The leaders interviewed were Patrick E. Gorman, James A. Suffridge, Jesse Prosten, Samuel J. Meyers, Leon B. Schachter, and Abe Feinglass. The interviews total approximately 40 hours and include new information in several areas of labor history. The Gorman and Meyers interviews contain many anecdotes illustrating the history of the Meat Cutters and the Retail Clerks. The Suffridge interview provides details on the post-World War II years of the Retail Clerks and other topics. The Prosten interview is particularly strong on interpretation, analyzing how the left wing philosophy of the leaders of the Packinghouse Workers, combined with a knowledge of the long history of failed unionism in the packing industry, shaped the structure, policies, and methods of the UPWA. This interview is also informative on UPWA integration and civil rights activities. The Schachter interview is strong in many areas--the Butchers-Teamsters Joint Organizing Committee in the mid-1950s which he chaired, the mergers, his stay in Turkey, and changes in the meat industry, for example. The interview's greatest value, however, may well be in the way it contrasts with the Prosten interview. If Prosten and UPWA typified left wing unionism and the CIO's top-down approach to unionism, Schachter and the AMC&BW typified a more conservative unionism with a strong local autonomy philosophy. And finally, the Feinglass interview provides insights into the International Fur Workers Union and an additional interpretation of the Meat Cutters' last quarter century.
These interviews were then processed using the State Historical Society of Wisconsin TAPE system. This consists of creating an abstract of the contents of a taped interview and keying that abstract to a permanent, audible time-track on the same tape. To this abstract is added the interviewer's introduction containing biographical information about the interviewee, a description of the circumstances surrounding the interview, and an assessment of the research strengths and weaknesses of the interview. An index to this abstract, keyed to the same audible time-track, is also prepared.
Below is a list of interviewees together with their offices, the tape call numbers, and the number of tapes. A paper copy of the introduction and abstract for each interview plus a Xeroxed copy of the “Recollections” mentioned prominently in the Meyers interview, are filed as Mss 56. The introduction and abstract for each interview are also available electronically on this finding aid site; the interviewee names in the list below are links to these online abstracts. (To retrieve all of the interview abstracts, search “United Food and Commercial Workers Union Retired Leaders”.)
Appendix I of this finding aid is a combined index to all of the interviews except the Sept. 1981 sessions with Samuel Meyers which took place after the index was compiled. Appendix II is an index to these final sessions of the Meyers interview. Researchers may find it most effective to go from the index to the abstracts and then to the tape recordings themselves.
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Interviewee
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Union Position
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Tape Call No.
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# of tape reels
|
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Abe Feinglass (1910- )
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President, International Fur and Leather Workers, 1954-1955; AMC&BW vice-president and director of the Fur and Leather Division, 1955-1980 |
Tape 904A |
4 reels |
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Patrick E. Gorman (1892-1980)
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AMC&BW executive vice-president, 1920-1923; president, 1923-1942; secretary-treasurer, 1942-1976; chairman of the board, 1976-1979 |
Tape 847A |
4 reels |
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Samuel J. Meyers (1901- )
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RCIU vice-president, 1947-1972 |
Tape 879A |
16 reels |
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Jesse Prosten (1912- )
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UPWA director of the Grievance & Contract department; advisor to President Helstein; AMC&BW and UFCW director of the Packinghouse division, 1968-1980; vice-president, 1972-1980 |
Tape 921A |
6 reels |
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Leon B. Schachter (1909- )
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AMC&BW and UFCW vice-president, 1948-1980; district director, 1956-1980; active in AMC&BW merger attempts |
Tape 880A |
5 reels |
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James A. Suffridge (1909- )
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RCIU president and/or secretary-treasurer, 1944-1968 |
Tape 863A |
8 reels |
