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- Description:
- Harry E. Lester, a former district director for the United Steelworkers of America, talks about his labor and political activism in southeast Michigan, his childhood in West Virginia, coming to Michigan in 1953 to work for Ford, later working at Mclouth Steel and joining union Local 2659. He talks about why he became active in the union, receiving labor law training at Michigan State University, establishing a teachers union in Gibraltar, MI, and labor education programs at several state universities. He says that he had a difficult time transitioning from being a "gladiator type" of fighter for the workers to becoming a bridge builder. Lester is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor emeritus of Labor and Industrial Relations.
- Date Issued:
- 2013-07-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Ken Germanson, Allied Industrial Workers international union staff member, AIW newspaper editor, and president of the Wisconsin Labor History Society (WLHS), talks with Michigan State University Labor and Industrial Relations Professor Emeritus John Revitte via telephone. They discuss pending labor conferences at which they they hope to present, the founding of WLHS, AIW members and leaders they know and the varied attitudes among workers about unions. They also talk about the division among labor activists and anti-war activists in the late 1960s and early 70s and how that played to management's advantage, early socialists and how some of them were racist while others were pro-civil rights and other possible topics they might discuss in the future, including health and safety, collective bargaining, pensions and plant closings.
- Date Issued:
- 2018-04-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Harry E. Lester, a former district director for the United Steelworkers of America, talks about his labor and political activism in southeast Michigan, his childhood in West Virginia, coming to Michigan in 1953 to work for Ford, later working at Mclouth Steel and joining union Local 2659. He talks about why he became active in the union, receiving labor law training at Michigan State University, establishing a teachers union in Gibraltar, MI, and labor education programs at several state universities. He says that he had a difficult time transitioning from being a "gladiator type" of fighter for the workers to becoming a bridge builder. Lester is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor emeritus of Labor and Industrial Relations.
- Date Issued:
- 2013-07-17T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Ken Germanson, Allied Industrial Workers international union staff member, AIW newspaper editor, and president of the Wisconsin Labor History Society (WLHS), talks with Michigan State University Labor and Industrial Relations Professor Emeritus John Revitte via telephone. They discuss pending labor conferences at which they they hope to present, the founding of WLHS, AIW members and leaders they know and the varied attitudes among workers about unions. They also talk about the division among labor activists and anti-war activists in the late 1960s and early 70s and how that played to management's advantage, early socialists and how some of them were racist while others were pro-civil rights and other possible topics they might discuss in the future, including health and safety, collective bargaining, pensions and plant closings.
- Date Issued:
- 2018-04-04T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection