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DETROIT 1937: From CadillacSquare to Hamtramck, from downtownhotels to Ford’s River Rouge plant, work-ers have energized southeastern Michiganthis year with their demands for justice,job security, and wages they can live on.
Throughout the spring, sitdowns andstrikes by workers seeking to unionizeswept through auto and parts plants, de-partment stores, restaurants, hotels, cigarfactories and other workplaces, followingthe lead of workers in Flint who won theirfirst contract February 11 after a sitdownstrike that began December 30. “The rev-olution is here,” one worried business ex-ecutive declared.
The media estimate that 35,000 work-ers have sat down on the job, while100,000 more have walked picketlinesoutside. In all, nearly 130 factories, of-fices, and stores have been struck — somefor as long as six weeks.
Even the media themselves haven’tbeen spared. Sixty-five printing pressmensat down at the Detroit News, costing thepaper three editions in a successful fightfor better working conditions. The Newsbegan running a daily box score of “plantsclosed by sit-downs or lockouts.”
Organizing victories abounded. ByApril, the UAW’s membership was nearlya quarter-million, while the Detroit Fed-eration of Labor reported that 16,000 newmembers and 17 new affiliates had signedup as of June.
150,000 JOIN RALLYLabor’s rising spirit was most evident
at a mass rally of 150,000 workers inCadillac Square March 23 supporting thesitdown strikers’ cause.
Many at the rally recalled how just fiveyears earlier, thousands had marched ina funeral procession nearby for the work-ers shot and killed at what has becomeknown as the Ford Hunger March, whenpeaceful protesters went to Ford’s Rougeplant petitioning for relief and health carefor Depression-hit unemployed.
“We came for bread,” one HungerMarch veteran recalled, in the words of afuneral sign. “Ford fed us bullets.”
Underscoring the challenges still feltby workers five years later was the sightof bloodied UAW organizers at the MillerRoad overpass in Dearborn this past May26, when company goons under the di-rection of Harry Bennett beat up autoworkers seeking to distribute unionleaflets.
SUPPORT KEEPS GROWINGAs workers keep organizing, support
for their efforts has been growing in manyquarters including the religious commu-nity.
At the Howard Street Mission, a home-less shelter downtown, the Rev. LewisBradford, a Methodist minister, broad-cast a radio show, The Forgotten Man’sHour, on WXYZ every Thursday, inter-viewing the homeless and unemployed,bringing their stories to the public.
Bradford had left his job as a full-timeminister with its guaranteed income be-cause, he said, he felt his calling was towork with poor and working people. Heand his wife, Ella, came to Detroit to seekmedical aid for his daughter, Little Ella.
He went to work at the Department ofPublic Welfare, visiting Hoovervilles andtrying to help jobless and homeless work-ers. His family reported that one day onhis way home from work, he gave awayhis last dollar, only to come home to findthere was no food in the house.
His radio show was a welcome coun-terpoint to the radio show of another manof the cloth, the Rev. Charles Coughlin ofRoyal Oak. Coughlin’s Hour of Powershow on WJR, unlike Bradford’s, has tak-en an angry tone, declaring that “inter-national financiers,” code words for Jews,are behind the nation’s economic travails.
TRAGEDY AT FORDIn 1936, Bradford went to work at the
Ford River Rouge plant, both to earnmoney for surgery needed by Little Ella,and to try to bridge the gap he saw grow-ing between labor and management.
“Father wanted to establish an Insti-
tute of Human Relations” at the plant, ex-plained his son Curtis. “He thought thatwith a personal understanding of themen, he might be able to set up a spiri-tual approach to their problems.” He hadbeen disturbed to see how Ford worker,once they went through the plant gate,had seemed to change personality, be-coming suspicious and hostile. Theyworked under constant surveillance byHarry Bennett’s Service Department, towhom any sign of unionism could meaninstant dismissal.
On November 25, Bradford tried to setup a meeting between plant officials andvisiting British social reformer MurielLester, but was rebuffed. That night, Ellareceived a threatening phone call at 1:30a.m.
Two days later, Bradford was found un-conscious on the shop floor in a remotepart of the Rouge. He never regained con-sciousness and died three days later atthe age of 51.
His foreman, appearing nervous in ameeting with Ella, told her that her hus-band had fallen, adding “everybody’s got-ta die sometime,” she reported. “I had allthat I could do to keep from screaming athim hysterically, and tell him he was ly-ing and he knew it.”
Ella could not even get a copy of theautopsy report, which could have con-firmed her suspicions of foul play.
Funeral services were held at theHoward Street Mission, at Central
Methodist Church on Grand Circus Park,and also at the Rouge glass plant, wherefellow workers took up a collection andgave Ella $80, almost all of it in coins.
“I knew that it was a love offeringwhich some of them could ill afford,” Ellasaid.
“The boys at the glass house wantedyou to have this,” one worker told her. “Iwas always a better man after I talkedwith Brad.”
A NOTE FROM 2004More than sixty years after Lewis
Bradford’s death, Steve Jones, a jazz mu-sician whose grandfather was Ella Brad-ford’s cousin, went looking for the autop-sy report. Cassandra Lewis in the WayneCounty Medical Examiner’s office,searched for two months and found it.
“Multiple stellar fractures,” the hand-written report said, resulted in a fracturedskull. Reading the report, the DeputyChief Medical Examiner, Dr. Carl J.Schmidt, M.D., reported on July 28,2001, that the wounds were “consistentwith multiple blunt trauma to the head,such as a beating. This death shouldprobably be classified as a homicide …there is no reason to think this was an ac-cident.”
Jones composed this jazz opera so thatLewis Bradford and others who struggledfor justice in the 1930s will not be for-gotten.
Detroit Labor NewsLabor’sVoice
WEATHER:Stormy periodswill give way
to brighter daysaheadPublished for the World Premiere of the Jazz Opera “Forgotten: The Murder at the Ford Rouge Plant”
LABOR IS ON THE MARCH
Cadillac Square Rally: Some 150,000 workers turned out for this rally to support their striking brothers and sisters on March 23, 1937.
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PAGE 2 DETROIT LABOR NEWS
DETROIT, March 9, 1937 — Sit-down fervor reached a peak in Detroit yes-terday when workers at all nine areaChrysler plants barricaded themselves in-side the factories.
They were part of a wave of sitdowns inthe Detroit area that have closed nearly 130factories, offices and stores anywhere froma few hours to a few weeks.
Across the Detroit area an estimated35,000 workers are participating in thesestrikes, and over 100,000 others are march-ing in support lines outside the plants.
The takeover at Chrysler began at 1:30p.m. yesterday when a well-planned sit-down simultaneously closed Dodge Main,Plymouth Assembly, DeSoto, Dodge Forge,Dodge Truck, Amplex Engine, ChryslerJefferson Avenue, Chrysler Kercheval Av-enue, and Chrysler Highland Park.
About 17,000 UAW supporters, joinedby hundreds more in nearby Hudson Mo-tors plants barricaded themselves insidethe Chrysler plants alone.
By late afternoon, the streets aroundthese occupied plants were filled with thou-
sands of strikers, onlookers, and honkingcars.
Jefferson Avenue looked like a WorldSeries crowd.
The UAW moved quickly to seize con-trol of the situation.
“Flying squadrons” of roving picketerstold bar owners near the factories to stopselling liquor.
According to UAW officials, most didn’tput up any argument, but contributed ci-gars and cigarettes to the strikers.
The leaders of Detroit’s manufacturingcommunity reacted angrily.
“If lawless men can seize an office, afactory, or a home and hold it unmolestedfor hours and days, they can seize it andhold it for months and years; and revolutionis here,” stated a leading business voice.
The Detroit Board of Commerce plans towire the governor demanding “a militantprogram” to end the near-revolution.
“Detroit’s international civic reputationis at stake,” said a spokesman for theBoard.
But UAW leaders dispelled the extremecharacterizations of the busi-ness community.
“We do not want to run theplants, but we do demandrecognition,” stated UAWVice President Ed Hall.
The Chrysler shutdownshave been the latest intakeovers in this area includ-ing four hotels, a dozen in-dustrial laundries, three de-partment stores, all city’s ma-jor cigar plants, nine lumberyards, at least three printingplants, ten meat-packingplants, restaurants, coalyards, bottlers.
Sitdowns close 130Detroit plants, offices
DETROIT, May 1931 — Krogerssigned a one-year contract with workers atits Green Street warehouse site ending atumultuous episode that began when a fore-man suddenly laid off two men and re-placed them with strangers.
Furious, the night crew refused to unloadthe rest of a load of Florida strawberries.
Faced with losing half a trainload offruit, Krogers backed down, rehired the twomen, and began negotiations with the ware-housemen’s independent union.
The contract compels Kroger to end alldiscriminatory hiring policies and to guar-antee a half-day’s pay for each man calledto work.
“This is a great victory,” said 18-year-old Jimmy Hoffa, who led the warehouseworkers.
Conditions at the warehouse have beendeteriorating rapidly since the start of theHoover depression in 1929.
The workers at the Green Street ware-house had to be on the job 12 hours a daybut they were only paid for the hours theyactually worked.
“And at 32 cents an hour, that isn’tmuch,” said warehouse worker Martin Hag-gerty.
The workers also criticize being paid inscrip. “If you make $15 a week, you getabout $10 in scrip and $5 in cash,” saidBobby Holmes, a young friend of Hoffa.
“You have to spend the scrip in theirstores,” he complained.
Like the auto firms and other companiesin this area, Krogers has refused to give itsworkers any job guarantees.
“We are expected to appear at the be-ginning of each shift, and then the foremenoften give the jobs to their friends and rel-atives,” said one young worker.
An industry analyst said that though the“strawberry boys” may have won the bat-tle, Krogers would not accept their defeateasily.
“They’ll get rid of that guy Hoffa beforelong,” he said. “He’s a troublemaker — bigtime.”
Kroger signs contract after ‘strawberry’ strike
Detroit Labor NewsSpecial Edition for “Forgotten”
(March 2004 Premiere)
WRITERS Shawn D. Ellis, David Elsila, Mark Gruen-
berg, Dick Olson and Tom Schram withstories drawn from “Working Detroit” bySteve Babson (Wayne State University
Press) and the Detroit Labor News
PHOTOGRAPHS courtesy of the Walter P. Reuther Libraryat Wayne State University, Anne Drake,
Shawn D. Ellis and Jim West
DESIGN Barbara Barefield (Graphic Artists Guild)
✦ LABOR IS ON THE MARCH ✦
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF WALTER P. REUTHER LIBRARY, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
Clockwise fromtop: Womensupport sit-downers bypicketingChrysler’sJefferson Ave.plant; 150,000rally at Cadil-lac Square;Flint sitdown-ers celebratevictory. Bottom: Kelsey-Hayes sitdown-ers keep warm.
DEARBORN, May 26, 1937 — Topleaders of the fledgling auto workers unionwere severely beaten today at the overpassnear the Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn,Mich.
One UAW organizer — J.J. Kennedy —was taken to a local hospital where he isfighting for his life, and the back of RichardMerriweather was broken.
UAW leaders Walter Reuther and DickFrankensteen had been standing in themiddle of the bridge, casually chatting andposing for photographers, when a group of35 Ford Service Department men camecharging up and began to pummel the men.
His face and suit bloodied, UAW leaderWalter Reuther said he had been picked“about eight different times” and thrown onhis back on the concrete.
The servicemen kicked Reuther in theface, head, and other parts of his body be-fore throwing him down the stairs.
The Ford Service Department menpulled the suit jacket of Dick Frankensteenover his head before punching and kickingthe UAW vice president.
Harry Bennett, leader of the Ford Ser-vice Department, denied that his men hadplayed any role in the attack.
But several photographers from caughtthe scene as it unfolded, and a major na-tional news magazine pledged to run thestory with photos.
“If Time publishes those pictures, we’llwithdraw all further advertising from thatmagazine,” said a Ford spokesman.
As the beating began, UAW supportersrushed to the support of the four men.
“When wea r r i v e d a tGate 4, wec o u l d s e eB r o t h e r sReuther andFrankensteenbeing severe-ly beaten,”said Cather-ine “Bebe”Gelles,” headof Local 174’sW o m e n ’ sAuxiliary.
When sheran to pull theFord ServiceDepartmentmen off one UAW man, “the three turnedon me, knocking me to the ground and kick-ing me in the stomach, and then pushingme to the streetcar.”
Reuther said that the brutality at the
gate would not deter the union organizingcampaign.
“The whole world can plainly see whatis going on in the Ford operations,” addedFrankensteen.
SPECIAL ‘FORGOTTEN’ EDITION PAGE 3
GREETINGS FROM
Chicago & Central States Joint Board
UNITE!Members and Staff
Local 124/129
Bryan Savoca, Regional DirectorLisha Sly, Business Manager Local 129
Sergio Monterrubio, National Representative
Union leaders severely beatenat overpass near Rouge plant
Vision of Labor PeaceCosts Pastor’s Life
[Reprinted from Detroit newspaper, Dec. 2, 1937]
A vision of harmonious relations betweenlabor and capital, of improved understand-ing among men, led to the death of the Rev.Lewis A. Bradford, it was revealed today.
In pursuit of his vision the Rev. Mr.Bradford got a job as a laborer in the Fordfactory to study the minds of working men,to seek understanding of their problemsand aims. It was while at work he fell, frac-turing his skull.
Services will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m.at the Central M.E. Church, with which hewas affiliated.
“Father wanted to establish an Instituteof Human Relations,” explained CurtisBaker Bradford, a son. “He went to officialsof the Ford Company. They suggested heshould work in the plant to get the view-point of the men.
“He thought that with a personal under-standing of the men, he might be able to setup a spiritual approach to their problemsso he took a job at the plant and workedthere 18 months.”
Besides his plans for human relations,Mr. Bradford was seeking support for acrippled children’s home to be establishedat Mt. Clemens and for a new Howard StreetMission.
Mr. Bradford was 51. He lived at 115West Davison Avenue. He had been in theministry 25 years after graduating fromCornell College and attendance at DrewTheological Seminary. Beside his son heleaves his wife, Mrs. Ella Bradford, threedaughters, Dorothy, Helen, and Ella; twobrothers, Ralph B. and Haven; and a sister,Mrs. Helen B. Paulsen.
Thank you for premiering
‘FORGOTTEN’ in Detroit
The Canada-Radtkes
In memory of ROBERTO ESPARZA SR.
Teamsters Local 337RICHARD DEERING SR.
IMA Local 82
Utility Workers Union of AmericaAFL-CIO
Sandra Esparza DeeringNational Field Organizer
www: uwua.org 1-888-THEUWUA
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PAGE 4 DETROIT LABOR NEWS
May 1937
Three days after 400 “special” policeused tear gas and violence to break up pick-et lines outside Republic Steel’s NewtonSteel Plant (above), thousands of union sup-porters marched in protest in Monroe, Mich.
“We march in solidarity with the steel-workers,” said UAW Local 212 PresidentEmil Mazey, a local firebrand.
Local union officials protested the useof tear gas and other munitions by the “spe-cial” police who had been hired by the cityand armed by the company.
“The Wayne County Gun Commissionhas prohibited employer purchases for usein labor disputes,” said one labor official.
But this paper has learned that this pastJune the company’s chief of plant police,arranged to have the mayor of River Rougebuy the munitions and secretly transferthem to the company.
“We intend to bring charges againstStanley Ferguson for unlawful possession oftear gas,” said the head of the gun com-mission.
“We are also looking into ties betweenFerguson and local criminal elements,” the
commission said in a statement releasedyesterday.
The strife at the downriver plant hascome on the heels of a nationwide strike of75,000 steelworkers against the “LittleSteel” companies — Republic, Bethlehemand Inland — that refused to follow U.S.Steel’s lead in recognizing the Steel Work-ers Organizing Committee.
Nationwide 18 people have been killedincluding ten killed in Chicago withoutwarning during a peaceful Memorial Dayassembly.
Thousands protest police at Republic Steel plant in Monroe
Congratulations to the
‘FORGOTTEN’ cast and crew
Dan, Karen & Claire McCarthySteve Babson
Nancy BrighamDave & Katie Elsila
Kari Elsila & Michael BuescherMaple Glory Elsila Buescher
Jamie ElsilaMikael Elsila & Dina Pinsky
Greetings fromJULIE BARTON
Organizer
International Union ofOperating Engineers
Local 547 A, B, C, E, G, & H – AFL-CIO
24270 W. Seven MileDetroit MI 48219
(313) 532-2022
✦ LABOR IS ON THE MARCH ✦
WAYNE STATEUNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF URBAN, LABORAND METROPOLITAN AFFAIRS
Labor StudiesCenter
Providing Classes, Seminars, Consulting and Research for a stronger labor movement
The Labor School starts September 28Orientation held on Saturday, September 25
Call us about class schedules or arrangements for educational
programs to be held at your local.
(313) 577-2191Wayne State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.
Our congratulations to all who have dedicated theirtalent and lives in bringing to the stage
the story of Lewis Bradford
Welcome to the Detroit premiere of
Forgotten:The Murder at the Ford Rouge Plant
Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO
President Donald W. BoggsExecutive Vice-President David HeckerSecretary-Treasurer Saundra Williams
…and the nearly 200,000 affiliated members inWayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties
Keep Lewis Bradford’s memory alive by volunteering on a picket line once a month in support of a group of workers
who struggle for social and economic justice. It’s a small price to pay in the struggle by others.
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SPECIAL ‘FORGOTTEN’ EDITION PAGE 5
SPLINTERSHURTUnite todefeat
BushDick and Deb Olson!
March 1932
Over 60,000 Detroiters marched downWoodward Avenue to Grand Circus Park toprotest the deaths of four men killed bypolice and guards five days ago during theHunger March near the Ford Dearbornplant.
The marchers paraded under a permitgranted by Detroit Mayor Frank Murphy toprotest not only the deaths of Joe York —district organizer of the Young CommunistLeague, Coleman Leny, Joe DeBlasio andJoe Bissell but the injuries suffered bynearly 60 unarmed demonstrators includ-ing Curtis Williams, who is fighting for hislife.
The Hunger March, led by Detroit’s Un-employed Councils, had marched to Fordwith petitions demanding jobs, medical re-lief and emergency aid for the unemployed.
Henry Ford’s statements that “the aver-age man won’t really work unless he iscaught and cannot get out of it,” had infu-riated the unemployed workers, many ofthem former employees of Ford.
After firemen prepared to douse theHunger Marchers with water, police usedtear gas to try to break up the crowd, andthe marchers responded with rocks andpieces of tear gas from a nearby dump.
Then “all hell broke loose,” accordingto Ray Pillsbury, a local photographer.
“Policemen and guards leveled their
guns and pulled the triggers. I would guessthat hundreds of shots were fired into themob,” he said.
The Detroit Federation of Labor, whiledisassociating itself from the HungerMarchers’ Communist leaders, condemnedthe fatal violence of Dearborn and compa-ny police in strong terms.
In a sign of shifting community atti-tudes, the Detroit Times, owned by theHearst family, also has condemned thedeaths.
“The opposition offered by Dearborn po-lice evidently changed an orderly demon-stration into a riot, with death and blood-shed, its toll,” said the Times.
60,000 march to mourn four slainduring Ford Hunger March
We Salute the Ford Hunger Marchers
And All Those Who Fought for JusticeSo That We Might Have a Better Life Today.
UAW REGION 1AJames V. Settles, Director
Ford Hunger Marchers faced bullets and tear gas as they approached the Rouge plant with a petition March 7, 1932.
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Labor BriefsExcerpted from the
Detroit Labor News 1937
Census Shows 122 Thousand Jobless Here
The final figures in the census of unem-ployed conducted in Detroit by the Post Of-fice shows that there are 122,000 workershere without employment.
Big Business appears to be attemptingto provoke another depression by sabotag-ing the entire program of President Roose-velt.
Brewery Drivers Sign Up Two More Distributors Here
The Brewery Drivers’ Union, Local 28,continued its organization drive this weekwhen it signed agreements with the OldStyle Vienna distributors and the GoodwillBeer Distributors, Detroit, agents for out oftown brews.
Protest Ford Guards’ Attackon UAW Organizers
A mass meeting to protest the attack byFord Company guards upon leaders andmembers of the United Automobile Work-ers union who attempted to distributeleaflets at the Ford Rouge plant on Wednes-day will be held Tuesday evening, June 1,at the State Fair Coliseum. The meeting issponsored jointly by the Civil Rights Con-ference and the International Union, UAW.
NLRB Holds Beard HearingHearings on the charges that the Beard
Printing Co., Detroit, rotary printing con-cern, discriminated against two Unionmembers of the Printing Pressmen’s union,were held this week by the National LaborRelations Board.
Hatchetmen of Ford’s Assault UAW Workers
Eighteen members of the United Auto-mobile Workers of America, engaged in thehouse to house distribution of the UnitedAutomobile Worker, were driven out ofInkster at 2 p.m. Thursday by a force of ap-proximately 40 servicemen of the Ford Mo-tor Co., Zygmund Dobrzynski, Detroit Fordorganizational director, charge. Six menwere surrounded by a group of 40 men whohad suddenly appeared in cars. The new-comers wore the badges of Ford servicemenand a number carried rubber hose andpieces of pipe.
It’s Jitters Time at Hudson’sThere isn’t any strike at the huge de-
partment store of the J.L. Hudson Co. here,and there won’t be, if the management ofthe store has anything to say about it. Andwhat they have to say about it is the plac-ing of Detroit Police at each door and agroup of six to a dozen strong-arm men in-side each entrance waiting … waiting for awhistle to blow or someone to yell “strike.”
IN OTHER HEADLINES…New members are named to Labor Day
Committee … Minimum Pay Rate Estab-lished for Dossin’s Workers; AgreementCuts Hours One-Third … Firemen Ask‘Yes’ Vote on Pension Amendment Apriil 5… Film Handlers Sign 3 Closed Shop Con-tracts. . .Polish News Tries To Drive DownPay Scale of Unions … Drivers DemandClosed Shop in Laundries Here.
PAGE 6 DETROIT LABOR NEWS
Congratulations to all on the Detroit Premiere of
Forgotten: Murder at the Ford Rouge Plantfrom
Labor’s International Hall of FameEstablished in 1973
LABOR’S INTERNATIONAL HALL OF FAME CHAIRMAN RICHARD CORDTZ
AND
GEORGE MEANY CENTER – THE NATIONAL LABOR COLLEGE
CHAIRMAN JOHN J. SWEENEY
EXTEND AN INVITATION TO ATTEND AN
APRIL 30, 2004 INDUCTION CEREMONY
UFCW LOCAL 876MADISON HEIGHTS, MICHIGAN
2004 INDUCTEES
Olga Marie Madar, UAWWilliam W. Winpisinger, IAMAW
United Farm Workers of America Five Martyred Organizers
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR TO PURCHASE TICKETS, CONTACT THE METROPOLITAN DETROIT AFL-CIO AT (313) 961-0800
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Composer ..........................Steve Jones
Director............................Elise Bryant
Music Director....................Bill Meyer
CAST(in order of appearance)
Nurse Attendant...............Russanne Bucci
Ella Bradford .............Stephanie Pascaris*
Little Ella..............................Katie Nelson
Henry Ford ........................Mark Moultrup
Lewis Bradford......................Jason Landis
Foreman ............................Mike Carluccio
Allen Johnson .................Mitch McMurren
Joe Cantor ...............................Jim Salerno
Rosie Johnson ...............Lynn Marie Smith
Frank Jackson .....................Sam Kirkland
Father Coughlin.......................Davis Gloff
Harry Bennett ......................Henry Nelson
Clara Ford...................D. Yarrow Halstead
Hospital Attendant .............Denise Dotson
WORKERS CHORUSMelvin Beasley, Russanne Bucci, MikeCarluccio, Denise Dotson, Sandra EsparzaDeering, Kae Halonen, Stephen Jones, SamKirkland, Jason Landis, Malinda Lewis,John “Bruce” Liles, Clara Leavell, SusanNewell, Stephanie Pascaris,* Gordon Pat-ton, Jim Salerno, Lisha M. Sly, DaJuannyTaylor, Maurice “Skip” Turner
Dancers: Melanie Bruss, Jenny Phan
Hour of Power Quartet:Mike Carluccio, D. Yarrow Halstead,Stephen Jones, Mike Carluccio.
Forgotten Man’s Hour Quartet: JasonLandis, Mitch McMurren, Stephanie Pas-caris,* Lynn Marie Smith.
Ford Hunger March: John “Bruce” Lilesas Joe York; Kae Halonen as Joe York’smother; Stephen Jones as Joe DiBlasio; Su-san Newell as Joe DiBlasio’s wife; DaJuan-ny Taylor as Curtis Williams; Sam Kirklandas Curtis Williams’ father; Gordon Pattonas Coleman Leny; and Jim Salerno as JoeBussell.
PRODUCTION STAFFSteve Jones .....................Writer/ComposerElise Bryant..................................DirectorBill Meyer ..........................Music DirectorAnne Drake...................Assistant DirectorDave Elsila .................Executive ProducerShaun Nethercott ........Managing ProducerAlisa Lomax...............Production ManagerElaine (Hendriks) Smith*.........Production
Stage ManagerLeslie Love ..................Marygrove Theatre
ManagerSister Brenda Moon ..........House ManagerCorretha Montague ................Ass’t. House
ManagerScarlett Jade .................Costume DesignerJudi Jewel.............................Hair/Makeup Ron Burns ........... Set/Lighting DesignerLateefah B-Dixon...........Properties MasterVictor Hood.......................Sound Manager
*Designated Actor and Production Stage Man-ager appear through the courtesy of Actors Eq-uity Association, the Union of Professional Actorsand Stage Managers in the United States.
SPECIAL ‘FORGOTTEN’ EDITION PAGE 7
MUSICIANSRalphe Armstrong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BassBill Meyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Keyboards, DirectorJeff Trudell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drums
Members, Detroit Federation of Musicians, Local 5, AFM, AFL-CIO
Additional music by Maurice Sugar
You are invitedHealth Alliance Planinvites you to attend an Opening-Night Afterglowimmediately followingFriday’s performancein the 4th floor art galleriesin this building.Following the Sunday performance, theACLU of Michigan is hosting a light
supper and reception in the Madame Cadillac Building on the
Marygrove Campus. Tickets are $20.
THE MICHIGAN LABOR HISTORY SOCIETY in cooperation with MATRIX THEATRE CO.Presents
A Jazz Opera
FORGOTTENThe Murder at the Ford Rouge Plant
FRIDAY, MARCH 5 • SATURDAY, MARCH 6 • SUNDAY, MARCH 7, 2004A benefit for the Michigan Labor History Society
Actors Equity Association • International Alliance of Theatrical Stage EmployeesDetroit Federation of Musicians, Local 5 • Theatrical Wardrobe Union • Painters
We will be with you in your struggles now and in the futureTo win justice for your members in the performing arts and other industries.
The Michigan Labor History Society
thanks the following unions for their Solidarity and
their support of ‘Forgotten’
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
ELLA BRADFORD .........................................................................wife of Lewis Bradford
ALLEN JOHNSON ..........................radio announcer at WXYZ who is also an unemployedworker, later a co-worker of Bradford’s at Ford;
husband of Rosie
HENRY FORD ...........................................................industrialist; husband of Clara Ford
LEWIS BRADFORD .......................former minister; becomes an organizer at the River Rouge plant; husband of Ella
ROSIE JOHNSON ...........................unemployed woman, becomes a union organizer; wife of Allen Johnson
FATHER CHARLES COUGHLIN...the “radio priest” who used his broadcasts and pub-lications to further anti-Semitism and fascism in
the1930s
HARRY BENNETT .................................................................................Ford’s “enforcer”
CLARA FORD ......................................................................................wife of Henry Ford
�ACT 1:Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan: 1930s
Overture
Keep the Wheels Rolling On .......Allen Johnson with Henry Ford and the entire cast
You’re Gone Again/How Can I Explain ....................................Ella and Lewis Bradford
We Can Start Again..................................................................................Lewis Bradford
The Forgotten Man’s Hour .......................................Allen and Rosie Johnson, Ella andLewis Bradford, Joe Cantor, Frank Jackson
The Hour of Power/Cleanse Ourselves ..........Father Coughlin and the Hour of Power Choir/Lewis Bradford and the Troupe
I Invented Auto-Love......................................................................................Henry Ford
The Ford Hunger March..................................Rosie Johnson and the Workers Chorus
You’ll Be Like My Son ..................................................Henry Ford and Harry Bennett
I Got a Job/I Know the Fear...................................Lewis Bradford and Harry Bennett
When You Organize .....................................................Lewis Bradford and the Troupe
Bradford You Are Dreamin’.........................................................................Allen Johnson
It’s About Time .....................Lewis Bradford with Ella Bradford and Rosie Johnson
A New Beauty ..........................................................................................Lewis Bradford
Sit Down (by Maurice Sugar)...........................Rosie Johnson and the Workers Chorus
I’m Here for You.......................................................................Lewis and Ella Bradford
Radio, Guns and Money.......................Father Coughlin, Harry Bennett, Henry Ford
INTERMISSIONACT 2:
Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan, May-December, 1937Shake Hands with the Devil ............................................................................Clara Ford
Cleanse Ourselves (reprise) ...........................Father Coughlin and the Hour of Power Radio Choir/Lewis Bradford and the Troupe
We Speak Louder than Machines ....................Rosie Johnson and the Workers Chorus
The Stakes Are High ....................Henry Ford, Harry Bennett, and Father Coughlin
Battle of the Overpass......................................................Allen Johnson and the Troupe
I Got a Bad, Bad Feeling ............................................................................Ella Bradford
Let’s Take a Walk.......................................................................................Harry Bennett
I Cannot Be Silent....................................................................................Lewis Bradford
Bradford I Have Got a Job for You.......................................................................Foreman
We Will All Forget .......................Hospital attendant, Ella Bradford, Harry Bennett
I’m Here For You (reprise) ..........................................................................Ella Bradford
We Remember You...........Rosie and Allen Johnson, Workers Chorus, Ella Bradford
EPILOGUEAfter receiving more threats, the widow and her children left Detroit, never to return.
Sixty-five years later, there are grandchildren and great-grandchildren and others who knowLewis’s story and keep it alive. Lewis Bradford is not forgotten.
In 1941, after years of struggle, the United Auto Workers was on the verge of winninga contract at the Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford declared he would shut down all theplants worldwide before he would sign with the union. Clara Ford threatened to divorceHenry if he didn’t come to an agreement with the union, and the next day he signed themost far-reaching contract ever in the auto industry. Today, UAW Local 600 at the Rougeplant is a strong, militant local with a fighting tradition.
PAGE 8 DETROIT LABOR NEWS
Notes on the charactersportrayed in ‘Forgotten
Composer Steve Jones combines historical scholarship with artistic creativi-ty to portray Lewis and Ella Bradford, Henry and Clara Ford, Harry Bennett, andCharles Coughlin in “Forgotten.”
Lewis Bradford, a Methodist minister, worked with the poor and homelessin Detroit at the Howard Street Mission where he hosted a radio show until hedied of injuries suffered at the Ford River Rouge plant in November, 1937.
Ella Bradford, his wife, kept a diary in which she recounted her suspicionsthat Lewis had met with foul play.
Harry Bennett, an ex-boxer, was Henry Ford’s right-hand man, heading thenotorious Service Dept., which maintained a network of spies throughout the Fordplant. Ford asked Bennett to be his “eyes and ears” and his work included keep-ing Ford workers out of the union, which he described as “irresponsible” and“un-American.”
Charles Coughlin, the Royal Oak radio priest, quoted from Nazi propagan-da in his “Hour of Power” broadcasts and introduced a series of articles on thenotorious anti-Semitic forgery, Protocols of the Elders of Zion. In 1937, he triedto form an anti-union “workers council” at the Rouge in which Jews would not bewelcome. A Bennett spy, Ralph Rimar, testified, “It was an open secret among allof us that the company was collaborating with Fr. Coughlin in the era of his bestviolent, anti-democratic oratory.” Unlike Coughlin, many other Catholic leadersand trade-unionists, like Dorothy Day, of the Catholic Worker movement, and theAssociation of Catholic Trade Unionists brought pro-union and humanistic mes-sages to Catholic workers. Coughlin was eventually taken off the air.
Henry Ford, the auto pioneer, was a complex character who fought union-ization yet, when workers voted in the UAW in 1941, signed the best auto con-tract up to that time. He published anti-Semitic material in his Dearborn In-dependent and received an award from the Nazi government that included a
swastika medal. Although hehad a puritanical reputation,biographers report that hewould view pornographicmovies with Bennett and hadaffairs with servant girls.
Clara Ford had a tense re-lationship with Henry at times,and disliked Bennett whomshe felt was influencing herhusband in unsavory ways. Shethreatened to divorce Henry in1941.
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SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Co-sponsors: George Meany Center-Na-tional Labor College; Labor Heritage Foun-dation; Wayne State University Labor Stud-ies Program; University of Michigan Insti-tute of Labor and Industrial Relations La-bor Studies Center; Labor Education Pro-
gram, School of Labor and Industrial Rela-tions, Michigan State University; and “OurDaily Work/Our Daily Lives” at MSU.
Rehearsal support: Special thanks toOur Lady of the Rosary Parish in Detroitfor generously providing the space for For-gotten rehearsals for four weeks.
Thanks to the following unions and in-stitutions without whose solidarity andsupport this Detroit production ofForgotten would not have been possi-ble:
Actors Equity Association, AFL-CIOBenson Ford Research CenterDetroit Area Library NetworkDetroit Department of Cultural Affairs and
the Michigan Council for the Arts andCultural Affairs
Detroit Federation of Musicians, Local 5, AFM, AFL-CIO
Health Alliance Plan International Alliance of Theatrical Stage
Employees, AFL-CIOInternational Union, UAWMarygrove CollegeMatrix Theatre CompanyMetropolitan Detroit AFL-CIOMichigan Labor History SocietyPlowshares Theatre CompanySt. John’s Lutheran School, FraserTheatrical Wardrobe UnionUAW Local 600UAW Region 1AUAW-Ford National Programs Center
�Special thanks to these individuals whogave of their time and resources forthe Detroit production of Forgotten:
Alberta Asmar, who patiently filled count-less ticket orders until we were sold out!
Barbara Barefield, for graphic designservices including the design of this pro-gram.
Holly Syrrakos, for designing the poster.
“Friends of Forgotten” Committee:Co-chairs: Lisa Canada and Skip Turner;Julie Barton, Nancy Brigham, Shawn Ellis,Dave Elsila, Katie Elsila, Laura Johnstone,Dan McCarthy, Sister Brenda Moon, RogerKerson, Ann Kerwin, Mike Kerwin, DickOlson, Oscar Paskal, Dolores Paskal, DiaPearce, Bill Wylie-Kellerman, JeanieWylie-Kellerman.
�And to the many individuals who pro-vided valuable help and advice: RonAlpern, John Neville Andrews, Steve Bab-son, Gregg Bloomfield, Don Boggs, JoBraughton, Duryea Callaway, Pablo Davis,James Hart, Bev Llombart (TheatricalWardrobe Union), Leslie Love, Andree Nay-lor, Mary Ellen Riordan, Chris Ritter, Gor-don Stump (Detroit Federation of Musi-cians), Peggy Thorpe, Janet Trevathan, JohnWendling and Warren Wilson (IATSE).Videos: Bob Ingalls, Rick Sherman, LarryMatthews (WPON), Shawn D. Ellis.
�DEVELOPMENT OF ‘FORGOTTEN’The following institutions and unions pro-vided generous help in the early develop-ment and production of Forgotten and itspreview performances at the George MeanyCenter in Silver Spring, Md., in May, 2003:
Yip Harburg FoundationPuffin FoundationMaryland State Arts CouncilGeorge Meany Center for Labor Studies —
the National Labor CollegeService Employees International Union,
AFL-CIOCommunications Workers of America
THANKS FROM THE COMPOSERThanks to the actors, musicians, and the unsung helpers behind the scenes
who helped make this show happen. It has been a pleasure to be a part of this
show.In addition to folks putting on the show tonight, a number of people helped in
the research and development of Forgotten. First, I’d like to thank the grand-
children of Ella and Lewis, including Ella-Kari Loftfield, Kate Bates, Lewis Brad-
ford, Walter Bradford, Lewis Conn, Lore Loftfield DeBower and Michael Kelsay,
and Lewis and Ella’s son-in-law, Bob Loftfield.Thanks also to other family, including Coleman Baker, Alan Fritts, Dorothy
Jones, Jinny Jones, Lucy Jones, Peter Jones, Phil Jones, Beth Mast, Don Messer-
smith, Sherry Messersmith, Ollie Moles, Pat Moles, and Holly Syrrakos. Others
who helped include Alberta Asmer, Melanie Bazil, Elise Bryant, Mary Culver,
Mary Daniels, Dave Elsila, Katie Elsila, George Fulginiti-Shakar, Joe Glazer, Mil-
lie Glazer, Willard Hunter, Cassandra Lee, Charlie Micallef, Kathy Micallef, Pat
Moles, Shaun Nethercott, Wes Nethercott, Victor Reuther, Carl Schmidt, Sue
Schurman, Frank Sladen, Mike Smith, Bill Wylie-Kellerman, Jeanie Wylie-
Kellerman. Also thanks to my wife Donna Messersmith Jones and our children
Greg and Melanie.Several books helped shape the story including Working Detroit by Steve
Babson and others; Walter Reuther by Nelson Lichtenstein, The Flivver King
by Upton Sinclair, The Ford Hunger March by Maurice Sugar, American Odyssey, by Robert Conot, The Legend of Henry Ford by Kei-
th Sward, The Brothers Reuther by Victor Reuther, Brother Bill McKie:
Building the Union at Ford by Phillip Bonosky, The CIO by Robert Zieger,
Radio Priest: Father Charles Coughlin, the Father of Hate Radio, by Don-
ald Warren, and Ford: The Men and the Machine by Robert Lacey.Steve Jones
SPECIAL ‘FORGOTTEN’ EDITION PAGE 9
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Lewis and Ella Bradford,and the Ford RiverRouge plant.
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PAGE 10 DETROIT LABOR NEWS • MARCH 2004
Steve Jones (com-poser) lives in Mary-land, where he is ajazz musician andteacher, and can oftenbe found sharing mu-sic at union eventswith his brother Peterand others. He is a
member of the American Federation of Mu-sicians Local 161-710. His grandfather wasElla Bradford’s first cousin.
Elise Bryant (direc-tor) was raised in De-troit, the daughter ofAlber t Bryant , amember of UAW Lo-cal 600 who workedfor more than 30years at the Rougeplant. For almost 20
years, she worked in labor theater in De-troit and Ann Arbor and has written manyplays including Workin’ for a Livin’. Cur-rently she teaches at the George MeanyCenter for Labor Studies-National LaborCollege in Silver Spring, Maryland, whichprovided her with the opportunity to returnto Detroit for six weeks to direct this pro-duction of Forgotten.
Bill Meyer (musicdirector) composesand arranges for TVand radio, and hasbeen keyboardist forseveral Broadways h o w s i n c l u d i n gGuys and Dolls,W i z a r d o f O z ,
Mama Mia, and The Rockettes. He ismusic director for Motown’s Martha Reevesand the Latin group La Inspiracion, andtours with Marcus Belgrave’s Tribute toLouis Armstrong. His social activism is re-flected in his productions of the DetroitTribute to Paul Robeson and Barbara DaneReturns. He belongs to Detroit Federationof Musicians, Local 5.
Davis Gloff (Fr.Coughlin) has been aperformer, announc-er, lecturer, teacher,pianist, clinician,composer, and com-mentator on music forover 35 years. Agraduate of Wayne
State University, he has sung and acted inopera, oratorio, concert, and recitalsthroughout the U.S. and has performed withthe Michigan Opera Theatre, Detroit Sym-phony Orchestra, and other orchestras. Heis a member of the Piccolo Opera Co. andcurrently is weekday morning announceron ClassicalMusicAmerica.com.
D. Yarrow Halstead(Clara Ford; Hour ofPower quartet/Eliza-beth Hanglin; work-ers chorus/FreddieMertz) sings with theMA Song Circle, aninformal gathering of
women providing support and renewal forself and others. She also performs with thegroup Sacred Song, and drums with theFlowering Tree Lodge. She has appeared inWorker’s Lives/Workers Stories and theCommon Ground Theatre Ensemble. Amassage therapist, she is a former memberof IWW Local 610, UAW Local 735, andAFSCME.
Jason Landis (LewisBradford) has per-formed on stage in De-troit and Chicago,most recently as Dr.Henry Jekyll and Mr.Edward Hyde with theBirmingham VillagePlayers’ production of
Jekyll and Hyde. He played Mike inWorking, Marty in The House of Yes, andStine in City of Angels at Columbia Col-lege. He thanks his family for their support.
Mitchell Q. Mc-Murren (Allen John-son), a graduate ofMichigan State Uni-versity in theater/so-cial science, is re-turning to acting aftera long hiatus. Recentproductions include
Side Show with the Birmingham VillagePlayers and a movie debut in the soon to bereleased independent film drama An Apol-ogy to the Dead. When not acting, heworks for Total Health Care Inc.
Mark Moultrup(Henry Ford) hasbeen a working pi-anist, vocalist, com-poser, and arrangerfor more than 25years. He has re-leased three CDs, andhas performed with
artists of many genres, including jazz, Mo-town and pop. He is a member of DetroitFederation of Musicians, Local 5.
Henry Nelson (Har-ry Bennet t ) per -formed in the DetroitActors Guild produc-tion of Tony ‘n’Tina’s Wedding andwas an understudy inthe MeadowbrookTheater production of
Little Shop of Horrors. He is a singerwith the Imperial Rhythm Section and hasbeen in numerous productions of The Play-ers theater group in Detroit.
Katie Nelson (LittleElla) is, at the tenderage of 7, already aveteran of the stage.She has appeared inthe Detroit produc-tion of Tony ‘n’Tina’s Wedding andin productions with
the Turning Pointe Dance Co. in St. ClairShores. She has recently been seen on
Comcast Cable as a reader for the L’anseCreuse School District..
Stephanie Pas-caris* (Ella Brad-ford) returned hometo Michigan aftertouring the East Coastwith an improv come-dy troupe. She hasworked for MosaicYouth Theatre of De-
troit and Boarshead Theatre in Lansing.Recent roles include Lizzy Sweeny inPhiladelphia, Here I Come!, Merilee inAn Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein,and Carley in The Most Massive WomanWins. She is a member of Actors Equity As-sociation.
Lynn Marie Smith(Rosie Johnson) is asinger-songwriterwhose debut albumwith Infinity record-ing artist Natures Di-vine reached numberfive on the Billboardcharts. A labor ac-
tivist, she has performed at Greenfield Vil-lage, Detroit’s Laborfest, the dedication ofthe Labor Legacy Landmark in Detroit, andon numerous picketlines and at rallies. Sheis an organizer with the Hotel Employeesand Restaurant Employees Local 24.
Melvin Beasley(workers chorus) is anative Detroiter whohas been performingon stage for nearly tenyears. His theatricalcredits include TheCrucible, TwelveAngry Men, To Kill
a Mockingbird, and La Cage Aux Folles.He is currently shooting a pilot for a TVshow and also is attending the DetroitRepertory Theatre actors’ workshop.
Russanne Bucci(workers chorus /Mary Corio Bucci)worked with CommonGround Theatre En-semble of Ann Arborb e f o r e g o i n g t oPhiladelphia, whereshe worked as a pub-
lic radio producer and trainer in diversityand intercultural communication. She nowworks as a teacher in a performing arts highschool and values being part of a produc-tion that shares such powerful history asForgotten. Most of her family membershave been union members and her brotheris a UAW representative in Local 1281.
Michael Carluccio(foreman, workerschorus) is a vocalistwho has opened for AlMartino, Bobby Vin-ton, and The Gay-lords and has per-formed at the Fisher
and Fox theaters in Detroit as well as the
Michigan State Fair. A war veteran, he hasperformed vintage and original songs atevents sponsored by the UAW, Daimler-Chrysler and Delta Dental and helped raise$40,000 for the World War II memorialfund. His premiere album, Teach MeTonight, was recorded with the Eddie De-Santis Orchestra.
Deni se Dot son(hospital attendantJohnnie Mae andworkers chorus/CloTeal) is an actress,jazz singer, and artist.She has appeared inlocal productions ofT h e Wi z , Ta m -
bourines to Glory, God’s Trombones,Saint, A House Divided, and PerilousTimes. She has sung at Eva’s Place, theSummit, the Money Tree, the St. Regis Ho-tel, and other venues. She owns Praise Av-enue Detroit, a shop featuring handpaintedinspirational arts and crafts.
Sandra EsparzaDeering (workerschorus, Geraldine) isthe daughter of immi-grant parents fromMexico. Her fatherwas a member of theTeamsters. A unionorganizer and activist
for the past 16 years, she is a skilled tradesjourneywoman pipefitter service workerwith CMS Energy, and a part-time nationalorganizer for the Utility Workers Union ofAmerica, a union that she also serves assteward, trustee, and alternate delegate.She received the Bread and Roses Awardfrom the University of Michigan summerschool for women workers.
Kae Halonen (work-ers chorus/ChristinaArsenau) grew up in aFinnish-Americanworking-class familythat emphasized thei m p o r t a n c e o fsinging, theater, andsocial consciousness.
A singer, violinist, and mandolin player,she frequently joins husband Sam Starksinging a variety of people’s music in vari-ous settings. She has worked with educa-tion programs for industrial workers formore than 15 years.
S t ephen Jone s(workers chorus) is apoet and songwriterwho teaches Englishand journalism at De-troit’s Chadsey HighSchool. He has per-formed at Detroit’sLaborfest and the
Concert of Colors as well as various Detroit-area coffee houses, and has appeared mostrecently in a Southfield production of TheFantasticks. A CD of his labor songs, OneMore Day, was issued in 2000 as afundraiser for the Detroit Council of News-paper Unions. He is a member of Detroit
WHO’S WHO IN ‘FORGOTTEN’
SPECIAL ‘FORGOTTEN’ EDITION PAGE 11
Federation of Teachers Local 231 and a for-mer member of Newspaper Guild Local 22in Detroit.
Samuel Kirkland III(Frank Jackson, work-ers chorus) is a mem-ber of UAW Local 653in Pontiac, and hasworked in the UAWNational Organizingand Public Relationsa n d P u b l i c a t i o n s
Dept. He has written extensively for unionpublications including Solidarity and threelocal-union papers, which he has edited. Herecently graduated cum laude from the Na-tional Labor College of the George MeanyCenter for Labor Studies and is coordinatorand developer of the Black Men In UnionsAcademy. He sings with the Northwest Uni-tarian Universalist Church choir.
Clara Leavell (work-ers chorus) has beenan active member ofService EmployeesInternational UnionLocal 79 for 23 years.She directs Local 79’sOne Voice choir, andis also a union stew-
ard. A member of Third New Hope BaptistChurch, she also teaches music.
M a l i n d a L e w i s(workers cho rus /Dora) has performedin community theatreproductions of QueenEsther and Wizardof Oz. A full-timenurse, she is a mem-ber and union steward
with Service Employees InternationalUnion Local 79 and sings with Local 79’s
One Voice choir as well as in the ZionChapel Church of God in Christ choir andpraise team.
John “Bruce” Liles(workers chorus, EdSweeney) has per-formed his one-manshow on the life ofWoody Guthrie atmany venues includ-ing union halls, theDetroit Historical
Museum, Greenfield Village, and else-where. He writes children’s songs for chil-dren and “smarmy political pop” for therest of us. He is a member of Detroit Fed-eration of Teachers Local 231.
Susan Newell (work-ers chorus) is a nativeof Indiana who hasmade Detroit herhome for the past 30years. Since 1979,she has lent her voicein support of laborand other progressive
causes, first in Finland Station, a Detroit-based folk group, and more recently in Oneby One, which performed an eclectic mixof folk, blues, reggae, and pop.
Gordon Pat ton(workers chorus /Ulysses) is a memberof the Black Men inUnions Players andhas appeared in thestage production ofStress in the Work-place and Last Day
in a Non Union Shop. He sings in the basssection of the Paul Robeson Chorale at Fel-lowship Chapel, and he performed as JohnNewton singing Amazing Grace at the
church’s Watch Night Kwanzaa production.He is second vice-president, district com-mitteeperson, and civil rights chair of UAWLocal 3000 at Auto Alliance in Flat Rock.
Jim Salerno (JoeCantor/workers cho-rus) has worked withTeddy Harris Jr., DonMayberry, MarcusB e l g r a v e , J a m e sCarter, Kenny Cox,and other well-knownmusicians, and has
hosted jam sessions at Baker’s KeyboardLounge and Bert’s Market Place, two of De-troit’s leading jazz clubs. He is a retiredskilled trades worker and UAW member.
Lisha M. Sly (work-ers chorus) is a nativeDetroiter whose vocaltalents can be heardin the chorus spon-sored by UNITE!, theUnion of Needle-trades, Industrial andTextile Employees.
She has been a business manager of UNITELocal 129 since 1999 and serves on the ex-ecutive board of the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO. She co-founded Detroit’s “Ring in theNew Year with a Bell, not a Bang!” cam-paign.
DaJuanny Taylor isa musician, producer,and vocalist special-izing in hip hop andcontemporary gospelmusic. His actingcredits include MPVstarring Wood Harris,Envy starring Lisa
Raye and Ray J., Satan We Declare War,and Colored Peoples Time.
Maurice “Skip”Turner (workerschorus) has per-formed in several the-atrical productionsincluding When YouS t r i k e F l i n t ,Wo r k i n ’ f o r aLivin’ , and The
Grievance Trilogy, and has written anddirected several plays including The Ter-rible Three, Last Day in a Non-UnionShop, Overtime in a Time of Layoffs,and his latest work, Just Between You andMe. He has been road manager for the Spy-der Turner show and was a producer withhis brothers on the 2000 production of thehit CD, “Spyder Turner.” He is coordinatorof Black Men in Unions, the Michigan Sum-mer School for Women Workers, the Win-ter Leadership Institute, and the UnityConference at the University of Michigan.
Melanie Bruss (dancer) graduated fromWayne State University’s dance departmentin 2001, and performed with the WSUDance Company from 1998-2001. She hasappeared at Detroit’s Music Hall, BonstelleTheatre, Community Arts Theatre, and inOn Stage! performances for Detroit PublicSchools children. Since graduation,she hasdanced with Motor City Salseros and othergroups. She performed with the RidgedalePlayer production of Taming of the Shrew.
Jenny Phan (dancer) has been dancing forfive years. She studied swing, salsa, ball-room, and ballet and currently trains witha coach in international Latin dance. Shehas performed with dance teams Revolv,Motor City Salsero, and others, and at theBacardi Salsa Congress in Detroit andChicago, and has competed in several ball-room dance competitions nationally.
*Courtesy of Actors Equity Assocation
Anne Drake (assistant director) hasperformed with Workers Lives/WorkersStories and was in the cast of Workin’for a Livin,’ written and directed byElise Bryant. She wrote song parodies forthe UAW organizing drive at Hudson’s,the UAW Caterpillar strike, and the De-troit Newspapers strike. She is retired asan electrician from Ford Motor Co.,where she was a member of UAW Local898 and editor of the Local’s publication,Raw Facts.
David Elsila (executive producer) is aco-coordinator of the Michigan LaborLegacy Project, which built the LaborLandmark on the Detroit riverfront. In1997, he helped organize Detroit’s firstLaborfest, which has become an annualevent. He worked in labor journalism aseditor of the Michigan Teacher, theAmerican Teacher, and UAW’s Soli-darity magazine, and now teaches part-time at Wayne State University’s laborschool. He is a member of UAW Local1981 and former member of NewspaperGuild Local 22.
Shaun Nethercott (managing producer)is founder and executive director of Ma-trix Theatre Co., an award-winning the-atre company. Matrix creates originalworks through a collaborative processwith underserved populations such as thehomeless and Spanish-speaking adultsand children. She has served on commu-nity boards, and worked in environmen-tal and peace and justice campaigns.
Alisa Lomax (production manager) hasworked extensively as a production man-ager or coordinator on film and video proj-ects for over ten years. This is her firsttime working the position for a stage show,and she’s enjoying it! She is also workingwith Matrix Theatre and the Fisher Play-ers on their show, Better Days.
Elaine (Hendriks) Smith* (productionstage manager) fell in love with the the-ater working on plays at Fraser (MI) HighSchool. Her stage management creditsinclude Phantom Menace to Society(The Second City, Detroit), Annie GetYour Gun (Minnesota Festival Theatre),Comedy Works with The Guild (The
Century Theater), Trinity Irish Dancers(nationwide), and other productions. Shehas production stage-managed concertsfor LL Cool 3, Fishbone, Lou Rawls,Nancy Wilson, Jean Luc-Ponty, and oth-ers. She is a member of Actors Equity As-sociation and the UAW staff associationunion at Wayne State University.
“Sister” Brenda R. Moon (housemanager) is a percussionist with UbakaHill and Drum Song Orchestra, and ispresident of “Power Surge Posse.” She isformer assistant director in the AFL-CIOEducation Dept. in Washington, D.C.,and now works as a national field repre-sentative for the AFL-CIO. A former staffmember at the George Meany Center forLabor Studies in Silver Spring, Mary-land, she “traded places” with EliseBryant, who moved to that position fromDetroit. She is a member of UAW Local22 and TNG/CWA Local 35.
Corretha Montague (assistant housemanager) is a union activist who retiredas a UAW member after 30 years, andwho remains active in labor and the com-
munity.
Ron Burns (set/lighting designer) worksregularly with Plowshares Theatre, theJewish Ensemble Theatre, and Ballet In-ternational of Indianapolis. He has de-signed over 200 productions in more than30 years of working in this field, and wasthe lighting designer for the premiereproduction of Dance Like No One’sWatching at the Jewish Ensemble The-atre and for Boy Gets Girl, currently onthe boards.
Scarlett Jade (costume designer) hasbeen a costume designer since 1984 andhas worked on over 30 plays and 20 fea-ture films. Her most recent film work waswith Jeff Daniels’ Escanaba in da Moon-light and Supersucker. She is a memberof the Theatrical Wardrobe Union.
Lateefah B-Dixon (costumer) is a 30-year veteran of performing arts. She start-ed off as an actress and moved into mod-el and designing work where she findsthe transformation of actor or actress intocharacter is exhilarating.
THE PRODUCTION TEAM
(Note: Some workers chorus members have adopted names in honor of mentors and relatives.)
PAGE 12 DETROIT LABOR NEWS
The past won’t be ‘Forgotten’while we fight for the future
Communications Workers of America
District 4
Jeff RechenbackVice President
Keeping Faith with the PastMeans Building a Better Future
Watch for the Eighth Annual
LABORFESTComing this September
www.LaborfestDetroit.org
We thank the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources for its generous support
SPECIAL ‘FORGOTTEN’ EDITION PAGE 13
✦ NEWS FOR 2004 ✦
By Tom SchramSpecial to the Labor News
There is a learning process going on inthe Waterford School District these daysand it’s not only happening in the class-room. Members of the Waterford Federationof Support Personnel are learning how dif-ficult it can be to get a first contract.
More than 500 support personnel votedto unionize in April 2002 and bargaining be-gan that fall. While many issues have beenresolved, the big ones, like wages and healthcare, have proven to be a stumbling block.
Bargaining committee member ColleenWolf said the issue of state financial assis-tance to the district has impeded progress.That issue was recently resolved, but thingshave not sped up.
“A mediator has been brought in; that’shelped some,” she said. “But we had a ses-sion last week that started at 7 a.m. andlasted until 7 p.m. and nothing was accom-plished.”
Waterford School District Superinten-dent Thomas Tattan said that bargaining afirst contract always takes time.
“It’s a slow process in identifying all thenew members,” he said. “We’re taking intoconsideration a whole series of positions inthe district that had never been covered bya union before.”
Tattan said that health insurance was apotential stumbling block because costshave risen dramatically and the district haslimited funds.
“We have to deal with the fact that we’relooking at cuts from the state,” he said.“But we’re on the right track. Our sidewants a contract.”
David Hecker, president of the Michi-gan Federation of Teachers and School Re-
lated Personnel (MFT&SRP), said thatprogress has not been slowed by his union’swillingness to come to the table.
“I realize that first contracts take moretime than subsequent contracts, but thishas taken inordinately long,” he said. “Wehave always wanted to bargain more fre-quently than they have, not only to getthings done, but to build momentum.”
Hecker said the union has filed an Un-fair Labor Practice complaint because thedistrict has not turned over financial infor-mation as it is legally obligated to do. Andhe said that the district is stonewalling onmajor issues.
‘No, no, no’“Their position at the bargaining table
is very often ‘no, no, no,’ ” Hecker said.“They still are not willing to provide peo-ple with the kind of wages they deserve.They really have almost nothing on thetable on wages. And they’re not even will-ing to consider health care for anyone butthe few who are already getting it.”
MFT&SRP staff representative LizDuhn said the union was reaching out to thecommunity.
“We attend all the school district meet-ings,” she said. “Several members of the la-bor community have come to speak. Mem-bers sit there and hold signs that say ‘Con-tract Now.’ We’re very respectful. We’vehad a number of tentative agreements butwe’re down to substantive issues now andwe’re getting nowhere.”
Board meetings heating upAfter refusing to answer questions of
several union supporters and support staffemployees during an audience commentsection at a Waterford school board meet-
ing, and then coming out with his own five-minute outlash at union officials, schoolboard chairman Brian Whiston abruptlyended the public portion of the meeting bygoing into “executive session.”
Whiston made the move during a Feb.26 meeting as he was about to be chal-lenged by MFT&SRP bargaining represen-tative Liz Duhn on bargaining issues hebrought forward in his statement.
During the public outburst, Whistonstated the Waterford bargainers had offeredhealth care to staff working at least 25 hoursper week and saying he was willing to bar-
gain “right now,” Whiston and the Water-ford School Board however shut down themeeting and went into the private session.
After the abrupt ending, Whiston apol-ogized to one supporter who asked why shewasn’t allowed to speak, quickly finishedsigning some paperwork and then made ahasty exit to an area behind closed doors.
Angry union bargainers noted after themeeting that the next bargaining session isslated for early March.
Stay tuned.
Freelance writer Tom Schram is co-chairof the National Writers Union of SoutheastMichigan. Metro Detroit Labor News Man-aging Editor Shawn Ellis contributed to thisreport.
Waterford Schools workers fight for first contract
Health Care Now: Supporters rally be-hind Waterford Schools workers, whoare seeking a first contract. At a recentschool board meeting, Trustee JohnHimmelspach and Chairman BrianWhiston beat a hasty retreat into execu-tive session after Whiston lashed out atthe union.
Strikers Picket American AxleUAW members struck American Axle in Detroit and other cities after con-tract talks broke off. The workers sought to protect job security and healthcare for retired workers, among other issues. The strike ended February27 with a tentative agreement that awaits ratification votes by members.
STAY INFORMED
Stories on pages 13 and 15 arefrom recent issues of the
Metro Detroit Labor News,successor publication to the
Detroit Labor News.
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by subscribing for just $15 a year from
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“If you need a designer whocan make your message fly off theprinted page and into the hearts
and minds of readers,
Barbara Barefield is your person.”
Dave Elsila, retired editor, UAW Solidarity magazine
“Barefield has been designing our newslet-ters, brochures and publications since1999. The quality of her work has alwaysbeen excellent, professional and highlycreative.”
Julie Hurwitz, Executive Director, NLG/Maurice and Jane Sugar Law Center
for Economic & Social Justice
313-891-2514Barbara Barefield, Barefield DesignWorks
Union member (Graphic Artists Guild)Design & preparation of all printed work
PAGE 14 DETROIT LABOR NEWS
Thank you,MICHIGAN LABOR HISTORY SOCIETY!
“I see … an America wherethe workers are really free;
and through their greatunions … the dignity andsecurity of the workingman and woman are
guaranteed by their ownstrength and fortified by
the safeguards of the law.” — FDR
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS
LOCAL 547 – A, B, C, E, G, H – AFL-CIO
PHILIP SCHLOOPBusiness Manager & International Trustee
DSIAdvocates for People with Disabilities
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We Salute OurLabor Force
Officers, Members & Retirees
UAW Local 8988975 Textile Road, Ypsilanti, MI
UAW LOCAL 898 EXECUTIVE BOARD
Ralph Mayer Abe HereviaPresident Guide
Ralph Puckett TrusteesVice President Anne Drake, Chair
Carolyn ClayGary Prater
Saundra ParsonsRecording Secretary
Rick Roe Joel GoddardFinancial Secretary-Treasurer Plant Chair
Dan Heath Chester WojieSergeant-At-Arms Retired Workers Chapter
Lewis Bradford’s nameis permanently engraved at The Michigan LaborLegacy Landmark.
Shouldn’t yours be, too?
You can still have your name or the name ofa family member, mentor, or union pioneer,permanently placed on the Wall of Honor atthe Michigan Labor Legacy Landmark indowntown Detroit. All it costs is a $100donation. Funds will be used to provide ed-ucational material at the site for teachers,students, and other visitors.
Help keep the spirit of labor alive with your tax-deductible contribution today.Please fill out and mail this coupon now.
To: Michigan Labor Legacy Project c/o Walter P. Reuther Library5401 Cass, Detroit MI 48202
Enclosed is my check for ____.Please place the following individual or fam-ily name on the Wall of Honor at the Michigan Labor Legacy Landmark (lim-it 24 character and spaces,please;only one individual name or family nameper line).
Name for wall_______________________________________________________
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SPECIAL ‘FORGOTTEN’ EDITION PAGE 15
Borders workersratify landmark deal
By a majority vote the weekend of Jan.9, workers at the original Borders BookStore in Ann Arbor, Mich., ratified a first-time contract with the company.
An agreement came Dec. 31 betweenBorders and United Food and CommercialWorkers Local 876, which represented the45-50 workers, organizer Tom Rekuc toldthe radio program “Working Detroit 1460”and the Metro Detroit Labor News.
The two-year deal let workers return totheir jobs Jan. 2, and ended a boycott ofBorders that mobilized union, community,political and student support in the univer-sity town.
Rekuc called it “a victory for the workersas well as the union,” telling Working De-troit that “Borders was embarrassed by pick-eters in front of the store during (holiday)shopping season” and resumed talks in lateDecember “with a more positive attitude.”
Key issues were wages, health care andemployment security, and the workers wonon all three counts, he said. Details werenot disclosed, pending the members’ vote.
Worker writers will gather in Taylor
Organizers are soliciting participants forthe seventh annual Worker Writer Festivalto be held May 1, 2004, at UAW Region 1AHall in Taylor.
The theme for this year’s festival is“Hand Made: Honoring the Legacy of theAmerican Worker.” Worker writers are in-vited to submit poems, short stories, songs,essays or other creative writings dealingwith the theme of workers shaping Ameri-ca with their hands.
“Worker writers are people who workregular jobs and write for the love of it, totell others of what really goes on in theworkplace, to express their vision of a bet-ter world and to inspire others to join themovement and help make this dream cometrue,” said Sam Stark, a local labor activistwho coordinates the festival.
Stark said that organizers are trying toexpand the festival to all unionists in themetropolitan area.
“The Detroit Worker Writer Festival isimportant because it is one of the few placeswhere rank-and-file workers from many dif-ferent unions can come together, meet eachother, learn from each other and form a uni-fied movement,” he said.
For more information, call Stark at (313)926-5291 or e-mail: [email protected].
The Membership and Officers of
UAW Local 653Wish the cast and crew of
‘Forgotten’a production filled with the same pride and determination that inspired the workers at the Ford Rouge plant
when they were struggling to organize the UAW in the 1930s.
SOLIDARITY – YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND FOREVER!P.S. Good Luck to UAW 653 member and Forgotten cast member Sam Kirkland
Charlie Tiedeman, PresidentKit Walk, Vice President
Curt Bailey, 2nd Vice PresidentIvan K. Arnold, Financial Secretary
Marie McDonald, Recording SecretaryJo Halabicky, Guide
Earnest McCray, Sergeant-at-ArmsTrustees: Carolyn Winton, Jerry Coe, Jerome Chaumley
Retiree Chapter: Bonnie Melton, ChairpersonShop Committee Chairmen:
Dave Moore, Gary Lee Parker, Nick Karras, Mike Tierman, Ken Johnson
By Mark GruenbergPress Associates Inc.
The nation’s unemployment rate ended2003 at a December figure of 5.7 percent,with 8.398 million people out of work, theBureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported.
The figures continued the high-unem-ployment trend seen since the U.S.Supreme Court seated GOP nomineeGeorge W. Bush in the Oval Office. As ofDecember, the number of additional joblessduring his reign totals 2.442 million.
The number of unemployed in January2001 — the last data gathered under Pres-ident Clinton — was 5.956 million and theadjusted jobless rate that month was 4 per-cent.
The reason for the drop in the number ofunemployed was a huge one-month decline in total numbers of people in thework force. BLS said 309,000 people left thelabor force in December. Of those, 255,000disappeared from the jobless rolls and
54,000 disappeared from employment rolls.And 23.5 percent of jobless workers
have been unemployed for more than 26weeks, meaning their benefits have runout. Those people are left without any in-come because the GOP-run Congress re-fused to extend federal jobless benefits,which ended Dec. 31.
Some 40.4 percent of all jobless workershave been out for at least four months, BLSdata showed, compared to 37.9 percent of4-month jobless workers last December.
That’s not the whole story. BLS said 9.6percent — one of every 11 — workers arejobless, discouraged or forced to toil invol-untarily part-time when they really wantfull-time work.
The Bush administration argues that therecession is over, but the Economic PolicyInstitute questions that. Bush is using datafrom a less-comprehensive survey — notthe one that BLS uses for its jobless num-bers — to tout employment gains.
That’s not right, says EPI economist Elise
Gold. “Jobs have fallen by 726,000 since the‘end’ of the last recession in November 2001,and 2.35 million since its beginning inMarch 2001,” Gold said in mid-December.
“It’s perfectly understandable why anadministration that has been under the gunfor weakness of the labor market wouldwant to switch to a more-favorable meas-urement,” she added.
In December, factories marked their42nd straight month of losses. With sea-sonal adjustments, they shed 26,000 jobs.Wi t h o u t t h e m , r e a l l o s s e s w e r e43,000. Without seasonal adjustments, fac-tories lost 523,000 jobs in the last 12months. Losses were small but spread overall types of factories.
In 2000, the last year of the Clinton ad-ministration, factories employed an aver-age of 17.263 million people, BLS datashow. The factory decline had already start-ed then, and that figure fell to 16.441 mil-lion in 2001, 15.034 million in Dec. 2002and 14.521 million last month.
Over 8 million out of work,but Congress won’t extend benefits
In the spirit of Lewis Bradford: Detroit's United Way Labor Liaison and former UAW Local 22 President EdPtasznik (right) helps assemble 16,000 information kits that are being distributed to jobless workers in themetro area. While social service agencies are stepping up efforts to help the unemployed, Congress has refusedto extend unemployment benefits to the long-term jobless.
✦ NEWS FOR 2004 ✦
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