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Container
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Title
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Series: Don Dooley
: 2134 Mole Avenue, Janesville
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1976 July 13
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Tape/Side
8/1-A
Time
0:00 to 0:25
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Introduction
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Tape/Side
8/1-A
Time
0:26 to 3:10
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Family background--grandparents of Irish descent--father worked with the Chicago and Northwestern R. R.--family with Janesville background
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Tape/Side
8/1-A
Time
3:11 to 5:53
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Father was a member of locomotive engineers union, Chicago lodge--dedicated union man
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Tape/Side
8/1-A
Time
5:54 to 8:10
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Parents as Democrats--Al Smith as a favorite political leader
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Tape/Side
8/1-A
Time
8:11 to 10:25
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Religious backgrounds--mother more committed than father
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Tape/Side
8/1-A
Time
10:27 to 18:44
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Parents' residences in Janesville--D. D.'s school experience--“secure childhood”--Grant elementary school--neighborhood friends, including Nick Luchsinger
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Tape/Side
8/1-A
Time
18:45 to 20:27
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Work experience before Fisher Body--lingerie factory--C & NW
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Tape/Side
8/1-A
Time
20:28 to 25:18
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Getting a job at Fisher--becoming used to the assembly line--“mankilling jobs”--meaning of “factory broke”
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Tape/Side
8/1-A
Time
25:19 to 28:55
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Drudgerous work, D. D. often wanted to quit--changing jobs helped--D. D. joined union to improve his life's work
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Tape/Side
8/1-B
Time
0:00 to 4:29
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Working conditions in paint department--relations with foremen--lack of breaks--“shystering a job”
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Tape/Side
8/1-B
Time
4:30 to 7:12
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Background of Fisher work force--many from northern Wisconsin--absence of black workers--some workers from Arkansas later
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Tape/Side
8/2-A
Time
0:00 to 0:12
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Introduction
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Tape/Side
8/2-A
Time
0:13 to 4:08
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Relationship with foremen prior to 1937--superintendent rough--plant manager
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Tape/Side
8/2-A
Time
4:09 to 12:00
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Attitudes toward capitalism, bitterness--experience with relief--blamed Hoover and Republicans--questioned system--desperate--class consciousness in 1932, union as a means of striking back
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Tape/Side
8/2-A
Time
12:01 to 15:23
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Reaction toward national figures--supported La Follettes--John L. Lewis as a hero--critical of AF of L
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Tape/Side
8/2-A
Time
15:24 to 17:14
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Dooley social life included Les Fay and Abe Shumacher, later fellow union leaders--church not a center of social activity
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Tape/Side
8/2-A
Time
17:15 to 21:37
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Decision to join union--not a member of earliest cadre--earliest recollections, hard to break through union secrecy
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Tape/Side
8/2-A
Time
21:38 to 24:08
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Very careful about union talk in plant--D. D. worked across from Les Fay--working conditions in paint spray booth, work before and after shift began
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Tape/Side
8/2-A
Time
24:09 to 27:00
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Seniority as most crucial need--need to break influence of foremen in rehiring
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Tape/Side
8/2-A
Time
27:01 to 28:41
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D. D.'s union membership--lapsed for a period prior to 1937 when he perceived that GM had beaten the union
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Tape/Side
8/2-B
Time
0:00 to 3:30
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D. D. first joined Federal Local 19324--it was ineffective--awareness of craft v. industrial unionism
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Tape/Side
8/2-B
Time
3:31 to 7:03
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Brief period of inactivity--reaction to Homer Martin of UAW-AFL--craft and industrial unionism at Fisher
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Tape/Side
8/2-B
Time
7:04 to 10:20
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Union leaders in paint spraying department--Les Fay--anti-union workers--age no factor
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Tape/Side
8/2-B
Time
10:21 to 12:35
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Experience as the key to unionism, more experienced as more militant--workers from rural areas harder to organize--ethnic or religious background made no difference
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Tape/Side
8/2-B
Time
12:36 to 14:08
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Three factions regarding unionism, their relative strength
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Tape/Side
8/2-B
Time
14:09 to 17:37
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Janesville citizens largely hostile to the union--criticism from the business community--use of terms “communistic” and “radical” and “crazy”
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Tape/Side
8/2-B
Time
17:38 to 21:06
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D. D. knew of no communists in Janesville then--recollection of local political leaders--Henry Traxler as anti-union
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Tape/Side
8/2-B
Time
21:07 to 24:07
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Churches and the union, little interaction--D. D. knew about Rerum Novarum, the papal encyclical supporting labor unions, but he did not learn about it through church, even though he is Catholic
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Tape/Side
8/2-B
Time
24:08 to 27:10
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Individual and group decisions to join the union--discharges for union activities
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Tape/Side
8/2-B
Time
27:11 to 31:18
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Aborted strike of paperhangers in 1935--friend fired--other, similar wildcat strikes
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1976 July 20
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Tape/Side
10/1-A
Time
0:00 to 0:20
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Introduction
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Tape/Side
10/1-A
Time
0:21 to 2:58
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Recollection of the Civic and Industrial Council, management-oriented group
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Tape/Side
10/1-A
Time
2:59 to 6:37
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The union and the Janesville Gazette--no coverage of union--information to members by word of mouth--fear of arrest for handing out leaflets
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Tape/Side
10/1-A
Time
6:38 to 8:13
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The union and the police--no union publications
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Tape/Side
10/1-A
Time
8:14 to 9:48
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Company spy system
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Tape/Side
10/1-A
Time
9:49 to 12:59
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“Rumble” for a long time--the trim and cushion departments
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Tape/Side
10/1-A
Time
13:00 to 19:42
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Work pressure--union meetings, recitation of problems--working conditions in 1936, no fans, heat a problem--union membership and finances--membership grew in 1936
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Tape/Side
10/1-A
Time
19:43 to 28:03
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Leadership of UAW Local 95--Wes Van Horn--headliner group as militant--Straus Ellis, took care of himself--Waldo Luchsinger--Les Fay, leader in paint department--department as important factor in union membership, also rural-urban factor
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Tape/Side
10/1-A
Time
28:04 to 29:24
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GM as the real organizer
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Tape/Side
10/1-B
Time
0:00 to 2:20
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D. D.'s recruiting efforts, risky--D. D. determined to force improvements
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Tape/Side
10/1-B
Time
2:21 to 3:35
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UAW international communication with local leaders--need for secrecy
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Tape/Side
10/1-B
Time
3:36 to 7:46
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Development of factionalism in Local 95--Luchsinger and Ellis as “go slow” faction--tension between Van Horn and Lou Adkins--D. D. closer to Van Horn
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Tape/Side
10/1-B
Time
7:47 to 12:12
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Meetings as source of encouragement--taverns as meeting places, especially Beyer's Tavern under union meeting hall
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Tape/Side
10/1-B
Time
12:13 to 16:25
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Unaware of lodge connections--planning for the sitdown strike, handful involved--Adkins, Van Horn, Fay, Jack Johnston--decision to sit down as local--small membership then--some departments strong, some weak
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Tape/Side
10/1-B
Time
16:26 to 17:26
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Company union--formation of GM Alliance
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Tape/Side
10/1-B
Time
17:27 to 21:35
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D. D. and the sitdown--made decision to sitdown earlier, told wife--walking up and down lines during the sitdown--marching around, no sitting during early stages
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Tape/Side
10/1-B
Time
21:36 to 26:31
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Further recollections of sitdown, Jan. 5, 1937--lines shut down rapidly--fear for jobs--many waited to see
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Tape/Side
10/1-B
Time
26:32 to 28:32
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Participation in march around plant as test of support for sitdown--reaction of foremen
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Tape/Side
10/1-B
Time
28:33 to 29:33
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Emotions of strikers--D. D.'s commitment
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Tape/Side
10/2-A
Time
0:00 to 0:12
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Introduction
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Tape/Side
10/2-A
Time
0:13 to 3:05
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Moods of workers during the sitdown--belligerency--slurs toward non-strikers--determination
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Tape/Side
10/2-A
Time
3:06 to 5:12
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No physical violence--reaction of city officials--agreement to evacuate plant--meeting at union hall
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Tape/Side
10/2-A
Time
5:13 to 6:33
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No concern about legality of sitdown
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Tape/Side
10/2-A
Time
6:34 to 11:48
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Community reaction to strike--little sympathy, frequent remarks against strike--little concern for public opinion
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Tape/Side
10/2-A
Time
11:49 to 14:19
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Recollection of the GM Alliance--attempts to break up Alliance meetings
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Tape/Side
10/2-A
Time
14:20 to 15:45
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After the sitdown, celebration--rumors around town
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Tape/Side
10/2-A
Time
15:46 to 19:56
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Wife's attitude toward sitdown and union--her attitudes softened eventually
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Tape/Side
10/2-A
Time
19:57 to 21:12
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Activities in Janesville during strike
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Tape/Side
10/2-A
Time
21:13 to 22:28
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Newspaper handling of the 1937 strike--no other sources of news
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Tape/Side
10/2-A
Time
22:29 to 27:29
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Incidents during the strike--skirmishes--“forceful persuasion”--Alliance buttons--Clyde Arihood--leaders did not discourage skirmishes
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Tape/Side
10/2-A
Time
27:30 to 29:10
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After the strike in the plant, steward system
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Tape/Side
10/2-B
Time
0:00 to 4:05
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Membership increases--wildcat strike, almost every day, centered in trim and cushion departments
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Tape/Side
10/2-B
Time
4:06 to 6:36
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Situation in the body shop, tough superintendent--D. D. lost contact in 1938, daughter ill
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Tape/Side
10/2-B
Time
6:37 to 9:55
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D. D.'s experience as shop steward--no grievance procedure then
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Tape/Side
10/2-B
Time
9:56 to 15:06
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Stable leadership after sitdown--leadership in Local 95 after the strike
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Tape/Side
10/2-B
Time
15:07 to 18:00
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D. D.'s experience as committeeman
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Tape/Side
10/2-B
Time
18:01 to 24:45
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Union involvement in local politics--D. D. ran for city council--Abe Shumacher ran for school board--many union members not living in Janesville--role of the local press--Waldo Luchsinger on city council--importance of union involvement in politics
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1976 July 27
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Tape/Side
11/1-A
Time
0:00 to 0:20
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Introduction
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Tape/Side
11/1-A
Time
0:21 to 4:05
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D. D.'s work during World War II--Buick motor assembly in Melrose Park, Illinois--problem with unequal pay
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Tape/Side
11/1-A
Time
4:06 to 6:16
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Return to Janesville to make shells, workers hired back from seniority lists
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Tape/Side
11/1-A
Time
6:17 to 10:42
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D. D.'s return to union activities, vice president during war years
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Tape/Side
11/1-A
Time
10:43 to 14:37
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The UAW strike against GM in 1945-46, called during period of conversion from making shells to autos--small work force then
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Tape/Side
11/1-A
Time
14:37 to 15:27
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D. D.'s reaction to Walter Reuther
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Tape/Side
11/1-A
Time
15:28 to 17:20
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Labor-management relations no better after the war--smoking privilige from government during the war
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Tape/Side
11/1-A
Time
17:21 to 23136
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Reasons for striking GM in 1945-46--D. D.'s attitude toward 1946 contract--no regrets about 1945-46 strike
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Tape/Side
11/1-A
Time
23:37 to 30:42
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Good coordination between Locals 95 and 121--D. D.'s support for amalgamation--maintaining soup kitchen, help from local merchants--skirmishes in 1946--problem with building contractor crossing picket lines
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Tape/Side
11/1-B
Time
0:00 to 3:20
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Support from members during 1945-46 strike, even those out of work--survival during long strike
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Tape/Side
11/1-B
Time
3:21 to 8:10
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D. D. as Local 95 president--election to establish union shop at Fisher, hands-off company reaction
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Tape/Side
11/1-B
Time
8:10 to 13:35
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Persistent problems during D. D.'s term--no opposition--satisfaction from service
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Tape/Side
11/1-B
Time
13:36 to 20:26
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Problems at beginning of the second shift--no communications between shifts--efforts to amalgamate 95 and 121
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Tape/Side
11/1-B
Time
20:27 to 23:37
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Only factionalism related to second shift problems--1952 as crucial year--D. D.'s efforts to diminish factionalism
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Tape/Side
11/1-B
Time
23:38 to 26:38
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D. D.'s efforts to maintain consensus, togetherness--relied on Les Fay for advice--Abe Shumacher as financial secretary
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Tape/Side
11/2-A
Time
0:00 to 0:10
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Introduction
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Tape/Side
11/2-A
Time
0:11 to 3:40
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Others on whom D. D. relied, Bruce Warren, Jack Johnston, Lou Adkins--need for united leadership--relationship with Lou Adkins
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Tape/Side
11/2-A
Time
3:41 to 6:55
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Stepping down as president--need for young leadership
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Tape/Side
11/2-A
Time
6:56 to 9:10
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Business operation of Local 95, office help--role of the financial secretary
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Tape/Side
11/2-A
Time
9:10 to 16:35
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Survey of Local 95 leadership--information on John Goetzinger, Dick Halford, Les Fay, Jack Johnston, Stan Gregory
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Tape/Side
11/2-A
Time
16:36 to 24:56
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Information on Lou Adkins, Charles Rosenthal, Wes Van Horn, Abe Shumacher, Cleo Keele
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Tape/Side
11/2-A
Time
24:57 to 29:32
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Information on Walt Trachsel, Bruce Warren, Don Fraser
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