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Container
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Title
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Series: James Wells
: 1038 Jerome Avenue, Janesville
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1976 October 14
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Tape/Side
27/1-A
Time
0:00 to 0:20
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Introduction
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Tape/Side
27/1-A
Time
0:21 to 4:41
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Family background--mother from Beaver Dam--father with telephone company--ethnic background
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Tape/Side
27/1-A
Time
4:42 to 10:32
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Living in Colorado as a child, father did line work there with power and light company--returned to Janesville, father worked as a meter tester, mother at woolen mill
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Tape/Side
27/1-A
Time
10:33 to 13:58
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Mother's experience in the woolen mill--more of life in Colorado, difficult times--attending church in Colorado
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Tape/Side
27/1-A
Time
13:59 to 16:59
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Youth in Janesville-required to repeat a grade in school--selling newspapers
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Tape/Side
27/1-A
Time
17:00 to 22:20
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Family religious background--St. Patrick's Catholic Church--formation of St. Mary's, rules on attending new churches--strong Catholic family
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Tape/Side
27/1-A
Time
22:21 to 31:36:
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Attending St. Patrick's School--Sisters of Mercy--quality of education at St. Patrick's--discipline in the parochial school, respect for the nuns
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Tape/Side
27/1-B
Time
0:00 to 3:35
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Ethnic differences not too important--relations with St. Paul's Lutheran School--Irish priests at St. Patrick's
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Tape/Side
27/1-B
Time
3:35 to 7:10
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Family political background, not active--father voted Progressive--supported rights of workers--reaction to 1928 election--high school experience, baseball
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Tape/Side
27/1-B
Time
7:11 to 9:00
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Father not in IBEW--father's attitude toward the labor movement
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Tape/Side
27/1-B
Time
9:01 to 11:06
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Early work experience at GM as a timekeeper, disliked the work, quit
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Tape/Side
27/1-B
Time
11:07 to 17:02
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Grocery delivery business--insurance salesman--further comments on timekeeper work at GM, son had similar experience at GM
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Tape/Side
27/1-B
Time
17:03 to 21:28
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More on the grocery delivery business--milk delivery business--getting a job at Parker Pen
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Tape/Side
27/1-B
Time
21:29 to 24:49
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Car driveaway at GM, beginning of Teamster union activity in Janesville
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Tape/Side
27/1-B
Time
24:50 to 26:45
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J. W. had contact with Teamster organizer--fired for attending organizational meeting
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Tape/Side
27/2-A
Time
0:00 to 0:10
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Introduction
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Tape/Side
27/2-A
Time
0:11 to. 3:05
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Further comments on the organization of the Teamsters in Janesville--Frazier, the organizer from Chicago
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Tape/Side
27/2-A
Time
3:06 to 6:16
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J. W.'s attitudes toward the labor movement--decline of the grocery delivery
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Tape/Side
27/2-A
Time
6:17 to 8:32
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J. W. portrays Frazier as a close-mouthed, crafty union organizer
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Tape/Side
27/2-A
Time
8:33 to 13:28
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Opposition to the Teamsters from Janesville merchants and businessmen--organizing. Benison and Lane Bakery--attempt to organize Schaeffer Pen--hazards of organizing
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Tape/Side
27/2-A
Time
13:29 to 19:37
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More on organizing Benison and Lane--other Teamster targets--important move driveaways to trucks at GM--J. W. as a Teamster member
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Tape/Side
27/2-A
Time
19:38 to 22:08
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Typical early Teamster meetings, hatred for employers--J. W.'s attitude--emergence of car-hauling companies
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Tape/Side
27/2-A
Time
22:08 to 29:32
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Impact of Teamsters on Janesville, union awareness--exorbitant salaries for union officials--attitude toward George Meany--choosing a union for Parker Pen
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Tape/Side
27/2-B
Time
0:00 to 1:16
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Further comments on the United Rubber Workers at Parker Pen, desire of workers to maintain local autonomy
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Tape/Side
27/2-B
Time
1:17 to 10:22
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Community reaction to the Teamsters--wives often hostile--the Gazette's reporting--anti-union teachers in the schools, J. W.'s children anti-union--unions and municipal workers--opposition to compulsory arbitration
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Tape/Side
27/2-B
Time
10:-23 to 15:13
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Reaction to Firefighters Association, no right to strike--argument that they produce nothing of value
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Tape/Side
27/2-B
Time
15:14 to 22:49
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The Church and labor unions--reaction of priests to organized labor, allied with employers, tried to keep pay low for janitors-J. W. learned about Rerum Novarum, the papal encyclical on labor, at the School for Workers--anti-union statements in sermons recalled
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Tape/Side
27/2-B
Time
22:50 to 26:10
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J. W. active in Democratic Party politics--helped to develop the Democratic Party in Rock County after World War II--other active Democrats
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1976 October 21
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Tape/Side
29/1-A
Time
0:00 to 0:15
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Introduction
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Tape/Side
29/1-A
Time
0:16 to 6:00
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Beginning work with Parker Pen in 1941--made delayed-action fuses during the War--J. W.'s work as a tool sharpener--supervisor in fuse plant
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Tape/Side
29/1-A
Time
6:01 to 8:39
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Management of the fuse plant--responsibilities as fuse plant supervisor--J. W.'s ability to get along with people
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Tape/Side
29/1-A
Time
8:40 to 14:10
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Work force at the fuse plant was non-traditional in many ways--inexperienced as factory workers, many problems--methods to counter the problems
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Tape/Side
29/1-A
Time
14:11 to 15:29
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Women workers at the fuse plant
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Tape/Side
29/1-A
Time
15:30 to 20:35
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Returning to the pen plant after the war--back into work force as a set-up man
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Tape/Side
29/1-A
Time
20:36 to 26:41
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Parker as a good place to work, not too difficult--floor inspection work
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Tape/Side
29/1-A
Time
26:42 to 29:52
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Parker as closed shop by 1941--background on the union--first meeting in Anna Marsden home--Holtons and Dabsons as early organizers--incentive pay system as key grievance--union time study after the war
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Tape/Side
29/1-B
Time
0:00 to 2:45
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More on problem with incentive pay system
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Tape/Side
29/1-B
Time
2:46 to 4:41
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Company relatively cooperative with the union--wildcat strike after the war
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Tape/Side
29/1-B
Time
4:42 to 9:27
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The independent, federal union--federal local satisfactory for long time--problem with AFL being trades unions, federal locals as industrial unions, stepchildren
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Tape/Side
29/1-B
Time
9:28 to 18:13
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No knowledge of establishment of closed shop at Parker--Waldo Luchsinger as personnel director--absence of hard feelings between labor and management--importance of women workers at Parker--several families with more than one employee--separate payrolls maintained for men and women
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Tape/Side
29/1-B
Time
18:14 to 24:34
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Women workers in majority, most holding second family job--more on hiring of families by Parker--Mr. Hall as production superintendant
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Tape/Side
29/2-A
Time
0:00 to 0:10
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Introduction
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Tape/Side
29/2-A
Time
0:11 to 2:45
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Variances in pay for men and women during World War II--little reaction by women
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Tape/Side
29/2-A
Time
2:46 to 8:10
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J. W.'s service with the union--long term as local president--Rock County Board of Supervisors--term as union steward
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Tape/Side
29/2-A
Time
8:11 to 16:11
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Issues on the bargaining board--the Scanlon Plan during the mid-1960s--need for the Scanlon Plan, alternative to an incentive system--determination to avoid profit-sharing
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Tape/Side
29/2-A
Time
16:12 to 19:27
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Good working conditions--most complaints settled with foreman--crowded conditions in old plant
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Tape/Side
29/2-A
Time
19:27 to 23:07
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Term as president of Janesville Labor Council--the UAW and the Labor Council--UAW left at time of AFL-CIO split
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Tape/Side
29/2-A
Time
23:08 to 26:08
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J. W.'s involvement with the Democratic Party through Earl Heffernan--problem with by-laws
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Tape/Side
29/2-A
Time
26:09 to 29:49
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Phasing-out of the federal unions--Parker union required to select an international--competition from main internationals
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Tape/Side
29/2-B
Time
0:00 to 3:05
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Selecting the United Rubber Workers--autonomy for smaller locals--decision made by local leadership
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Tape/Side
29/2-B
Time
3:06 to 5:51
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International Association of Machinists at Parker Pen--weak IAM effort to organize the whole plant--competition between the old federal local and the IAM
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Tape/Side
29/2-B
Time
5:52 to 7:07
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Rubber Workers in the AFL
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Tape/Side
29/2-B
Time
7:08 to 10:43
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URW organizers in Janesville--Bill Kitchens--J. W.'s knowledge of Pete Bomarito, current URW president--importance of bringing wives to the conventions
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Tape/Side
29/2-B
Time
10:44 to 17:34
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Few changes resulted at the local level--Janesville local from bookkeeping standpoint--Janesville people offered opportunities with the URW international office--J. W. involved in effort to organize Schaeffer Pen, ran into anti-union sentiment
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Tape/Side
29/2-B
Time
17:35 to 19:35
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Parker management did not care about shift from federal local to URW--concluding comments
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