United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum, and Plastic Workers of America. Local 19: Records, 1933-1994
Content Description
Records of the labor union representing rubber workers and office employees of the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company's Eau Claire plant. The union was formed in 1933 as Federal Labor Union #18684 when the plant was operated by the Gillette Tire Company (later United States Rubber Company). In 1935 it became Local 19 of the United Rubber Workers of America (CIO), later the United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum, and Plastic Workers of America (URCLPWA). The plant was closed in 1991, following the purchase of Uniroyal Goodrich by Michelin. The records document the formation and development of the union, the history of collective bargaining and the settlement of grievances at the Eau Claire plant, labor relations from 1942 to 1943 when the plant was operated as an ordnance factory by U.S. Rubber on behalf of the government, the functioning of a departmental level union committee, and finally, the plant closing and its impact. The records consist of arbitration case files containing briefs, exhibits, and decisions; minutes of executive board, international policy committee, and general business meetings; minutes of grievance and contract meetings held with the company; contracts and local agreements; financial statements; and minutes and financial records of the Tire Finishing and Inspection Department union committee. Also included are copies of the union's 1977 constitution and by-laws, the 1990 uniform agreement with Uniroyal Goodrich, a detailed history of the union from 1917 to 1938, printed URCLPWA reports on the rubber industry in 1948 and 1949, job descriptions, and a history and records of the Rubber Workers Club. There are also subject, chronological, and litigation files concerning the plant closing.
This collection is arranged in two parts. Part 1 consists of the original collection organized in 1995; its materials date 1933-1991. Part 2 consists of additions presented to the Archives and organized in 1998; these materials span 1933-1994 but mainly date after 1986.
Records in PART 1 of Local 19 of the United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum, and Plastic Workers of America consist of four subseries, BACKGROUND INFORMATION, ARBITRATION RECORDS, MINUTES, and TIRE FINISHING AND INSPECTION DEPARTMENT RECORDS. The records thoroughly document the formation, growth and development of the union from 1933 to 1938; and contract negotiations and the settlement of grievances with Uniroyal, Inc. (later Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company) from 1946 to 1987. Records also document the role of the union in the community, its relationship to other state, regional, and national labor organizations, and the impact of changing technologies and economic conditions in the tire industry on the labor force.
The most notable item in the BACKGROUND INFORMATION is a 1979 MA thesis by Donald E. Severson detailing the formation of United Rubber Workers Local #19 and its predecessor, Federal Labor Union 18684; the union's activities and demands; and the rubber industry and labor relations prior to 1937-1938. Additional information about wages, benefits, employment, profits and sales in the rubber industry during the late 1940s is available in reports prepared by the national URCLPWA research department.
Records documenting the history of collective bargaining and grievance settlement at the Eau Claire plant are divided between the records of Uniroyal Inc. (Eau Claire Mss CB) and the records of Local #19. Uniroyal Inc. records contain contract negotiation files and grievance case files. Grievances which reached the arbitration stage are documented in the records of Local #19. The ARBITRATION RECORDS consist of hearing files and indexes to cases and decisions. The hearing files contain briefs and exhibits prepared by the company and the union and the umpire's decision in the case. Exhibits often consisted of diagrams, photographs, flow charts, employment records, job standard bulletins, and other company forms which provide significant evidence of the tire manufacturing process, working conditions in a tire factory, and the functioning of the Eau Claire Plant. The hearing files are arranged in rough chronological order by decision number which corresponded, after 1950, to the date the decision was issued and the name of the arbitrator who reviewed the case. Often more than one decision was issued in a single day, although for some years, no grievances were referred to arbitration. Arbitration hearings for four cases involving the Office Workers Unit of Local 19 from 1953 to 1964 are filed last. The hearing files are preceded by an index to arbitration cases for all United States Rubber Company/Uniroyal plants from 1947 to 1982. The index lists cases by subject and date of decision and includes a synopsis of each case and its outcome.
The formation, administration, activities, and finances of Local #19 are well documented in the MINUTES of executive board meetings, business meetings, and meetings held with company representatives. From September 1933 to May 1943, notes and minutes of all three types of meetings are combined in seven bound volumes in chronological order and filed as general minutes. After 1943 there are separate sets of typewritten minutes for business meetings and meetings with the company; and for executive board meetings beginning in 1946. Each set of minutes is preceded by an index to subjects or actions taken.
Local #19's executive board was comprised of the president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, guide, and guard plus three additional persons also elected by the general membership. The board functioned mainly as an advisory body which presented its recommendations to the membership at business meetings, which were then subject to a vote. The regular membership could also accept, reverse, or override decisions and actions of the executive board. Topics of executive board meetings included administration and finances, legislation and political activity, grievances, transfer requests, and the findings of various committees and investigations requested by the board. Meetings prior to 1951 were held weekly, but after 1951 the meetings were less frequent. Minutes from 1939 to 1945 are missing.
Business meetings were held weekly for the most part and attended by officers and interested members. Minutes document the election of officers and delegates to various conventions, the presentation of financial, committee, and executive board reports, the initiation of new members, discussions and votes on issues brought before the membership, and the union's social, community, and political activities. Local leaders in the farm, labor and cooperative movements often addressed the meetings, and communications or reports from the international or labor press were read to the membership. Early minutes reflect the union's concerted efforts to expand its membership, obtain higher wages, enforce seniority, influence legislation, and maintain a secure financial base. Minutes from 1942 to 1943 document the activities of the union during the time that rubber production was restricted and the Eau Claire plant was operated as an ordnance factory by the United States Rubber Company on behalf of the government. At issue were extensive layoffs, the observance of seniority rights and conflicts with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) over the hiring of union members for plant conversion and construction work. Interfiled with the minutes of regular business meetings are records of occasional mass meetings and special meetings. Minutes from May 1943 to November 1946 are mostly missing with the exception of a few scattered meetings.
Meetings with the company primarily document grievances and contract negotiations and include meetings between the Local 19 executive board and company representatives, and between union department chairmen, stewards or committeemen, and the company. Minutes from 1933 to 1938 reflect the union's effort to secure a 100 percent union shop, recognition of Local #19 as the exclusive bargaining agent, observance of seniority, dues check-off, and a written contract with the Gillette Tire Company. In addition to grievances and contract negotiations, minutes from the 1980s reflect the phasing out of off-road and bias tires, increasing radial production, cost-cutting measures such as union give-backs, lay-offs and job combining, and in 1986 the merger between B.F. Goodrich and Uniroyal Inc. There is also a separate file documenting meetings between cafeteria workers and the company. Minutes from 1939 to 1945 are missing. Company records of contract negotiations from 1940 to 1960 and grievance cases from 1944 to 1976 are available in Eau Claire Mss CB.
INSPECTION AND FINISHING DEPARTMENT RECORDS consist mainly of minutes and agendas of department-level union meetings. Included are minutes of general inspection and finishing department meetings, meetings of the department committee, and meetings with the company mostly concerning grievances, production schedules, work rules or departmental agreements, safety and working conditions, transfers, and department finances. Until 1981, there are only minutes of annual department meetings chaired by the department steward. After 1981 meetings were held more frequently to discuss grievances, working conditions, work rules, repairs and safety devices, and department agreements on policies such as overtime, transfers, bumping, shift changes and the like. In 1983, task forces on improving quality and efficiency were established in the department, and agendas and minutes of these meetings also appear here. Some joint meetings with the shipping department were held to resolve inter-departmental grievances. There is some material regarding the implementation of TQM and Quality Circles in the inspection and finishing department in 1984 and 1985. Other company programs reflected in the minutes include cost relief measures in 1977, JSIP (job security investment), ECAP (employee cost adjustment) and “radialization” or conversion to radial tire production in the early 1980s. After 1985, filed with the minutes and agendas are seniority lists, monthly production schedules for finishing and inspecting tires, data on number of persons employed on each job in the department (called personnel requirements), some company and union notices, memoranda of agreement, and records of transfers. Following the minutes are detailed records of quarterly collections for various funds administered by the department and records of expenditures from the funds. The three accounts, the lunch, retirement, and chairmen and stewards funds, appear to have been expended mainly on refreshments for meetings, party supplies, and retirement gifts. Records include the amounts collected from individual members of the department, totals collected from each shift per quarter, and annual summaries of collections.
Records in PART 2, 1933-1992 (mainly 1986-1992), consist of correspondence, meeting minutes, grievances, negotiations, agreements, contracts, and clippings. The bulk of Part 2 consists of materials prepared for or related to Local 19's unsuccessful lawsuit against the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company (UGT) after they announced the closure of the Eau Claire plant in 1991. One month after the closure was completed, the union accepted a $2.88 million settlement and dropped the suit. There are also files related to a second lawsuit in which Local 19's lawyer, Michael Shaw, sued for a portion of the settlement. Related photographs are at the Chippewa Valley Museum, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Part 2 consists of the following subseries: BACKGROUND MATERIALS; ARBITRATION RECORDS; MEETING MINUTES; NEGOTIATIONS, AGREEMENTS, AND CONTRACTS; MISCELLANEOUS LOCAL 19 OFFICE FILES; CLOSURE OF EAU CLAIRE PLANT; URW v. UNIROYAL GOODRICH TIRE COMPANY-- CLOSURE LITIGATION; and MICHAEL SHAW v. LOCAL 19.
BACKGROUND MATERIALS include union records of the World War II-era, including records of the Rubber Workers Club, as well as later Club records, Local 19 financial statements, and plant job descriptions. Most folders include 2-3 departments; the folder title indicates the highest department number described in that folder.
ARBITRATION RECORDS consist of grievance review records.
MEETING MINUTES are those of the executive board, international policy committee, union local, and meetings with the company.
The NEGOTIATIONS, AGREEMENTS, AND CONTRACTS subseries includes general company-wide contracts and local agreements. The 1988 agreement was in force when the plant closed, and both the lawsuit and final settlement were based on this agreement. The final effects bargain, phase down agreement, etc., are to be found in this series rather than the closure series.
MISCELLANEOUS LOCAL 19 OFFICE FILES include newspaper clippings, 1983-1992, Total Quality Performance materials, and files on pension-related and employee benefits issues.
The CLOSURE OF EAU CLAIRE PLANT subseries consists of miscellaneous, subject and chronological files. The subject files and chronological files are in their original order and have been kept together rather than moving the lawsuit files to the lawsuit series. The main difference between the closure files and the lawsuit files is that the subject files do not include legal documents, and cover more topics than just the lawsuit. These may have been the files of Darrel Wekkin or Jack Zais, two union officials.
UNITED RUBBER WORKERS v. UNIROYAL GOODRICH TIRE COMPANY--CLOSURE LITIGATION (URW v. UGT) subseries consists of court documents, as well as miscellaneous related office files and numbered index files. Most of the series contains financial information on the three companies, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reports, etc.
The court documents by subject and number (probably discovery documents) retain the original order of two original numbered sets. Miscellaneous court documents were originally not foldered, and have been loosely grouped in numerical order. The indexed files contain information about both lawsuits, but more on URW v. UGT. These files retain original numerical order. Index lists are found at beginning of each file, and the index list number is noted on each file folder.
MICHAEL SHAW v. LOCAL 19 subseries mainly consists of court documents and legal correspondence.
Dates
- Creation: 1933-1994
Creator
- United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum, and Plastic Workers of America. Local 19 (Eau Claire, Wis.) (Organization)
Access Restrictions
Collection is open to the public.
Use Restrictions
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. For more information regarding the copyright status of this collection please contact the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Biographical/Historical Note
1917: Gillette (Safety) Tire Company formed by R.B. Gillette in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
1919: Gillette workers organize as Rubber Workers Union #16454.
1929: Wage incentive plan (Bedaux system) initiated.
1933: Gillette workers form Federal Labor Union No.18684.
1935: International Union of United Rubber Workers of America formed. Federal Labor Union No.18684 becomes Local #19.
1936: United Rubber Workers of America affiliates with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). First major successful strike of the Rubber Workers takes place against Goodyear in Akron, Ohio.
1937: Recognition of URWA Local #19 as collective bargaining agent for wage employees at Eau Claire plant.
1938: First written contract between Local #19 and Gillette.
1940: U.S. Rubber acquires Gillette.
1942: U.S. Rubber sells the plant to the U.S. government and converts the plant to an ordnance factory.
1943: Election of Local #19 as bargaining agent for Eau Claire plant office workers.
1944: Reconversion of the Eau Claire plant back to tire production. National War Labor Relations Board orders voluntary check off, maintenance of membership, and weekly pay period in response to union demands.
1945: URWA changes to the United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America (URCLPWA).
1947: Local #19 votes to establish a consumers' cooperative.
1969: #1 Banbury automated.
1974: Management implements cost cutting measures which eliminate overtime.
1975: URW Local 19 workers give company a million dollars in concessions for capital investment in Eau Claire plant.
1977: Cost relief programs implemented.
1981: Management implements JSIP (job security investment program). Giant-off-the-road (GOTR) and monoply truck tires phased out of production. Conversion to radial tire production “radialization.” Plant slated for shutdown (again)--no equipment to make radial tires, which the market demands. 25 million dollars in concessions to company for new equipment.
1982: ECAP (employee cost adjustment program) implemented.
1983: Total Quality Management concepts introduced at Eau Claire. Concession of $1.25 per hour to make radial tire production possible at plant.
1985: Clayton and Dubilier Inc., a New York based private investment firm that specializes in managed buyouts, buys Uniroyal Inc. (according to union lawsuit time line; not mentioned in Wall Street Journal however).
1986: Merger of B.F. Goodrich and Uniroyal to form Uniroyal Goodrich.
1987: B.F. Goodrich sells its half share of Uniroyal Goodrich Tire (UGT) to Clayton and Dubilier Inc. Buyout financed through 560 million dollars in high-risk high-yielding junk bonds issued by Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. Uniroyal CEO gets a 1.6 million dollar bonus.
1988: Contract includes many “give backs” to save the company money and prevent plant closing. Workers give back 63 cents per hour, and waive one week vacation and 3 paid holidays--concessions totaling somewhere between $14 million and $41 million. In return they receive a guarantee that the plant will not be closed in the next 3 years, as well as a Stock Appreciation Rights (SAR) program.
1989: Michelin Tire Corporation buys UGT from Clayton and Dubilier for about $690 million ($1.5 billion including the company's debt). Eau Claire City Council approves a $2 million loan, in return for a promise the plant will be kept open until March 1991. Company also received $920,000 federal grant (Title IX).
1990: Michelin acquisition approved by U.S. Department of Justice. Temporary 10 percent layoff at plant. Uniroyal Goodrich purchased by Michelin.
1991: On January 8, UGT announces it will close the plant in 1992. Phase out plan includes stopping radial tire production in July 1991 (with a loss of 500-600 jobs), and eliminating all other jobs in 1992.
1992: Local 19 files a lawsuit against UGT, Michelin, and Clayton and Dubilier, seeking $145 million plus triple damages. First attorney Jack Blum is replaced by Michael Shaw.
June 26--final closure date.
July 11--Local 19 drops lawsuit after accepting $2.88 million settlement. Final vote 201 to 198.
April--Michael Shaw is fired as attorney and sues the union for unpaid legal fees and a share of the settlement. Union claims settlement was part of 1988 contract, in which Shaw was not involved. Shaw loses suit. A countersuit in which the Local accuses Shaw of filing a “frivolous” suit is won by Shaw.
Extent
33 Linear Feet (83 archives boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Summary
Records of the labor union representing rubber workers and office employees of the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company's Eau Claire plant. The union was formed in 1933 as Federal Labor Union #18684 when the plant was operated by the Gillette Tire Company (later United States Rubber Company). In 1935 it became Local 19 of the United Rubber Workers of America (CIO), later the United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum, and Plastic Workers of America (URCLPWA). The plant was closed in 1991, following the purchase of Uniroyal Goodrich by Michelin. The records document the formation and development of the union, the history of collective bargaining and the settlement of grievances at the Eau Claire plant, labor relations from 1942 to 1943 when the plant was operated as an ordnance factory by U.S. Rubber on behalf of the government, the functioning of a departmental level union committee, and finally, the plant closing and its impact. The records consist of arbitration case files containing briefs, exhibits, and decisions; minutes of executive board, international policy committee, and general business meetings; minutes of grievance and contract meetings held with the company; contracts and local agreements; financial statements; and minutes and financial records of the Tire Finishing and Inspection Department union committee. Also included are copies of the union's 1977 constitution and by-laws, the 1990 uniform agreement with Uniroyal Goodrich, a detailed history of the union from 1917 to 1938, printed URCLPWA reports on the rubber industry in 1948 and 1949, job descriptions, and a history and records of the Rubber Workers Club. There are also subject, chronological, and litigation files concerning the plant closing.
Wisconsin Historical Society Descriptive Finding Aid
A duplicate copy of the information in this finding aid is also available through the Wisconsin Historical Society: Register of the United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum, and Plastic Workers of America. Local 19: Records, 1933-1992
Acquisition Information
Presented by URCLPWA Local 19, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 1951, by URCLPWA Local 19 via Gary Stene, Colfax, Wisconsin, 1993 and 1997; and by Marie House, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 1994.
Accession Number
M93-172, M94-349, M98-140
Processing Note
Processed by Cindy Knight, 1995, and by Myrna Williamson and Sally Jacobs, 1998.
Subject
- Gillette Rubber Company (Eau Claire, Wis.) (Organization)
- Gillette Safety Tire Company (Eau Claire, Wis.) (Organization)
- Rubber Workers Club (Eau Claire, Wis.) (Organization)
- Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company (Eau Claire, Wis.) (Organization)
- United States Rubber Company. (Organization)
- Status
- Published
- Author
- Stephanie Much
- Date
- February 22, 2024
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Eau Claire Area Research Center, McIntyre Library, UW-Eau Claire Repository
103 Garfield Avenue
Eau Claire Wisconsin 54701 United States
715-836-2739
library.archives@uwec.edu