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- [Manuscript Meeting Minutes Ledger of a Tennessee Boot and Shoe Workers Union Local]
[Manuscript Meeting Minutes Ledger of a Tennessee Boot and Shoe Workers Union Local]
[Manuscript Meeting Minutes Ledger of a Tennessee Boot and Shoe Workers Union Local]
A manuscript minutes booklet documenting 1964-1970 meetings of Local 752 of the Boot and Shoe Workers Union (BSWU) composed of employees of the St. Louis-based Brown Shoe Co. at its factory in Dyer, Tennessee. The entries are dense and detailed with content not limited to mundane handling of expenses, names of new and departing members, detailed internal wage negotiations, represented departments, etc....
Founded in 1875, Brown was once the largest shoe manufacturer in the country. It opened its Dyer plant in about 1941 and was the principal employer in the small town of about 2,000 residents in the northwest corner of the state until it was closed by a 1995 restructuring which saw the company cease all remaining manufacturing in The United States.
This ledger captures a particularly volatile time in the American shoe industry as imported offerings flooded the domestic consumer market and unions struggled to resist layoffs and wage reductions as a result. Highlights include brief mention of a publicized November, 1965 wildcat strike at the plant (which the Local did not support), detailed terms and negotiations for a new contract from the beginning of 1966, enduring struggles to recruit and maintain membership (it appears to have been an open shop), etc...
A dense and valuable glimpse into the internal operations of a BSWU Local in the South with association to one of St. Louis' most prominent corporations during the profound domestic manufacturing decline of the 1960's and 1970's.
[Unions] : [Labor] : [Manuscripts]. [Manuscript Meeting Minutes Ledger of a Tennessee Boot and Shoe Workers Union Local]. [Dyer, Tennessee]: (1964-1970). Approximately 12" x 7 1/2" commercial ledger. Grey cloth over ink decorated boards (with title "DAY BOOK" to front) with smooth maroon cloth over corners. 152 numbered pages with entries in a manuscript ink cursive to rectos and versos of all, in several different hands. Single leaf perished (pp.115-116), otherwise sound, highly legible, and solidly very good.
A manuscript minutes booklet documenting 1964-1970 meetings of Local 752 of the Boot and Shoe Workers Union (BSWU) composed of employees of the St. Louis-based Brown Shoe Co. at its factory in Dyer, Tennessee. The entries are dense and detailed with content not limited to mundane handling of expenses, names of new and departing members, detailed internal wage negotiations, represented departments, etc....
Founded in 1875, Brown was once the largest shoe manufacturer in the country. It opened its Dyer plant in about 1941 and was the principal employer in the small town of about 2,000 residents in the northwest corner of the state until it was closed by a 1995 restructuring which saw the company cease all remaining manufacturing in The United States.
This ledger captures a particularly volatile time in the American shoe industry as imported offerings flooded the domestic consumer market and unions struggled to resist layoffs and wage reductions as a result. Highlights include brief mention of a publicized November, 1965 wildcat strike at the plant (which the Local did not support), detailed terms and negotiations for a new contract from the beginning of 1966, enduring struggles to recruit and maintain membership (it appears to have been an open shop), etc...
A dense and valuable glimpse into the internal operations of a BSWU Local in the South with association to one of St. Louis' most prominent corporations during the profound domestic manufacturing decline of the 1960's and 1970's.
[Unions] : [Labor] : [Manuscripts]. [Manuscript Meeting Minutes Ledger of a Tennessee Boot and Shoe Workers Union Local]. [Dyer, Tennessee]: (1964-1970). Approximately 12" x 7 1/2" commercial ledger. Grey cloth over ink decorated boards (with title "DAY BOOK" to front) with smooth maroon cloth over corners. 152 numbered pages with entries in a manuscript ink cursive to rectos and versos of all, in several different hands. Single leaf perished (pp.115-116), otherwise sound, highly legible, and solidly very good.