todd and Kurshenbaum should act as co-managers for six months and then hire someone as manager. McGrew perpetually talked up Todd amongst the employers and the members.
Tape/Side   2/1 Time   20:35	The Battle Over the Joint Board Managership after McGrew's Death Scope and Content Note: McGrew died in 1962. The Joint Board constitution specified that, in the event of the manager's death, the International President would appoint an interim manager. After McGrew's funeral, President William Pollock held a meeting and announced that William Tullar, Midwest Director, was being named acting Joint Board Manager. Todd, while claiming no ambitions for himself, announced immediately that he would oppose the appointment of Tullar as permanent manager and would have a say-so in who did become manager. Todd at this time, with Local 335 and two other locals he serviced, controlled over one-third of the Joint Board membership. A political fight ensued, with Todd, Kurshenbaum, and another business agent, Joe Mansfield, lined up on one side, and Tullar and an International representative, Frank Metzger, on the other side. The Todd side was pushing for a Todd-Kurshenbaum co-managership, and the other side was pushing for Metzger becoming manager, since the International had given Tullar a choice between the regional directorship and the Joint Board managership, and he had opted for the former. Metzger had been the president of the Johnson & Johnson Personal Products local (the local lost to UTW) and had been put on the staff as a reward for organizing Personal Products. The political jockeying went on for four or five months. During this time, Tullar was acting manager; but Todd, because of the previous arrangement with McGrew, maintained control of the Joint Board treasury. Tullar could spend no money without Todd's approval.
Tape/Side   2/2 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   2/2 Time   00:30	Continuation of the Story on the Battle Over the Chicago Joint Board Managership and How Todd Became Joint Board Manager Scope and Content Note: Kurshenbaum's supporters finally came to Todd and told him they would support him for manager if he would drop the co-manager idea. Todd said he could not do this, as he and Kurshenbaum had been friends for many years. Todd went to Kurshenbaum and suggested that one or the other of them drop out and permit the other to run for the managership. Kurshenbaum refused and Todd went along with him. Tullar then came to Todd and asked him to dump Kurshenbaum in exchange for Tullar's support. Todd refused. Eventually the situation must have dawned on Kurshenbaum for he finally came to Todd and told him that he had another job offer and would take the job, leaving the managership to Todd, in return for some minor concessions - vacation, car allowance, etc. - to tide him over for two or three weeks between jobs. Todd agreed and ran unopposed for Joint Board manager. Kurshenbaum went to work for Local 73 of the Service Employees Union.
Tape/Side   2/2 Time   04:00	Neglect of Midwest by TWUA Because of the Non-Textile Membership There Scope and Content Note: In large part the Midwest was left to take care of itself. This could have been because the Midwest took in a wide variety of non-textile plants, as far afield as a cement plant and a cookie factory. TWUA in the Midwest was like District 50 of the United Mine Workers. This liberal jurisdiction has allowed the Chicago Joint Board to maintain its membership while the rest of TWUA has lost membership. The Chicago Joint Board still has nearly 5,000 members.
Tape/Side   2/2 Time   06:50	The International Called Upon Chicago Expertise During Its Small-Shop Campaign
Tape/Side   2/2 Time   08:45	McGrew's Refusal to Run for TWUA Executive Council Scope and Content Note: Because of his experience in the United Electrical Workers, McGrew refused to run for the TWUA Executive Council, despite Todd's urging, unless he was put on the approved slate. Despite his entrenched and secure position in Chicago, McGrew feared the power of the International. McGrew was finally put on the slate in 1962, but he was hospitalized with emphysema a few months before the convention. The Joint Board planned to fly him to the convention to accept the nomination and then fly him back to the hospital. He died, however, before the convention. He was replaced on the slate by Kenneth DeLong, manager of the Toledo Joint Board, which was not considered by Todd to be Midwestern.
Tape/Side   2/2 Time   13:25	Todd's Role During the Internal Fight of 1964 Scope and Content Note: The Chicago Joint Board supported the Administration side by making financial contributions. Todd, however, maintained a surface neutrality and claims that he was not in fact fully committed to the Administration side. He permitted the Majority to present their side to the Joint Board. He, in turn, was then invited to attend the caucuses of the Majority. He would report back to the Administration what went on at these meetings. Meanwhile, Todd continued his role as troubleshooter for the International, particularly in the Midwest, but also in the South; he had done troubleshooting for the International long before he became Joint Board manager. Everywhere he went in his troubleshooting activities, he announced that he was a candidate for the Executive Council.
Tape/Side   3/1 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   3/1 Time   00:30	How Todd Was Elected to the Executive Council Scope and Content Note: Administration supporters told Todd he should stop announcing his candidacy and go ask President Pollock for permission to run, to be put on the slate. Todd answered that Pollock needed him and his Midwest votes more than he needed Pollock. Midwest Director Bill Tullar told Todd that Frank Nicholas, Los Angeles Joint Board manager, had more seniority; that Nicholas was considered a minority; and that two minorities could not be elected at the same time. Todd told him to explain it to Nicholas. Todd also suggested to Nicholas that they run as a team, but Nicholas would not run without being slated. Todd suggested the same thing to St. Louis Joint Board manager Bert Miller. Todd campaigned as a peace candidate, calling for an end to the split in the Union and a return to the business of organizing the unorganized and servicing the organized. He felt that, with the split in the Union, he could get elected without appearing on either slate.
Tape/Side   3/1 Time   05:00	Todd Elected at the 1964 Convention Scope and Content Note: The Chicago delegation, with liquor, literature, and bright orange vests (from Western Felt) was out in force for Todd. At the convention Joe Hueter, and then another person from the Administration side, told Todd not to make any waves because the Administration was going to put him on its slate, though they could not announce it at that point. Todd and his delegation agreed to lay low. Early in the convention there was a test vote, and Todd led his delegation in voting unanimously for the Administration's side of the issue. Throughout the convention, on all rising votes, Todd would stand up and then the other one hundred plus bright orange vests would stand up; it got to the point where the Majority faction commented that he was running the delegation like Hitler. The Majority side, because they did not have a full slate of their own, had to select a few from the Administration slate who they would support. The Majority said they would support Todd no matter what but also asked if he would swing his delegation for three people on their slate. Todd said he could not promise that; he felt he had to choose one side or the other. The Majority did nevertheless support him, and he came in third in the balloting.
Tape/Side   3/1 Time   11:35	Todd's Decision to Support the Administration in 1964 Scope and Content Note: His orientation, under McGrew's tutelage, was toward the Administration; but what really convinced him was when the Majority went to court against the Administration.
Tape/Side   3/1 Time   12:20	The Chicago Joint Board in the 1950-1952 Internal Fight Scope and Content Note: McGrew was invited to the Executive Council meeting the week before the 1950 convention and was convinced that George Baldanzi should be dumped. When Todd and Kurshenbaum arrived with the delegation and were greeted with this information, they decided that the explanation for dumping Baldanzi was not sufficient and refused to vote against him. In the years between the 1950 and 1952 conventions, the Rieve forces visited the Joint Board and convinced the Chicago delegation that Baldanzi's oratorical abilities were only a surface characteristic, and that he was not a very good administrator or negotiator. At the 1952 convention, then, the Chicago delegation voted against Baldanzi. If Baldanzi had run for President in 1950, he would, have won; if he had run for Executive Vice President in 1952, he would have won.
Tape/Side   3/1 Time   16:15	The Black Image of the Chicago Joint Board Scope and Content Note: While not feeling it was his duty or cause to represent blacks or a black perspective, Todd as a matter of course probably did so. When McGrew asked him to hire additional clerical help for the Joint Board, he naturally hired a black woman. When Todd suggested that the Joint Board could use another business agent and McGrew told him to go find one, naturally he found a black man. The Chicago Joint Board thereby wound up with more full-time employees who were black than any other joint board in the Union. All this time, however, the membership of the Joint Board had been 75-80 percent white. Local 335 was an integrated local, about 60-70 percent black. The other locals, however, have always been either lily white or at least 90 percent white. Today the Joint Board has two black secretaries, a black business agent, a white business agent, a white manager, and a black International representative who was hired on Todd's recommendation.
Tape/Side   3/1 Time   25:00	As an Executive Council Member, Todd Did Not Feel That He Represented Any Particular Group or Region, But He Did Naturally Voice the Concerns and Interests of the Midwest Scope and Content Note: Most members of the Council, by their words and actions, indicated that they were more area-oriented than Todd. While Todd did not necessarily feel that way, it probably did work out that way. He made sure that the Midwest always got its share of organizers, representatives, etc.
Tape/Side   3/2 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   3/2 Time   00:30	Bert Miller and Todd's Attempt to Be Elected to the Executive Council Scope and Content Note: Miller, manager of the St. Louis Joint Board, was a strong supporter of the Majority side in the 1964 fight. He did not vigorously try to persuade Todd to the Majority side. When Todd suggested running in tandem with Miller for the Executive Council, it did not enter his mind that this would identify him with the Majority. Todd felt he could win anyway. Defeat, however, “wouldn't have been the end of the world,” since he would still have had his base in Chicago.
Tape/Side   3/2 Time   02:20	Bargaining in Chicago Scope and Content Note: It was almost totally independent of the International's wage conferences, since the Chicago industry was so diversified. Occasionally Western Felt, because of similarities with an eastern plant, might get involved in TWUA wage conferences.
Tape/Side   3/2 Time   03:35	The Absence of Minorities on the Executive Council Scope and Content Note: Although Todd was the first minority to be elected to the Council, he never noticed any resentment amongst minorities that the Council was all white. One reason for this was that in the textile industry proper there were very few blacks in the East. The Union did not begin to get many blacks until southern mills began to hire them. Even after he was elected to the Council, blacks never made up more than ten percent of the convention delegates, and the conventions were probably pretty representative of the makeup of the membership. When Todd ran for the Council, although he was conscious of being a black, he did not think of himself as a black candidate.
Tape/Side   3/2 Time   08:40	Labor's Resistance to Early Attempts to Form a Coalition of Black Unionists Scope and Content Note: Todd has long been, and still is, involved in many civil rights organizations. In the 1940s in Chicago a coalition of blacks in the AFL and the CIO formed an organization. A black business agent for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers' (ACW) laundry workers in New York heard about a meeting of the coalition and attended it, even though he had been told not to. In tears, he told the others that he would probably be fired when he returned to New York, and he was. He was fired not for consorting with AFL people, but for getting too involved in the black issue. As a result of that incident, the Chicago people, realizing there was nothing they could do for someone outside Chicago who was treated like that, determined to make their coalition national. They approached A. Philip Randolph to see if he would help initiate such a movement, but he turned them down, calling them “a bunch of Communists.” They then approached Willard Townsend, president of the Transport Service Employees, a very small international. Townsend was a member of the CIO Executive Board and granted permission to use his office and his name. No real national organization developed, however, until about 1960, when George Meany made his infamous remark to Randolph - ”Who...appointed you the spokesman for the black workers?” Randolph was angered and formed what was to become the A. Philip Randolph Institute, the first convention of which was held in Detroit, with Todd in attendance. [Meany made the remark at the 1959 AFL-CIO convention. In June, 1960, the Negro American Labor Council held its first convention in Detroit.]
Tape/Side   3/2 Time   14:00	TWUA and the Race Issue Scope and Content Note: The issue was avoided at TWUA conventions until 1956 when the White Citizens Councils (WCC) resolution was debated. Todd was willing to soft-pedal civil rights because he believed white workers could be educated on this matter after they were organized, but bringing it up before workers were organized into the Union might serve to dissuade them from joining. An example would be the Johnson & Johnson situation in Chicago. Because of the race question Todd did not actively engage in the organization of this plant. After the plant was organized, however, the workers threatened to leave TWUA unless Todd, and not the white business agent, serviced them. [Here Todd launches into a description of an issue that was debated at a convention. The issue was whether southern locals would be permitted to use their union halls to hold segregated school classes. Todd claims that Rieve, under the threat of 25,000 members leaving the TWUA, stood firmly against such use of TWUA local union halls. From the description he gives, the debate described is probably the debate at the 1956 convention over the White Citizens Councils resolution. One of the appeals of the WCC was for southern white workers to split off from their integrationist parent bodies and form segregated southern unions. Perhaps the issue of the use of union halls for segregated classes was an underlying issue in this debate, but it was certainly not a prominent part of the debate.]
Tape/Side   3/2 Time   22:25	TWUA Problems in Minneapolis Scope and Content Note: The Teamsters were raiding the Munsingwear local and had a big majority signed up for a decertification election, circa 1965-66. Frank Metzger, who, although an International representative, had been assigned to McGrew and, therefore, was inherited by Todd, was sent to investigate. He reported that Tullar was having political problems in Minneapolis. A black woman, who controlled about 200 people in her department, would not even talk to Tullar. Suspecting that race might be an issue, Todd was asked to visit her. He talked with her and found out that it was the local's executive board, not the membership, which was resisting Tullar. Todd told this to Tullar and suggested that he visit the membership and launch an aggressive negotiating campaign with the company. Tullar did not do this and reports continued to come in to Pollock that Tullar was the problem in Minneapolis. Pollock then asked Sam Frost (Quin State Director) and Todd to handle the situation. Frost took ill, leaving the situation in Todd's hands.
Tape/Side   4/1 Time   00:00	Introduction
Tape/Side   4/1 Time   00:30	More on the Teamsters' Raid in Minneapolis Scope and Content Note: The raid spread to Bemis Bag. Todd determined that the situation, as it stood, was a losing situation. So, through a company attorney, he arranged a meeting with Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa. Hoffa said the Teamsters would immediately pull out of the Bemis Bag situation because things had not progressed very far there. Munsingwear, because the Teamsters were in so deep, would take longer. The Teamsters did finally extricate themselves from Munsingwear and turned the situation over to Todd. Todd then went into difficult negotiations, called a successful strike, and turned the situation completely around.
Tape/Side   4/1 Time   04:00	Todd Offered the Position of Midwest Regional Director Scope and Content Note: Pollock called a meeting of Todd and Tullar and asked Todd to continue servicing Minneapolis. Tullar objected because he felt he would never get back into Minneapolis under those conditions; but Pollock insisted. Meanwhile, over the years, Todd had been doing a considerable amount of troubleshooting in the St. Louis Joint Board. With Todd having so much influence in the key Midwest areas - Chicago, Minneapolis, and St. Louis - Tullar decided to take early retirement. Tullar, however, wanted to designate St. Louis Joint Board Manager Charles Sallee as his successor. Pollock, however, offered the job to Todd. Todd, when he found out he would be making only $1,000 a year more than he was making as Joint Board manager, rejected the offer. Upon returning to Chicago, Todd called a meeting of his business agents who encouraged him to take the job, since that would make it possible for one of them to move into the Joint Board managership.
Tape/Side   4/1 Time   08:00	Todd Became Regional Director Scope and Content Note: The likely candidate to succeed him as Joint Board manager was Joe Mansfield. The Johnson & Johnson local, however, did not want Mansfield as manager and threatened to decertify if Mansfield became manager. Pollock told Todd to handle the situation as best he could. Todd retained the managership and temporarily split the Midwest region into North and South so that Sallee would be director of the southern section. After a time the Johnson & Johnson group was convinced to go to an election for Joint Board manager with Joe Mansfield running against one of their people. Mansfield won easily, Todd became regional director, and Sallee was appointed his assistant. When Todd retired, Sallee succeeded him.
Tape/Side   4/1 Time   10:35	The Merger of TWUA and ACW Scope and Content Note: “I think it's the best thing that could have happened.” Todd had long thought that the internal fights had limited the leadership potential within the Executive Council. Each member of the Council thought he was equal in ability to the others; therefore, for any member to assume top office, he would have had to make deals and promises which would limit his effectiveness as a leader. Todd suggested the Union hire an outsider to come in and run the organization, giving him full authority to do the job, to put the organization back into shape from a business standpoint. The suggestion, of course, was laughed off. Coming from this point of view, Todd, therefore, was of the opinion that without a merger with some other union, TWUA “would have...eventually gone down the drain,” would have become a small, insignificant organization like the UTW.
Tape/Side   4/1 Time   14:50	Successors to John Chupka and William Pollock Scope and Content Note: Pollock wanted Harold Daoust to succeed Chupka as secretary-treasurer. Todd and the Midwest Region supported Sol Stetin because of Daoust's drinking problem. Pollock saw that Daoust could not be elected, so he asked him to withdraw. William DuChessi was a non-controversial person, and his assumption of the office of Secretary-Treasurer, when Stetin became President, was easily accepted.
Tape/Side   4/1 Time   17:15	More on Todd's Idea to Hire Someone to Run the Union Scope and Content Note: There were no such precedents within the labor movement, but he noticed that that was what businesses did when they were in trouble. He did not see within the Executive Council the type of strong leader needed to turn the situation around.
Tape/Side   4/1 Time   18:40	Speculation on How the Decline of TWUA Might Have Been Halted Scope and Content Note: He was discussing this yesterday with fellow retirees Joe Hueter, Jack Rubenstein, and James McKnight. Rubenstein suggested that, instead of J.P. Stevens, the Union should have selected as its target a smaller company, of, say, 5,000 workers, beaten it soundly, and then went on from there; none of the others agreed with him. All agreed that Rieve and Pollock did not develop successors who would have brought in new ideas and fresh approaches to stop the decline. A lot of leadership was lost in the internal fights. In short, the reasons for the decline were not all external.
Tape/Side   4/1 Time   22:10	The Union's Failings in the Areas of Civil Rights and Affirmative Action Scope and Content Note: The Union is as guilty in this area as J.P. Stevens. It does not have an affirmative-action program. It does not have women or minorities in policy-making positions. It has no program to recruit and train women or minorities for leadership positions. There are no minorities or women on the boards of the Pension and Insurance Funds. There are no women or minorities in the Textile Division of ACTWU who are joint board managers or regional directors. In the South, blacks are the nucleus of the Textile Division; yet there are no blacks in leadership positions there. Recently, after agitation by Todd, a black was appointed to supervise a few people in the Stevens Drive. If the situation is not corrected, it could turn out to be a detriment to the Union. Todd heads a civil rights group which has approached ACTWU with these complaints, off the record, in the hope that it will not have to go public with the information, with the complaint that the Union is guilty of some of the same abuses it is charging J.P. Stevens with. Todd was the first and last black regional director, and he can foresee no women or minorities being elevated to this level of leadership. He suggested the appointment of a black assistant to the Director of the Textile Division; the suggestion was rejected. Also, the leadership recently went out of its way to prevent election of a black as manager of the Chicago Joint Board.