Topic: Connecticut Labor History in Archives & Special Collections

Collection consists of the records of labor unions in the greater New Haven, Connecticut, area, including the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Local 125/International Ladies Garment Workers Union Local 151; the Typographical Union of New Haven (ITU No. 47); the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Local 1939; the New Haven Council for Unemployed Workers; the Office and Professional Employees International Union, Local 153; and he New Haven Federation of Teachers, Local 933. The collection also includes the papers of labor leaders and activists including David Montgomery, Joseph M. Rourke, Nicholas Aiello, Dorothy Johnson and the records of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local 299; Frank Panzarella as President and Chief Steward of IAMAW Local Lodge 1990, and the United Way Papers of Irm Wessel.

The Local represents production workers at United Technologies Corporation's Pratt and Whitney plant in Southington, Connecticut. Lodge members work at the Pratt and Whitney plant in East Hartford, Connecticut. Workers at both plants make jet engines and components for commercial and military aircraft. Lodge 1746A is a member of IAMAW District 91.

District Lodge 91 received its charter in May 1953. At that time the representative locals consisted of Hartford Aircraft Lodge 743, chartered in 1941, representing workers at Hamilton Standard (located in East Hartford until 1952 when it moved to Windsor Locks); Industrial Aircraft Lodge 1746, chartered in February 1945, representing workers at Pratt and Whitney, East Hartford; and Industrial Aircraft Lodge 1746A, chartered in October 1951, representing Pratt and Whitney workers in Southington. In March 1959, Canal Lodge 700, in Middletown, was chartered and added to District 91 representation. Prior to 1953, Pratt and Whitney workers' lodges were part of IAM District 26. As of 1984, District 91 included Lodge 700, Lodge 707 (from North Haven), Lodge 743, Lodge 1746, and Lodge 1746A.

Publications and materials pertaining to the United Auto Workers union, local 1010, and its representation of employees of the Lycoming AVCO Manufacturing Corporation in Stratford, Connecticut.

The papers consist of materials generated by Badolato in his career as member of the Connecticut House of Representatives and as a labor leader with AFSCME Council 4. They include materials from AFSCME conventions, campaign literature from elections in which Badolato ran for the Connecticut House of Representatives, records Badolato generated as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, administrative records of AFSCME Council..., and information involving the labor and political scene in Connecticut from the 1940s to the 1990s.

Eugene St. Pierre was a prominent labor leader in the Hartford area from 1955 to 1974. St. Pierre worked for the Arrow-Hart & Hageman Corporation of Hartford for twenty-seven years, rose through the ranks of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Local 1013 to eventually become its president. He was one of the original founding members of the local when it was organized in 1933. Over the years he served the union in various capacities as steward, recording secretary, financial secretary, and executive board member. Documents in the collection include correspondence, reports, surveys, newsletters, financial and administrative records, minutes, and ephemera.

The collection consists of materials gathered by Henry Stieg, a machinist at the Pratt & Whitney Division of the Niles-Bement-Pond Company from 1940 to 1973 and departmental steward in the Unity Lodge Local 251 of the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers and, after 1948, Unity Lodge, Local 405 of the United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, C.I.O.. The materials include publications, newsletters and\ flyers and memoranda of the locals and the company, drawings and machine plans, reports and maps, correspondence, contract proposals and agreements, job evaluations, newspaper clippings and pamphlets. Topics include a strike at the company, by Local 251, in 1946 and labor issues between the company's workers and its owners as well as other general issues in labor relations.

Henry Becker had a long and distinguished labor career beginning with Lodge 1746 of the International Association of Machinists while working for Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in East Hartford. He was also affiliated with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, American Federation of Teachers, Greater Hartford Labor Council, Connecticut State Labor Council, and other state-wide boards.

John Driscoll had a full-time position with the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), the United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO. He became executive secretary of the Connecticut State Labor Council in 1957 and was elected president in 1961, a position he held until his retirement in 1985. During that time he worked for the rights of public employees to unionize, served on the Governor's Council of Economic Advisors and on the state's first Commission for Higher Education.

The collection documents Tomassetti's labor activities and involvement in the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers Union (UE) as it relates to his career as a union organizer in Connecticut. Documents include correspondence, reports, administrative and legal records, strike and negotiation materials, directories, minutes, publications, scrapbooks, photographs and newspaper clippings.

Stephen Thornton's career includes a progression of positions as an organizer for various unions, including as Executive Vice President of the AFSCME Local 1716 when he worked as a daycare teacher in Hartford, Connecticut, and the Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges (1980-1990), the International Ladies Garment Workers (1990-1994), and as Vice President of 1199/SEIU (Service Employees International Union) from 1994 to his retirement in 2013. The papers consist of alternative newspapers, flyers, pamphlets, notes, correspondence, writings, and campaign or political buttons.

The collection consists of materials gathered by Henry Stieg, a machinist at the Pratt & Whitney Division of the Niles-Bement-Pond Company from 1940 to 1973 and departmental steward in the Unity Lodge Local 251 of the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers and, after 1948, Unity Lodge, Local 405 of the United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, C.I.O.. The materials include publications, newsletters and
flyers and memoranda of the locals and the company, drawings and machine plans, reports and maps, correspondence, contract proposals and agreements, job evaluations, newspaper clippings and pamphlets. Topics include a strike at the company, by Local 251, in 1946 and labor issues between the company's workers and its owners as well as other general issues in labor relations.

The papers consist of materials generated and gathered by James A. Ingalls when he served as a Field Representative of the International Union of Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers, AFL-CIO. They include contracts, correspondence, legal records, financial records, newspaper clippings and notes from when Ingalls represented Connecticut local chapters to negotiate contracts, resolve strikes and lockouts, and develop collective bargaining agreements,
pension plans and compensation and health benefits packages.

The collection documents Tomassetti's labor activities and involvement in the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers Union (UE) as it relates to his career as a union organizer in Connecticut. Documents include correspondence, reports, administrative and legal records, strike and negotiation materials, directories, minutes, publications, scrapbooks, photographs and newspaper clippings.

Ralph Pancallo was a long-standing member of the International Typographical Union (now the Communications Workers of America). Pancallo also served as vice president of the Connecticut State Labor Council, secretary and president of the New Britain Central Labor Council, and as both president and treasurer of the New Britain Typographical Union #679 (now the Connecticut Typographical Union #679). The papers comprise materials collected by Pancallo, including union meeting minutes, financial ledgers, printed materials, correspondence, clippings, convention reports, programs, and films.

The collection comprises interview transcripts conducted by the University of Connecticut Center for Oral History, and individuals and programs associated with the Center. The Center began life as the Oral History Project in 1968 and after expanding over the 1970s was made a center by the UConn Board of Trustees in 1981. The collection includes the transcripts of interviews with workers who participated in the 1935 Colt strike, along with other collections focused on labor and industry in Connecticut.