Jane R. Gust papers

The Jane R. Gust Collection consists of materials relating to the United Food and Allied Workers, Local 626 (formerly Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen). The national union, founded in 1897, represents retail butcher shops, chain stores, meat packing and food processing plants, the fur and leather industry, retail clerks, migratory agricultural workers and sheepshearer. A large number of printed agreements in the collection illustrate much of the work Gust performed for Local 626 as business representative. Conference and convention materials show that Gust was quite active in the national union, as well as the northwest Ohio local. Several conferences were sponsored by the Committee on Political Education in order to inform union members about national issues which effected them. Gust's file pertaining to the Farm Bureau Organizing Bill (H 536) of 1977 is an example of her political involvement. Among the correspondence, newsclippings and copies of the bill is a copy of Gust's testimony before a House Committee asking for defeat of the bill because of the detrimental effect it would have on the packing industry.

Gust was also interested in the plight of migratory laborers. Several reports and published articles are contained in the collection which outline the awful conditions under which these laborers existed and the need for unionization.

As secretary-treasurer of the Health and Welfare Fund of Local 626, Gust dealt with union members' problems and concerns in collecting insurance payments. Several years of Fund correspondence and a 1975 audit report detail the work Gust performed in administering the employees' insurance plan.

As an organizer for the national union, Gust was involved in organizing many companies in northwest Ohio as well as the Gerber plant in Asheville, North Carolina in 1964. An interesting report entitled "Typical Signs and Behavior Patterns Among Employees That There is Union Organizing Activity Occurring in a Small Business," written for the Toledo Small Business Association, is included within the miscellaneous printed materials.

Also included in the collection are two banquet programs autographed by Patrick E. Gorman, whom Gust greatly admired. Gorman was international secretary-treasurer of the National Union for over fifty years. Copies of "The Butcher Workmen" for 1960 through 1979 clarify some of the political and economic concerns facing members of the meat cutters' union. This periodical was edited by Patrick Gorman.

In 1968, the Amalgamated Meat Cutters merged with the rival United Packinghouse Workers of America. A copy of the agreement is found in the collection. This merger was to signal a new era for the Meatcutters' Union and solve such problems as declining membership and a job displacement due to increasing automation.

Of special interest are a series of taped interviews of Jane Gust by Paulette Weiser who was a graduate assistant at the Center for Archival Collections at the time the collection was donated. The interviews were conducted between November 1982 and April 1983. A subject listing of these tapes is included with the finding aid.

MEMBERSHIP RECORDS; undated; arranged alphabetically. Cards contain name and address of residents of Allen, Auglaize, Cuyahoga, Defiance, Delaware, Erie, Fulton, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Huron and Logan counties. Probably Local 626 members.

MINUTES; 1974-1976; arranged chronologically. Minutes of Health and Welfare Fund Trustees of Local 626. Information on administration of Fund and problems between employees and companies.

GENERAL; 1964, 1968, 1970-1983, undated; arranged chronologically. Contains mostly correspondence of a political nature, especially letters from candidates requesting support from Local 626.

HEALTH AND WELFARE FUND; 1973-1978, undated; arranged chronologically. Correspondence of the Health and Welfare Fund of Local 626; exchanges between Gust and companies employing Local 626 members regarding premiums; also on retirement issues. 1975 correspondence pertains to passing of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

FARM BUREAU ORGANIZING BILL; 1977-1978; arranged by record group and within chronologically. Correspondence, newsclippings, and other materials pertaining to Amalgamated Meat Cutters' opposition to House Bill 536. Included are copies of the bill in its various forms and copies of testimony by various business leaders opposing the bill.

MEAT APPRENTICESHIP STANDARDS; 1965-1969; arranged by record group and within chronologically. Correspondence, booklets and Union rules for obtaining a Journeyman's card. Contains advertisement and application for Toledo Meat Cutting School.

NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE; 1973; Arranged by record group and within chronologically. Correspondence and printed materials pertaining to conference held by Amalgamated Meat Cutters; Instructional conference on voicing each local's views to their elected officials.

ORGANIZING GERBER PLANT; 1964; arranged by record group. Flyers and printed materials used by the Amalgamated Meat Cutters in organizing Gerber plant in Asheville, North Carolina; also contains various newsclippings about the Gerber company's profits.

Financial audit of 1975 records of Local 626's Health and Welfare Fund.

Business diaries of Jane Gust; contains notation of daily events and names of members with whom she met; notations on disposition of problems; phone numbers.

Billing statements to Local 626 and lists of Life Insurance premiums paid by companies employing 626 members.

Newsclippings pertaining to Union concerns; interview with Jane Gust from San Diego newspaper.

AGREEMENTS; 1947-1980; arranged alphabetically and within chronologically. Agreements between Ohio companies, such as Peter Eckrich and Heinz, and Local 626 as well as several other union locals. Also includes Local 626 Health and Welfare plan and national union pension and death benefits.

CERTIFICATES; 1963, 1969, 1979, undated; arranged chronologically. Several certificates presented to Jane Gust.

CONFERENCE MATERIALS; 1963, 1966, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1977-1978; arranged alphabetically. Proceedings and printed materials from various conferences sponsored by Amalgamated Meat Cutters, including Annual Steward's Conference and Organizer's Conference.

CONSTITUTIONS; 1952, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1982, undated; arranged alphabetically. Printed constitutions of Amalgamated Meat Cutters national union, District 2 and Local 626; also Toledo Area AFL-CIO.

CONVENTIONS; 1963, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1977; arranged alphabetically. Printed convention proceedings, resolutions, calls, and other materials from national union conventions, as well as C.O.P.E. (Committee on Political Education) and Business Agents' conventions.

GENERAL PRINTED MATERIALS; 1946, 1963-1983, undated; (Box 6, Folder 3-7; Box 7, Folder 1,8); arranged alphabetically and within chronologically. Dinner and banquet programs, including program from Jane Gust's retirement dinner. Various manuals and handbooks such as steward's training manual and a manual on how to be tactful; numerous membership and identification cards of Jane Gust's; book of poetry by Patrick E. Gorman; several pamphlets published by the AFL-CIO on organizing union locals.

NEWSLETTERS; 1945, 1963-1977; arranged alphabetically and within chronologically. Local 626 newsletters as well as newsletters from other locals; C.O.P.E. newsletters published by the national union and Group Research Report which prints articles and information of interest to union members.

REPORTS; 1959-1981, undated; arranged alphabetically and within chronologically. Various reports published by Amalgamated Meat Cutters and AFL-CIO; reports on future of meat cutters union, farm labor and a call for tougher laws pertaining to meat inspection regulations.

PERIODICALS; "The Butcher Workman." 1960, 1963, 1968-1973, 1976-1979; arranged chronologically. Periodicals published by the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen; some months missing.

"Meat."; 1963-1971. Publication for operators and managers of the meat packing industry; April 1970 issue contains interview with Patrick E. Gorman.

PUBLICATIONS; 1964, 1972, undated. Soft cover books about the meat cutters union, published by the national union: "We're the Amalgamated," "Citizens First," and "Union of the Big Shoulders."

Large photographs of conventions, many including Jane Gust; two photographs of John F. Kennedy and Patrick E. Gorman with Legislative and C.O.P.E. conference delegates in Washington, D.C.; photographs are generally unidentified and undated. Two oversize photos located in flat file drawer.

Eight master tapes and four use copy tapes containing detailed interviews between Jane Gust and interviewer Paulette Weiser regarding Jane Gust's union career.

Counter Number; Subject:

• Tape One, Side One:
• • 011 Family
  • 050 Upbringing
  • 058 Started Work at 12; 13-Tiedtke's Part-Time
  • 066 Tiedtke's
  • 079 High School
  • 110 Bunning Brass and Bronze
  • 141 Quarantined for Small Pox
  • 164 Bunning - Timekeeper
  • 181 Sexual Harassment/Favoritism - Bunning
  • 195 Produced Bushings for Car Companies
  • 214 Half Plant Women - Worked Harder, Paid Less
  • 255 How Metal Goes Through Furnace
  • 264 Isotopes for X-Raying Metal; Tensile Strength
  • 282 Marriage - 1931; Children - 3
  • 331 Child Care
  • 362 Bunning - Replaced by Returning Soldier
  • 381 Left Bunning
  • 420 Lamson's
  • 470 Krogers - 1952; Meat Wrapper
  • 491 Problems of Other Workers
  • 525 Warehouse Strike
  • 538 Tried to Bump Her for Someone Without Seniority
  • 575 Shop Steward
  • 685 Relationship With Retail Stores
  • 748 Settling Grievances
  • 792 Lawsuit at Krogers

• Tape One, Side Two:
• • 920 Active in National Union
  • 937 Negotiating Committee
  • 015 How Unions Have Changed
  • 082 Labor - Management - Citizens Committee
  • 126 How to Negotiate Contracts
  • 172 How Members Were Chosen for L-M-C.
  • 210 Autonomy of Local 626 vs. National Union
  • 292 1962 - Went to Work for Union
  • 360 Jurisdiction of Local 626
  • 403 How to Organize
  • 010 Business Representative for Local 626
  • 115 Attitude Toward Strikes
  • 155 Shouldn't Ask for Too Many Raises
  • 166 Corporations Moving Overseas
  • 179 School at International Headquarters - Training
  • 222 Discussion of Ohio Law Defeated - Unfair to Male Workers
  • 488 Physical Threats
  • 600 Views on Women's Movement

Counter Number; Subject:

• Tape Two, Side One:
• • 000 Strikes
  • 062 Organized Gerber in Asheville, North Carolina
  • 222 Problems With Holly Farms and Tyson
  • 243 Cannon Mills

• Tape Two, Side Two:
• • 267 Fair Labor Standards Act
  • 277 Strikes - Tactics
  • 319 Strike Fund
  • 339 Health and Welfare Fund
  • 444 Gerber Strike
  • 491 Many Retail Stores Organized by Gust
  • 555 Gulf States Paper Strike

Counter Number; Subject:

• Tape Three, Side One:
• • 009 Politics and Unions
  • 050 Negotiating Tactics
  • 058 Views on Cost of Living
  • 073 Labor Doesn't Manage Effectively
  • 097 Japanese Companies in U.S.
  • 103 Idea of Labor Officials as "Hoods"
  • 120 First Went to Work for 626
  • 150 Legislative Conferences - Washington, D.C.
  • 157 "Right to Work" Bill
  • 195 Roosevelt Helped Unions
  • 207 Taft - Hartley Law/Wagner Act
  • 218 Union Lobbying
  • 260 Marcy Kaptur
  • 278 Views on Relationship With Russia
  • 306 G.I. Education
  • 389 Tax Improvements
  • 525 Labor Interested in Whole Country, Not Just Union
  • 549 Union's Political Views
  • 628 Member of League of Women Voters

• Tape Three, Side Two:
• • 008 Lobbying on State Level
  • 146 Difficulties in Organizing Workers
  • 154 Industrial Sociology Class
  • 200 Writing History of Toledo Labor for AFL-CIO
  • 257 Need to Keep on Organizing
  • 296 Times Spent on Legislation/Lobbying
  • 330 Retirement
  • 354 PVC Wrap on Meats
  • 476 OSHA
  • 414 Changes in Wrapping/Health Problems
  • 459 UPC Codes
  • 497 Mexican Workers Brought in by Campbell's
  • 569 Farm Bureau Organizing Bill - 1977 (HB 536)

Counter Number; Subject:

• Tape Four, Side One:
• • 008 Lobby to Get (H 536) Defeated
  • 019 More Discussion on H 536
  • 105 Union Leaders Must Leave to Get Point Across Without Antagonism
  • 133 Toledo Labor History Full of Violence
  • 180 League of Women Voters
  • 230 Buying from Company You Work For
  • 254 Organizing a Union
  • 274 Company Lock Out
  • 290 Marcy Kaptur
  • 320 Organizing and Working at Krogers
  • 360 Public Law 78 - Migrant Workers
  • 378 Meat Cutters Legislative Conference
  • 409 Farrah Parts Strike
  • 419 Migrant Workers
  • 437 Picketing
  • 455 Recession's Effect on Labor
  • 468 Labor - Management - Citizens Council
  • 512 Speeding Up Production Causes Injury
  • 713 History of Meat Cutters Union

• Tape Four, Side Two:
• • 000 History of Amalgamated and AFL-CIO
  • 164 Organizing A & P
  • 261 Pride in Union
  • 296 Accused of Being Communists
  • 310 Merger With Retail Clerks
  • 331 Pat Gorman
  • 348 Growth of Union in Toledo
  • 383 Other Groups Gust Is Involved In
  • 444 Willys Jeep
  • 516 Ohio Status of Women Commission
  • 567 Effect of Job on Family
  • 647 Being a Woman in Her Job
  • 739 Retirement Dinner - January 14, 1978
  • 774 Depression vs. Unemployment Today-Automation and Industrialization

Various artifacts acquired by Gust at general conventions of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, including decorative engraved plates and ashtrays, paperweights, medals, ribbons, badges, pins, and cufflinks.