This Is Your Union

the worker in the average Mill M shop or factory was once a very lonely and faceless individual he was a clock number and his value was measured only in terms of productivity he was fired at the whim of the boss when his pay was cut he took it on the chin and suffered in silence but in 1936 the men and women in these Industries made up their minds to do something about their deplorable conditions they built the most powerful Union of all time the steel workers organizing committee later to become the United Steel Workers of America and Canada with the Union came dignity and recognition it brought the worker the right to speak his peace it brought a Cooperative relationship with co-workers instead of a dog eat dog existence out of the struggle to build the Union has emerged a new term industrial democracy out of the bitterness has grown a more rational Labor Management relationship which defines Mutual rights and responsibilities the key to this dramatic change is the United Steel Workers of America the union of more than a million men and women who work in the Mills mines and factories [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is the story of your union and here to tell that story is your International president David J McDonald the United Steel Workers of America is the proudest Union in the world and I might add the most useful Union because everything made by Steel Workers benefits every person in the world steel for Bridges or boats aluminum for airplanes and containers for everything imaginable let's start our story with you the member what happens from there well as you know your you're a member of a local and you elected your own Union Officers right from your plant there are 2,46 Steel Workers Local unions in the United States and Canada some of the locals have their own buildings While others will rent halls or sto rooms for meeting places what does your local do for you well it's your headquarters for your local Pro problems and grievances or your social Affairs for you but you wouldn't have a local if you didn't have a contract it's interesting I think to tell you that we have some 2,000 individually signed contracts with firms whose manufactured concerns among other things basic steel steel fabrication iron aluminum non Ferris metal and Allied manufacturing supervising all contracts is your International vice president Howard RH whose Duty it is to see that your local contract is agreeable to the wage policy established by your elected delegates in your contract Department every contract every sign by your union is kept on file some 2000 agreements and it's the job of the people in this department to know what's in those contracts too so they can put their finger right on a particular problem or a particular settlement when the occasion arises we have a Constitution which governs our rights responsibilities and privileges as union members everybody in the union is equal under that Constitution drafted at conventions by represent resentatives elected from the local membership yes this is a Democratic Union our officers are chosen by secret ballot our policies are determined by elected representatives Union negotiations are carried on by a wage policy committee elected by the local membership this is the office of John kff who serves as Administrative Assistant to IW AEL your International secretary treasurer working hand in glove with Mr AEL is Clark applebe chief of the accounting department this division has 45 employees who work with the most modern accounting machines here to help the locals keep their accounts straight is your International secretary treasurer IW AEL who is holding a staff meeting with his home office assistants he also heads a group of 10 traveling Auditors who alternate in checking the books of your local every 6 months they rotate on their audits so that one auditor is actually checking on another in addition your International retains one of the most distinguished firms of certified public accountants in the nation whose clients read like The Who's Who in big business and you're part of a big business yourself your du's money is invested in American and Canadian government bonds not one penny is invested in speculative stocks we do purchase one share of every company with whom we have a contract assuring us they're quarterly and annual reports so vital to our economists as big business has its economist so have we if your union needs to negotiate a contract we need High Caliber men men as brilliant as those associated with the steel aluminum or tin companies the duty of our economists is to figure and project the earnings and profits of the companies with whom we do business to know all about production from the mins to the finished product it's this data which is invaluable when we begin negotiating a contract when a wage increase is determined upon by an industrywide agreement our industrial Engineers headed by Elmer Malloy go to work breaking down among the 32 wage classifications it took this department 7 years of research to work out our wage and Equity program in basic steel and now they are setting it up in fabricating Steel in this way faulty wage structures are being replaced by a fair to all process of classifying jobs millions of dollars of back pay have been one for people whose work has been upgraded today steel labor and Steel Management have respect for each other and as I've so often said a mutual trusteeship for the investor unless people invest money in the companies you work for you don't have work all that we have ever asked for management is an even shake for you the men and women who make the goods that bring profits to everyone I respect the investor and so should you we're in favor of the investor getting dividends as high as humanly possible but not at your expense you're entitled to some of that money for the work you have performed some of you may have had correspondence with George readinger and kitty Dy and you might be wondering what they look like this is George riger my capable assistant and kitty DG my secretary this is Vince Sweeney your director of public relations he's working with his staff on the next issue of Steel labor which is your monthly house organ selected by experts in the field of public relations as one of the finest publications of its type you would do well to keep a breast of your union Affairs by reading steel labor from cover to cover every month for that is our major means of reaching you and keeping you informed on what's going on in addition this department handles your television programs and your printed materials such as the brochures that we issue periodically Mr Sweeney also supervises the production of these films in the international office we employ about 150 people all working to ensure a Better Living For You in the field we have about 600 staff Representatives who work with Local Union Officers Little Wonder then why we are where we are today when you see all of your American and Canadian organizers in full view Little Wonder Too why other labor organizations say the steel workers have the world's best labor organizations the Steel Workers International Organization is made up of 29 districts they have their own offices and it's here that the field men make their headquarters some staff men handle three or four local unions While others might be confined to just one large one however let's visit a simulated district office and see what the district director does here as in other districts the directors have weekly meetings with their staffs and discuss the problems of various locals perhaps the problem of one local might be solved by the experience of another an exchange of ideas not only stimulates their thinking but AIDS them in helping with the questions raised by your local the number of members in a district will range from 20,000 to more than 100,000 every District director is automatically a member of the board of directors or International executive board and every 2 months or so when I call these men to a meeting I assume the duties of chairman of the board it's here that we thrash out our national problems in regard to an increase in your wages this isn't settled by myself nor the board but by you back home at the locals you elect men from the mill and plans to the wage policy committee your representatives tell us what you want and if within reason we then set up the Machinery to bring it about wage policy committee members are elected by you for a 2-year term but let's continue to look around our offices which are set up solely to be of service to you here is John paston who heads up our negotiations for clerical and Technical workers in some companies we now have a majority of the so-called white collar workers in our Union here are our specialists in the field of Pensions insurance and hospitalization these men are Top Flight experts they know what the company can afford and they use this knowledge for your benefit they are constantly traveling All Over America dealing with every company we retain Murray Latimer the nation's best Actuarial expert to show what will be needed to do a sound job in these fields of Pensions and insurance and hospitalization he receives information from all of the companies on payroll turnover rates and other Vital Statistics your fringe benefits are the best in labor only because we never send a boy out to do a man's job your safety is Paramount in our minds at all times but safety is every man's job your safety director Frank Burke travels over the nation instituting joint safety committees at the local level staff by representatives from management and labor our safety record is good Edward Nasser is in charge of workman's compensation he's in constant touch with compensation attorneys in the various States for every state has a different workman's compensation law as an example here are the different types of booklets covering these laws one for every state and one for you so that you'll know what to expect through workman's compensation maybe you can obtain an idea by now now that your union is a good-sized organization one that's competent capable and qualified to earn the respect of the employer as well as you the employee and we want to keep it that way that's why I want to point out to you here and now that I would like you to become a part and parcel of Union work get interested in Union activities and Affairs for we're growing and we're going to need more help in running the Affairs of this Union remember the international is only as strong as its locals and its members and the ability and AC of interest that you put in at the grassroot level will be automatically reflected in our work here well on to another office that's busy working for you here's John Mullen director of our political action committee it's his job to keep you informed on the right and wrong candidates for whom to vote on issues that will affect you by wrong I mean candidates that are openly opposed to such things as improve workman's compensation pensions supplemental unemployment benefits and so forth in Washington Nordy Hoffman works with a congressman and Senators button ho holding 531 congressmen and Senators isn't exactly an easy task is the job of these men and our whole legislative Department to inform our legislators of the conditions that exist and to see that something is done about it whether it be Social Security more schools a road building program or any of aund things that will help build a better American they don't always succeed in getting their point over but they do try to inform the legislature about the steel workers Viewpoint a Viewpoint that we express because we know that it will help benefit your next door neighbor your county your state and your nation I think you know that they do a good job while I'm on the subject of congressmen and senators in fact on all political action let me remind you every year there are elections for some office be it in your community or all the way up to our National Congress to make sure that the right candidates are elected takes money when you're asked to contribute to a political action fund give willingly please because it goes to help men who have the interests of this nation at heart it's been said by some that labor is a wheel of the democratic party this is absolutely untrue and I hope labor will never be a wheel of any Party Wagon all we want to do is to try to inform you of our studied findings regarding candidates policies and issues so that you can make up your own minds on the basis of the facts actually the record will show that labor on many levels has endorsed more Republicans than the National Association of Manufacturers has endorsed Democrats and while we're in Washington let's take a look at your legal department and Arthur Goldberg General councel of the United Steel Workers of America and special counsel to the aflcio there's only one way to fight fire and that's with fire if the great and respectable corporations that do we do business with can have intelligent legal Minds then so must we and I know that in our contract negotiations management has not found our legal guidance wanting one of the Departments that I take great pride in telling you about is our educational division directed by emry bacon here you see him making plans for the college training that we give to some 20,000 men and women in 107 colleges yearly your local union officials will be glad to tell you more about this here for 2 weeks our men receive instruction in parliamentary procedure and the way to handle a grievance and so forth because through education they will become better informed citizens for their community and better informed workers for their Union as Steel Workers we're interested in the work of other Steel Workers throughout the world and how world affairs will affect all of us this is Elmer cop our Foreign Affairs director ctor who makes his headquarters in a plane or a boat his job is to scan the activities of Steel Workers and steel makers throughout the world he watches new processes new time studies and automation throughout the free steel labor World his reports come directly to me so that I in turn can inform you in addition to technical data he observes the growing strength in free count and the decline of totalitarian satellites for the time may come when even communist Russia admits that the only way to Prosperity is through free mines and free trade unions then the future steel mills of this country in drawing board stage today will be unable to meet the demand with this information we can go to the steel producers and urge them to make expansion ion plans today for tomorrow men being what they are can and must be forgiven for their thoughts but that doesn't mean we can relax our guard thus the United steer workers of America maintains a human Relations Committee as you know there are many firms that do not employ Negroes Jews or Catholics and it's our job to change all this our committee works with State groups on securing Fair Employment Practices we've made great strides in this field but the greatest classrooms to teach tolerance are the Mills where the sweat of one man blends with anothers to instill understanding well that's about the whole story I may have been brief about the various activities of each department but I did want you to have the highlights I hope that in some small way we've helped you to better realize the greatness of your union there are other unions with larger memberships but none to me so proud as us proud because the American economy depends upon us and proud too because we recognize our responsibility to the American people thank you and God bless you