THE FACES OF A UNION

foreign [Music] a smelter's legacy revealed in Copper mountains one last load before home one last delivery to factory is still silent in the Morning Light [Music] shift change in Ohio on a road where thousands will soon pass [Music] going to work a million four hundred thousand Canadians and Americans members of a union going to work going to the picket line to seek fairness when compromise fails [Music] going to plant gates to fight for their rights to support their friends but mainly going to work to make a living to build a better life this is their story the story of the United steelworkers of America [Music] for many who come to work this morning like these new employees at Kaiser Aluminum Chalmette plant have questions about what a union is about how it operates questions that will be answered this day in an orientation program that will introduce them to their Union chairman of the union and the people who built it at this time I'd like to welcome you to the greatest Union in the world the United Steel Workers of America I'm about to present you with a new membership kit I hope you glance through it and get a lot out of it the new membership kit they received this morning describes the rights they will have as union members rights that are the fruits of a struggle that began before they were born in the early 1930s industrial workers were largely unorganized in the steel industry you accepted what the boss offered if you wanted to keep your job the industry's power was immense giant corporations owned the coal mines the iron over mines the processing facilities The Ore boats and the steel mills [Music] working conditions were often dangerous wages were seldom raised and sometimes arbitrarily lowered though the industry employed almost a half a million men and women who often worked in small groups or alone isolated and faced with determined opposition for management Steel Workers found it difficult to organize but organized they did in 1936 the steel workers organizing committee was formed as part of the cio's attempt to organize millions of industrial workers during the Great Depression Steel Workers were committed to represent all workers led by Philip Murray and meeting in fields outside plant Gates organizers spread the union message undotted by the wedding the struggle was long but in the end it was successful in five years the Canadian and American organizing committees organized a half million workers in the steel industry and the organizing continued in the aluminum industry in Copper in canned plants in the chemical industry workers joined the committee that became the largest industrial Union in North America [Music] today the United steelworkers of America represent a million four hundred thousand workers Steel Workers work in mining [Music] in All Phases of metal fabrication from the final product to the beginnings in the furnace and the smelter [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] but Steel Workers don't just work in mines and males [Music] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] Steel Workers have always directly elected their leaders leaders to represent them in a process that is the heart of trade unionism those of us on the union side of the bargaining table look at the process of collective bargaining as a productive way to deal with problems the Press are here today because collective bargaining is a major American Institution an institution that brings representatives of Labor and management together to resolve their differences collective bargaining is a process that works at the international Union's headquarters sophisticated dative processing equipment helps elected officials not only bargain the Union's 6300 contracts but organizes them into groups based on industry similarities [Music] called coordinated bargaining the process offers both Union and management a way to make the bargaining process more efficient thank you [Music] collective bargaining isn't just a national activity every year hundreds of Union bargaining committees sit down with their employers at the local level to solve problems who would you have come in and do that yeah that's right how does that differ from the Mason group what you're doing you're trying to have your cake and eat it too to me management don't never ever gets off you know you just got to stay in there and knock heads with them and uh you know try and force your way through issues sometimes you got to give a little to get a little you know but sometimes there are issues the two sides can't agree on when that happens workers have a legal right to strike strikes are infrequent today compared with the past during the organizing in the 1930s there were no collective bargaining laws newsreels unfairly showed workers marching not for fair wages and decent working conditions but against Society itself without the protection of the law striking workers were at the mercy of the police and hired guards a situation that sometimes produced violence but the situation has improved today in the United States and Canada when union members vote to strike they are exercising a legal right to withhold their labor until a compromise is reached [Applause] like this one at a shipyard in Virginia is because compromise is sometimes hard to achieve when that happens steel workers do not walk alone they are backed by the steel workers strike fund a million four hundred thousand Steel Workers contribute to the fund each month so it is there when they need it we had our utilities our basic necessities taken care of our medicine our medical bills be taken care of in the end the process works 99 of All Steel worker contracts are successfully bargained day in and day out without a strike contracts that provide union members with Fair wages including automatic cost of living protection reasonable benefits health insurance decent pensions and job security provisions contracts that are fair to both labor and management at the gates of an unorganized Shipyard in the South 30 steel worker volunteers pass out Union literature as the morning shift arrives it is a scene repeated many times across the country each year but not all steel worker organizing happens in Mills long thought to be unorganizable today's office workers are seeking the benefits of a union before the steel workers came to thoroughfare we really didn't have the benefits that we have now we had a lot of turnover a lot of the girls left because there was not really any incentive to stay there was not really much chance for promotion you're pretty much stuck in the job you're in when you were hired and that's all changed since the steel workers came it's become a nicer place to work when the steel workers first came and talked to us we all felt the same way you know you think of Steel Workers you think of people in the mill you don't think of people in an office but as we checked into it we found out they had their office and Technical Division and it was a good Division and it's a growing Division and we felt that they would take care of our needs better than any other group and we've been right they've done a good job for us we're hereby dedicate this office there is much left to do steel worker office opens in Richmond to reach 75 000 unorganized chemical workers in Canada's West Steel Workers seek to organize the Canadian Affiliates of major multinational corporations there is an urgency in the work for major economic change is in the air in Toronto the issue is the cause of a strike [Applause] no I got 27 years in here and they just walk away and Lead Me and uh offer me no job whatsoever all we want is a guarantee to the the plants they do have to move that uh our contact will go with them and we'll be off a job [Music] the times are hard many of North America's industrial plants are Obsolete and uncompetitive in the world market and when plants are rebuilt they often move sometimes out of the country leaving thousands to face the fate of the workers at this zinc plant in Pennsylvania [Music] just before Christmas the plant closed without any warning throwing all but a handful of 1200 employees out of work with no voice in management the union was powerless to stop the closing the locals officers invite their International Union president here today to see The Emptiness and discuss the future when you look at this equipment and see how it's deteriorating and the Maze of controls you just have to wonder what it would take to put it back in operation again I think it would be almost impossible to start it up again I think most of the motors and what have you it's all been disconnected controls probably removed when you see an empty locker room like this following what we've seen out in the plant it's uh it's got to raise a question about the last at the end of their tour they listened to their president talk about one source of the problem and its solution and again I'm convinced that it has to be increased activity in Washington to change our trade laws so that at least we're evidence the proper concern for for workers in this country we're the only free market left in the world where other countries can shift their unemployment To Us by discounting and subsidizing their products in order that their people might stay employed while we deal with unemployment here in Pittsburgh the international secretary meets with North American and Japanese union leaders to seek a solution to the plant closing problem and brother Sato and brother Nakamura brother rebhan and others who have traveled far and are returning to our city for another visit international trade is of course the heart of the question or more correctly of a variety of questions at least as the impact in various ways on all of us in this room when the Japanese turn came they spoke of problems shared by the others Japan there would be no easy answers here in a Pennsylvania Foundry after a series of local labor disputes threatened the plant's Health Management and the union sat down to work out Personnel problems together so that she succeeds she fails and the whole program will work down the drain item number two on the agenda to discuss the harassment in the plants something I seem to think this is a discriminator do you have specific examples of what you're talking about Bill is more aware of what's going on down there and we've had to sift out these different problems and decide on whether they're the local union president spoke of the Union's commitment to fairness we started a program where uh the company and the union got together and started to set down some sort of guidelines on reaching some objectives fair to both parties steel workers face another problem one that not only threatens their jobs but their lives for their work is often dangerous [Music] in thousands of workplaces like this Mill in Pennsylvania Local Union safety committees conduct regular inspections to learn where the dangers exist foreign [Music] IX the union monitors its members help seeking to identify problems before they make others sick before they kill someone very good open your mouth okay back in [Music] it is a difficult problem for there are some workplaces management says are too costly to clean up forcing workers to choose between their jobs and their health it is a choice that no one should have to make it is a choice that makes them angry the attitude of the company for 25 of a cost over that don't talk to us to us right now we're busy their attitude care a whole lot that in 10 years this might kill us cost is sometimes High leaving families and friends with only memories Not only was he deeply involved with the church and the movement here he was still concerned about people and he involved himself in the labor union but EQ talked about his labor movement he talked about the union talked about his concern for the betterment of workers huh because he was a laboring man this I can admire him for AQ Evans worked 28 years in an Indiana lead smelter as president of his local he led the steel workers fight for a tougher lead standard testifying even when sick fighting on until March 15 1979. Q Evans died from complications due to lead poisoning AQ Evans did not fight alone in Washington other Steel Workers marched to back their Union as it fights for their health and safety in a senate hearing role in our statement we wish to inform this committee on one side the sponsor of a bill to weaken OSHA 53 as it relates to OSHA on the other a steel worker representative testifying to save a law that workers depend on I uh if we can limit it and Define it in terms of five percent uh I see no problem Senator I think you know we've had the hearings now going on quite a long time and I think the statistics are beginning to come through that the explanations of the clogging up of the the inspection system is based upon really a a bad misinterpretation of what other than serious citations are senator in Ontario's provincial legislature another steel worker who sits here as an elected member raises the same concerns their way question of the question of the minister of Labor be Minister aware that in the United Steel Workers attempt to trace a list of 100 workers at the old book of an operation in Hamilton that out of 35 workers they've been able to trace to date 27 have died of cancer politics very early when I realized that the companies had more influence than we've had we just haven't seen to it that some of our people with their concerns get themselves elected to the house of parliament where you do debate can you do pass the laws foreign political action has been crucial for unions since the beginning for in the 1930s Union support of Franklin Roosevelt for president made possible the passage of the Wagner Act the law that legalized the right of unorganized workers to form unions establishing the process of collective bargaining election day in the United States and Canada Steel Workers exercised their political rights at a local union phone bank a retired steel worker spoke of the difference getting involved can make an individual can voluntary services to the uh to the through the Local Union on registration to get the people membership and not only the membership but all the friends and neighbors registered so that they'll be eligible to vote it can make a big difference either electing your friends or letting your enemies be elected unless you have that participation that's what's going to happen that's what does happen hi good afternoon I'm here to take you to the polls are you ready to go but not all steel worker retirees are able to get out on their own this morning isolated often living alone they have not been forgotten by their Union this will be used somewhat as a prototype where the steel workers have taken the lead to provide for the needs of retirement through the steel workers Old-Timers Foundation [Applause] a non-profit Corporation the foundation provides retired Steel Workers with decent housing places to have a meal and live each day to the fullest retired workers are also found at union halls which serve as community centers for other senior citizens to join friends and to share common interests [Music] but the heart of the Union's work is less dramatic in thousands of locker rooms around the country local union leaders meet to solve their members problems through the grievance procedure these local officers prepare for a grievance hearing to help a worker threatened with firing because he made a mistake I can't believe it Warren Wilson deliberately operated the machine not knowing if pen was in in Calgary Steel Workers argue a similar case and a grievance hearing with management that's the investigation report there investigation report right here take a look at that we're just we're going to have to dismiss Gary and I don't think we have any other choice requiring evidence and due process the grievance procedure offers workers a fair way to solve their problems on night shifts when it happened he should have been left on day shifts during good lighting conditions he wasn't experienced on that machine another fact is the machine had faulty brakes quality breaks it had faulty breaks it's been reported to maintenance twice the business of the Union has become complex making education a high priority we have an engineer 20 years a graduate Europe here in this city right he can tell you about the Dust in this classroom Canadian steel workers participate in a mock confrontation with Management on health issues fix it up how are you going to clean it up never mind fix it up well we don't feel that it needs cleaned up that much the idea is to recreate the conditions of a real Union management meeting to learn what they could do better excuse me he says we must produce at the steel workers education center at Linden Hall in Western Pennsylvania other Steel Workers learn skills that range from International Affairs to collective bargaining to Federal Regulation the company and a healthy place for you to work [Music] there comes a time to stop a time to put away the tools and safety equipment [Music] foreign for family and fun a break a meal at Linden Hall a chance to find out what is really happening in Louisiana it's time for a cookout called a jambalaya label [Music] and in Indianapolis two steel worker locals engage in a little friendly competition [Music] as the day ends Steel Workers Gather in local union halls to conduct their Union's business through the Democratic process in another Hall the process is the same for democracy is a steel worker tradition every two years thousands of elected steel worker delegates come together to establish their Union's policies to set their unions course here every delegate has a right to a voice in the Affairs of their Union led by International officers directly elected by the Union's membership and guided by the delegates at this convention the United steelworkers of America is a truly Democratic institution with many faces many voices well I think the steel workers is about the best Union going Ellie I think it's one of the most democratic Unions that's ever been in existence the only way you have a any rights at all when you go in and punch a Time clock is to have the union with you and behind you I think without a union we will never have anything we'll always be second-class workers as long as we can work together and you know as a large number then we can achieve the goals that we set sometimes you get real discouraged if you do but generally when that happens you find out there's people up there that still behind you and they're still supporting you and they renew your faith in them there's nothing to be afraid of you have a union you have people that care you don't have to be afraid of anything all right thank you