Gerald Dickey Collection

Series List

Series 1 - United Steelworkers of America Materials
Series 1 contains a sporadic run of USWA agreements, proposed agreements, benefits materials, and settlements with various steel companies dating 1965-1992, covering employee wages, and retirement, pension, and unemployment payments. Agreements, proposed agreements, settlements, and benefits materials are arranged in separate Folders and are further arranged by chronology. Flyers dating 1977-1978, ca. 1980, and 1986, and letters sent and received for 1978-1979 primarily include items written by USWA leaders and steel company executives about benefits for laid-off employees. Series 1 contains a limited number of newsletters, Intercom (1979) and Rank and File (ca. 1977), and a newspaper, The Local 1211 Steel Worker (1979), printed by USWA Locals. Sporadic union campaign materials exist for 1969, 1976-1977, 1980-1981, and undated, including flyers, voting results, and a booklet, "Official Observer Instructions" (1977). Much of the campaign material relates to Ed Sadlowski's 1977 bid to be elected international president. Letters, flyers, newsletters, and election materials are arranged by chronology. Included in Series 1 are the code of ethics and by-laws of the United Steelworkers Press Association for 1967 as well as a journalistic award it gave to the Brier Hill Unionist in 1978. International Labor Press Association materials include an awards list (1975), a journalistic award given to the Brier Hill Unionist in 1979, and a pamphlet, Speaking of Labor Unions (1964), which offers a glossary of terms for the American Labor movement.

Series 2 - United Steelworkers of America, Local #1462, Records
Series 2 contains an agreement made in 1953 between YS & T and local unions on procedures for calling employees to work, a 1976 arbitration award granting witness pay to Local #1462 members, and a sporadic run of monthly financial reports of the Local for 1971 and 1973-1980, which list balances, to whom disbursements were made, and the amount of assets. Financial reports are arranged chronologically. Flyers (1977-1979, n.d.) are mostly written by Ed Mann on strike issues and the shutdown of the Brier Hill Plant. Letters sent and received (1976, 1978-1980, n.d.) include as writers Local #1462 members Gerald Dickey and Ed Mann, Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass), Youngstown Mayor Jack Hunter, and various USWA leaders, and primarily relate to plant shutdowns, Mr. Dickey's involvement with the International Labor Press Association, and the Lykes-LTV merger. Letters and flyers are arranged alphabetically by the name of the author and are further arranged by chronology. Series 2 includes materials relating to a March 1979 rally to keep the Brier Hill Plant open, and a news release (n.d) stating that local unions had filed unfair business practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board against YS & T. Other records include a 1979 statement by Local #1462 representatives asking that the J & L Corporation transfer ownership of the Brier Hill Plant to a community organization, and the minutes of a 1978 meeting of USWA and Justice Department officials over the merger of the LTV and Lykes Corporations. Notes and notebooks (spiral and legal pad) date 1978-1979 and contain minutes of meetings on plant shutdowns and rough drafts of articles and pamphlets written by Mr. Dickey. Series 2 also consists of an incomplete run of the Brier Hill Unionist newsletter (September 1973-November/December 1979), photocopies of resolutions (n.d.) passed by Local #1462 calling for a reduction in union dues and USWA officer's salaries, grievance reports (1941-1943), and memorandums of agreement (1980, n.d.) between YS &T and Local #1462 covering seniority, employee incentives, job reassignments, and pension plans. Much of the material in Series 2 is ephemeral, and includes strike ballots and vote booklets (1974, 1977), sketches (n.d.), and Local election materials (1970, 1973, 1976, 1979, n.d.)

Series 3 - United Steelworkers of America, Local #1418 Materials
Series 3 consists of material relating to Local #1418 whose employees worked out of the Brier Hill Plant and includes a list of officers, grievance committeemen, and appointed committees (ca. 1976); arbitration awards upholding the dismissal of an employee from YS & T in 1956 and against YS & T in 1974 for reducing workers' hours and pay; and 1975 issues of Shop and Other Talk, the official newsletter of Local #1418.

Series 4 - Ecumenical Coalition Related Materials
In Series 4 is a 1979 brochure "The Proposed Community Steel Incorporated," which the Ecumenical Coalition of the Mahoning Valley (ECMV) prepared about reopening the Campbell Works as a joint community and employee-run operation. Among ECMV materials are a flyer "Will He Have A Future in the Valley?" (1979), calling on Mahoning Valley residents to support reopening the Campbell Works, an invitation to an ECMV-sponsored dinner (1979), and a letter written in 1978 by ECMV attorney Staughton Lynd urging the J & L Steel Corporation not to remove peelers from the Brier Hill Plant. There are several related reports done at the request of the ECMV or consulted by it: New Steel at Campbell: A Study of the Feasibility of Reopening the Campbell Works by the Western Reserve Economic Development Agency, Youngstown Religious Coalition, and George Beetle, Consulting Engineer (1977); An Economic Adjustment Plan for Mahoning and Trumbull Counties, Ohio by the Western Reserve Economic Development Agency (ca. 1977); Youngstown Demonstration Project: Final Report Summary by the National Center for Economic Alternatives (1978); Steel in Crisis by Father William T. Hogan, S. J. (1977), of the Steel Communities Coalition.

Series 5 - Steel Company Related Materials
Series 5 contains items on the Brier Hill Steel Company, including business orders for steel products sold to railroads in 1918 and 1920, a map and letters drafted in 1917 relating to railroad improvements, an indenture of the company to YS & T in 1923, and a letter of a job applicant (n.d.) Business orders are arranged alphabetically by the name of the purchasing company and are further arranged by chronology. Materials pertaining to the J & L Steel Corporation include employee injury reports for 1978-1979, a company news release issued in 1979 announcing the closing of the Campbell Works and Brier Hill, and feasibility studies of converting an open hearth shop (1979) and manufacturing rails at Brier Hill (ca. 1979). YS & T related materials include an accident report prepared in 1978, flyers (n.d.) issued by YS & T urging employees not to strike, minutes of a union-management meeting (1943) on worker scheduling, a 1973 memorandum charging that the Brier Hill Unionist had printed misleading information, safety booklets (1976; n.d.), and job descriptions. Series 5 also contains material on inland water information which includes a letter written in 1931 to YS & T Engineer J. A. Miller by the Army Corps of Engineers on the Lake Erie and Ohio River canal project, related flyers (1930-1931), and booklets (1915, 1931, n.d.) Republic Steel Corporation material includes undated profiles of the Youngstown and Warren plants and a newsletter, Republic Reporter (April 1981).

Series 6 - Miscellaneous Materials
Miscellaneous materials include a letter and statement written in 1979 by Congressman Eugene Atkinson (R-Pa) charging foreign companies with "dumping" steel products into the U. S. market, a press release issued the same year by Congressman Lyle Williams (R-Ohio) criticizing steel companies for plant closings in his district, and an order by the Mahoning Court of Common Pleas in the case of YS & T v. USWA, District 26 (1975), approving a memorandum of agreement. There is a Folder of miscellaneous articles, which include profiles of 1977 USWA Presidential candidates Lloyd McBride and Ed Sadlowski, and a discussion by Gerald Dickey, in The Center Magazine (November\December 1979), on why the Community Steel, Inc. project failed. Series 6 also contains a Folder of material pertaining to attorney Staughton Lynd's involvement in the U.S. District Court case of Anchor Motor Freight v. Teamsters Local Union 377, including a district court order issued in that case in 1979, a National Law Review article (September 1979) discussing it, and a related letter written by Lynd in 1979 to Gerald Dickey. Miscellaneous Materials also consist of reports by the Ohio Public Interest Campaign (n.d.) and the Joint Labor Union Study Tour Participants (1979), which examined business closing policies, and an undated mission statement of the Steelworkers United for Employment (SUE), which lists the founding members and goals for SUE, as well as its intent to join with the Ecumenical Coalition in establishing Community Steel, Inc. In Series 6 is a Folder of materials pertaining to the Transport Workers Union, including a report of the president (1977), a constitution of the union (n.d.), and several pamphlets dating 1972-1979 giving information on benefits for TWU members.

Series 7 - Photographs
Series 7 includes 23 color and black and white photographs of a USWA protest walk on Washington (ca. 1981), a retirement party held in 1980 for former Local #1462 president Ed Mann, Gerald Dickey at an International Labor Press Association meeting (n.d.), New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller (n.d.), USWA activist Marvin Weinstock (n.d.), and the 1979 rally to keep the Brier Hill Plant open. Depicted in the rally photographs are Gerald Dickey, William Sferra, president of Local #1418, Edward Mann, and District 26 President Frank Leseganich.

Provenance

The Ohio Historical society acquired the Gerald Dickey collection as a gift from Mr. Dickey in 1992. Jack L. Ballard processed the collection in 1994. The Ohio Historical Society owns the property rights of the collection. What rights the donor possessed in this collection have been dedicated to the public. Consideration of all other copyrights is the responsibility of the author and publisher. This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Ohio Historical Society. Researchers are requested to cite the collection name, the collection number, the Youngstown Historical Center of the Industry and Labor, and the Ohio Society in all footnote and bibliographic references. Jack L. Ballard, August 9, 1994.

CONTAINER LIST