Calumet Regional Archives

Inventory

6.76 Linear Feet
February 1984
Revised February 2000
Revised March 2003

Introduction

The Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union, Local 210 Records, were deposited in the Calumet Regional Archives in 1976.

Property rights in the collection are held by the Calumet Regional Archives. Literary rights are dedicated to the public. There are no restrictions on access to the collection.

Linear feet of shelf space: 6.76 linear feet
Number of containers: 7 boxes
Calumet Regional Archives Collection 081
Processed By: Stephen McShane
Date: February, 1984

Scope and Content

These records document the history of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union, Local 210, in Hammond, Indiana, from 1933 to 1961. The collection largely pertains to the affiliation period with the earlier Oil Workers International Union.

A series of minutes (1933-1946) generated by the Sinclair Group within the local contains attendance records, election results, and appointments to committees studying seniority, wages, by-laws,--and actions of the District Council. The minutes offer information on the Group's strategy to deal with various problems and grievances, including layoffs, job classifications, seniority, and "sharing the work." In addition, they detail numerous complaints filed by members against the company and the status of those complaints. Several motions recorded in the minutes deal with company "pressure" exerted on workers, preparation for strikes and strike votes, and discussion of agreements negotiated by the International. Also, minutes of special meetings called by specific departments e.g. Mechanics or Boilermakers reveal issues pertaining to their particular situations. Finally, the series includes minutes of the Sinclair Nationwide Council. Financial reports, committee appointments and reports, elections, and resolutions constitute these records which offer insight into the problems of other Oil Workers International Union locals around the nation and illustrate the members' reliance on each other for advice on dealing with management.

Although the minutes reflect the activities and interests of the membership, they often lack substance and appear incomplete. In addition, the series fails to represent other company groups in Local 210.

Next, correspondence from the Sinclair Group and Shell Group (1936-1950) encompasses complaints of members, inter- organization communications, some worker discipline reports, announcements of meetings, seniority lists, and job-openings. The correspondence provides data on local elections, negotiations, agreements, and pension plans. Similar records retained in the International correspondence ( 1935 -1947) concern arbitrations, strikes, strategy to work with management, wage rates, hours, vacations, classifications, agreement interpretations, and labor's conduct during the Second World War. A portion of the correspondence comprises communications between the refineries and the local, highlighting topics such as wage disputes, seniority, changes in the production process and hours, and impact of WWII defense production on the oil industry. Also, the discussions of management prerogative in work assignments and the union's responses appear in the correspondence. Finally, local to local correspondence (1936-1942) contains inquiries directed to Local 210 from other OWIU locals regarding wages, hours, working conditions, physical plant, grievance procedures, union philosophy, agreements, and problems with non-union workers. The entire correspondence series furnishes substantial information on the daily activities, concerns, and issues faced by the oil workers in the 1930's and 1940's.

Complaints (1936-1948) portray particular problems involved in worker-manager relations at the point of production. The complaint forms detail the worker's name, supervisor, and the worker's grievance against the company or supervisor. These documents often contain management's reply and the outcome of any action taken by the local or the company. Complaints about working conditions, layoffs, wages, and foremen constitute the majority of grievances.

Besides the major series described above, the collection contains samples of Local 210's agreements with several refineries in Hammond and East Chicago, along with lists of wage rates, seniority statements, and job bulletins. The records include legal summaries of several labor cases involving the local, including a dispute within the Local 210 offices (the Anne Baciu case) and an investigation of an alleged member of the Communist Party (the L.L Meskimer report). Finally, printed material from the O.W.I.U., C.I.O., and N.W. L.B. furnishes useful information on organized labor in the oil industry during the 1930's and 1940's.

The Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union, Local 210 Records, may of particular interest to anyone desiring information on oil workers, the oil industry, and organized labor in the Calumet Region in a crucial period of labor history. Other labor collections held by the Archives include the United Steelworkers of America Collection (CRA 013), the U.S Steel Photograph Collection (CRA 042), the Hammond Teachers Federation Records (CRA 072), the Orval Kincaid Collection (CRA 091), the George Kimbly Papers (CRA 092), the USWA Local 1010 Records (CRA 115), the John Oglesby Papers (CRA 119), the USWA Local 1011 Records (CRA 121), the William Kranz Papers (CRA 122), the Samuel Evett Papers (CRA 137), the Peter Calacci Papers (CRA 138) the John Howard Papers (CRA 141), the USWA Local 1066 Records (CRA 144), the Gary Newspaper Guild Records (CRA 148), the John Mayerik Papers (CRA 168), and the Fosty Bella Papers (CRA 177).

Historical Sketch

The history of OCAWIU, Local 210 began in 1933 during the movement to organize the oil workers in the Calumet Region. Led by the Lake County Central Labor Council, the Building Trades Council, and the American Federation of Labor, the organizing campaign culminated in a general mass meeting at the Gary Labor Temple in July. This event led to an oil workers gathering at the Hammond Labor Temple on July 26, and by July 28, 1933 Hammond Local 210 became a chartered member of the International Association of Oil Workers and the largest northern oil workers union.

Aided by the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act's Section 7a, guaranteeing the right to organize and bargain collectively, the unionization drive grew stronger in the Calumet Region by the fall of 1933. On September 1, over 300 membership pledges were secured at a mass rally at the Slovenski Dom in Whiting, Indiana; this event represented the most successful I.A.O.W. membership rally in northwest Indiana during the 1930's.

Local 210's organizing efforts centered on the production floor of the refineries. The Socony plant's organization committee consisted of a group of long-employed workers demanding increases in wages, job security, and paid vacation. Although the company initially refused to recognize the committee, the threat of a strike in 1934 resulted in a memorandum of terms between the company and Local 210. This victory was the first successful plant organization enjoyed by the local. East Chicago's Sinclair and Shell refineries soon organized while the Cities Service plant continued to oppose organizing activity.

Although the workers at the area's refineries were organized, the major oil companies avoided recognition of the I.A.O.W. and Local 210 until the 1934 strike threat. In delicate negotiations between the I.A.O.W. and Harry Sinclair (including Local 210's cooperation by postponing two strike votes), and with the help of Harold Ickes' wage rate proposal, a strike was avoided and an agreement reached with the Sinclair Company. With Sinclair's recognition of the IAOW, Shell, Cities Service, and Socony soon followed suit, and only Standard Oil remained union free. Local 210 claimed to have organized 92% of the total oil work force among the Calumet Region's four major refineries. Local 210's successful unionization drive resulted in improved wages, better vacation and health benefits, and strict seniority and job classifications.

Because of the oil industry's geographic isolation and dispersion, organization campaigns encountered problems of covering all plants with individual locals. To resolve this difficulty, Local 210 aided workers in northern cities to organize their refineries (such as in Lockport and Lawrenceville, Illinois). 210's cooperative efforts led to the formation of I.A.O.W. District Six to facilitate unionization in the Midwest. Further cooperation appeared under 210's guidance with the establishment of industry-wide councils, such as the Sinclair, Cities Service, and Texaco Nation Wide Councils. Both-the districts and councils gave strength, unity, and coordination of union dealings with management across the country.

Several founding members of Local 210 later became national officers of the I.A.O.W. (the I.A.O.W. became the Oil Workers International Union in 1936). For example, O.A. "Jack" Knight worked as a stillman at the Shell refinery in East Chicago and became the IAOW president in 1940. Local 210's first financial secretary, E.C. Conarty, became secretary-treasurer of the I.A.O.W. in 1935. Ben Schafer became the first director of District Six, and George Hoffman formulated the rank and file philosophy prevalent in the international.

Throughout its history, Local 210 has been guided by strong maintenance of the voice of rank and file members. This strength, the planning skills of the local's leadership, and the tenacity of the membership, influenced the direction of the international oil workers' union and led to successful organizing campaigns in the Calumet Region which were virtually free of excessive violence during the turbulent unionization era of the 1930's.

Subject Tracings

• American Maize Company
• East Chicago
• Hammond
• Labor
• National War Labor Board (NWLB)
• Oil industry
• Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union Local 210
• Oil workers
• Refineries
• Shell Oil Company
• Sinclair Oil Corporation
• Steel
• Strikes
• Unions
• World War II
• Wages