Center for Archival Collections

Introduction | Biographical Sketch | Scope and Content | Series Description | Inventory

Introduction

The materials in the Jane R. Gust Collection span the years 1945 to 1983. The four and one-half linear feet of records primarily consist of printed materials illustrating Gust's involvement with the United Food and Allied Workers, AFL-CIO (formerly Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen) and Local 626 as president, business representative and Health and Welfare Fund secretary-treasurer. Correspondence and financial records as well as a copy of the plan show Gust's involvement in developing an insurance plan for members of Local 626. As business representative, Gust acted as an organizer for the national union. This is evidenced in the collection by the materials from various organizer's, conferences and flyers from the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen's efforts to organize the Gerber plant in Asheville, North Carolina. The large number of union newsletters and periodicals would be helpful to the labor historian in identifying important issues and concerns of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen during the 1960s and 1970s. This collection provides the researcher with a solid overview of the national and local issues facing the meat cutters' union during a period of time when the meat industry was becoming increasingly mechanized and many jobs were being eliminated, due in part to the introduction of boxed beef.

Taped interviews with Jane Gust were completed between November 1982 and April 1983 and are available at the Center for Archival Collections. The headquarters of the United Food and Allied Workers are located at 9970 Old Airport Highway, Monclova, Ohio.

The collection was donated and transferred to the Center for Archival Collections on September 5, 1985 by Judith Gust, daughter of Jane Gust. The collection was processed and register prepared by Susan M. Hughes, a manuscript processor, through a grant provided by the Ohio Historical Society.

Biographical Sketch

Jane R. Gust was business representative and president of Local 626, United Food and Allied Workers (formerly Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen). Born in Toledo, Ohio, she graduated from Scott High School in 1931 and married Elroy Gust, with whom she had three children.

Gust had experience in both the labor and management fields. From 1927 to 1942, she worked part-time for Tiedtke's Department Store in Toledo as a sales clerk. In 1942, she went to work at Bunning Brass and Bronze, a defense plant, where she was timekeeper for employees producing piecework. At the War's end in 1945, Gust went to work for Lamson's Department Store as a junior executive trainee.

Gust's career in the meat industry began when she was hired by Krogers in 1952 as a meatwrapper. In six months, she had become union steward and later, recording secretary. Always vitally interested in the welfare of workers, she became business representative of Local 626 in October of 1962. At that time, Gust was the only woman in the meat cutters' union to hold such a position. As business representative, Gust was in on all contract negotiations and visited each retail store in the Toledo area to discuss any employee problems or grievances.

Gust also helped organize many of the retail stores in Local 626's jurisdiction which extends from the borders of Indiana and Michigan to Norwalk and Lima, Ohio. In 1964, she also helped the AFL-CIO organize the Gerber plant in Asheville, North Carolina during a long strike.

Gust was elected president of Local 626 in 1973 and also served as secretary-treasurer of its Health and Welfare Fund. As a legislative representative, she traveled to Washington, D.C. in order to lobby with other representatives of meat cutters' locals for legislation important to the national union.

Outside of Local 626, Gust served on the Executive Board Steering Committee of the AFL-CIO and the Arbitration Group of the Toledo Labor-Management-Citizens Committee. She was a member of the League of Women Voters and a charter member of the Status of Women Commission.

Gust retired from Local 626 in 1978. She died April 13, 1984.

Scope and Content

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.

Series Description

PROCEEDINGS

MEMBERSHIP RECORDS
n.d.
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.

CORRESPONDENCE

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

HEALTH AND WELFARE FUND
1973-1978, n.d.
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.

SUBJECT FILES

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.

REPORTS

HEALTH AND WELFARE FUND
1975; n.d.
Financial audit of 1975 records of Local 626's Health and Welfare Fund.

LITERARY PRODUCTIONS

DIARIES
1974, 1975, 1976.
Arranged chronologically
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.

SPEECH
n.d.
Speech given by Jane Gust to Toledo Area Council of Union Women on history of unionization; handwritten.

FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS

FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS
1974-1976, n.d.
Arranged chronologically
Billing statements to Local 626 and lists of Life Insurance premiums paid by companies employing 626 members.

NEWSCLIPPINGS

NEWSCLIPPINGS
1968, 1972, n.d.
Arranged chronologically
Newsclippings pertaining to Union concerns; interview with Jane Gust from San Diego newspaper.

PRINTED MATERIALS

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, n.d.
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, n.d.
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, n.d.
(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, n.d.
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, n.d.
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."

PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS

PHOTOGRAPHS
1963, 1972, n.d.
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
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.

TAPE RECORDINGS

TAPED INTERVIEWS
November 1982-April 1983.
Arranged by tape number.
Tapes are labeled by MS number and located in tape recording drawer.
Includes detailed interviews between Jane Gust and interviewer, Paulette Weiser regarding Jane Gust's union career.

Inventory

Box 1

Folders

1. Membership Records, n.d.

Box 2

Folders

1. Minutes - Health and Welfare Fund Trustees, 1974-1976
2. Correspondence - General, 1964, 1968,1970-1983, n.d.
3. Correspondence - Health and Welfare Fund, 1973-1974
4. Correspondence - Health and Welfare Fund, 1975-1976, n.d.
5. Correspondence - Retirement, 1977-1978
6. Office Files - Farm Bureau Organizing Bill (H 536), 1977-1978
7. Office Files - Meat Cutting Apprenticeship Standards, 1965-1969
8. Office Files - National Legislative Conference, 1973
9. Office Files - Organizing Gerber Plant, 1964
10. Reports - Health and Welfare Fund, 1975, n.d.

Box 3

Folders

1. Literary Productions - Daily Business Dairy, 1974
2. Literary Productions - Daily Business Dairy, 1975
3. Literary Productions - Daily Business Dairy, 1976
4. Literary Productions - Speech: Toledo Area Council of Union Women, n.d.
5. Financial Documents - Billing Statements, 1976
6. Financial Documents - Life Insurance, Premium Billing, Local 626, June 1974-May 1976
7. Newsclippings - General, 1968, 1972, n.d.
8. Printed Materials - Agreements: A & P and Locals 626, 590, 1956-1959, 1967-1977
9. Printed Materials - Agreements: Campbell Soup, Peter Eckrich, E-Z Packing and Local 626, 1966-1969, 1973, 1979
10. Printed Materials - Agreements: Heinz, Hunt-Wesson and Local 626, 1964, 1971-1980
11. Printed Materials - Agreements: La Choy, F. G. Leydorf, J. H. Routh and Local 626, 1955, 1967, 1970, 1976

Box 4

Folders

1. Printed Materials - Agreements: Kroger and Locals 20, 539, 590, and 626, 1947, 1956, (1960?), 1964-1977
2. Printed Materials - Agreements: Independent Markets and Locals 539, 551, and 212, 1951, 1967-1977
3. Printed Materials - Agreements: Local 626 Health and Welfare Plan, 1967
4. Printed Materials - Agreements: National Union Pension and Death Benefits, (1958?), 1971, 1973, (1975?)
5. Printed Materials - Merger Agreement: Amalgamated Meat Cutters and United Packinghouse Workers, 1968
6. Printed Materials - Certificates: Jane Gust, 1963, 1969, 1979, nd
7. Printed Materials - Conferences: Annual Steward's Educational Conference, 1975
8. Printed Materials - Conferences: Legislative and C.O.P.E., 1963
9. Printed Materials - Conferences: National Democratic Party, 1978
10. Printed Materials - Conferences: National Legislative, 1977
11. Printed Materials - Conferences: Organizer's Conference, 1966
12. Printed Materials - Conferences: Retail Conference, 1970, 1973
13. Printed Materials - Constitutions: Amalgamated Meat Cutters, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972
14. Printed Materials - Constitutions: Amalgamated Meat Cutters, District 2, 1975
15. Printed Materials - Constitutions: Amalgamated Meat Cutters, Local 56, n.d.
16. Printed Materials - Constitutions: Ohio State Branch, 1958, n.d.
17. Printed Materials - Constitutions: Toledo Area AFL-CIO, 1970
18. Printed Materials - Constitutions: By-Laws, Local 626, 1982

Box 5

1. Printed Materials - Conventions: Business, Agents' Institute, 1963
2. Printed Materials - Conventions: C.O.P.E., 1964
3. Printed Materials - Conventions: District 2 Organizing, 1977
4. Printed Materials - Conventions: Twenty-First National, 1964
5. Printed Materials - Conventions: Twenty-Second National, 1968
6. Printed Materials - Conventions: Twenty-Third National, 1972
7. Printed Materials - Conventions: Twenty-Third National, 1972

Box 6

Folders

1. Printed Materials - Conventions: Twenty-Fourth National, 1976
2. Printed Materials - Conventions: Twenty-Fourth National, 1976
3. Printed Materials - Dinner and Banquet Programs, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1978
4. Printed Materials - Local 626 Insurance Plan, 1963, 1974
5. Printed Materials - Manuals and Handbooks, 1964, 1968-1970, n.d.
6. Printed Materials - Membership and Identification Cards, 1946, 1968-1983, n.d.
7. Printed Materials - Miscellaneous, 1963, 1978
8. Printed Materials - Newsletters: C.O.P.E., 1963-1964
9. Printed Materials - Newsletters: Group Research Report, 1963-1964
10. Printed Materials - Locals 525, 539, 1972, 1973
11. Printed Materials - Newsletters: Local 539, 1973
12. Printed Materials - Local 626, Nov. 1968, July 1975, July, Sept.-Dec. 1976
13. Printed Materials - Newsletters: National Foreman's Institute and National Farmers Union, 1945, 1977
14. Printed Materials - Newsletters: Ohio AFL-CIO, 1963-1964

Box 7

1. Printed Materials - Poetry Book: "Mr. Amalgamated", 1976
2. Printed Materials - Reports: AFL-CIO Economic Plan, 1981
3. Printed Materials - Reports: Farm and Migrant Labor, 1959-1964
4. Printed Materials - Reports: Meat Inspection Legislation, 1967
5. Printed Materials - Reports: Miscellaneous Amalgamated Meat Cutters, 1969, 1975-1976
6. Printed Materials - Reports: Miscellaneous Amalgamated Meat Cutters Resolutions, (1979?), n.d.
7. Printed Materials - Reports: Second National Civil Rights Conference, 1974
8. Printed Materials - Speech Transcripts, 1970, n.d.
9. Photographs - Conventions, n.d.
10. Photographs - Equal Employment Opportunity Consultation, 1972
11. Photographs - John F. Kennedy with Legislative and C.O.P.E. Conference Delegates, 1963
12. Photographs - State Branch Conference, n.d.
13. Photographs - Unidentified, n.d.
14. Periodicals - The Butcher Workman, July, Aug., Oct., Nov. 1960
15. Periodicals - The Butcher Workman, April, June, Aug.-Nov. 1963
16. Periodicals - The Butcher Workman, Jan., Feb., April-Sept. 1964
17. Periodicals - The Butcher Workman, April, June - Dec. 1965

Box 8

Folders

1. Periodicals - The Butcher Workman, Jan.-Nov. 1966
2. Periodicals - The Butcher Workman, Jan., March-June 1967
3. Periodicals - The Butcher Workman, April, July, Aug. 1968
4. Periodicals - The Butcher Workman, May 1973, June 1976
5. Periodicals - The Butcher Workman, May-Aug. 1977, Dec. 1978, Jan. 1979
6. Periodicals - Meat, July-Sept., Nov., Dec. 1963
7. Periodicals - Meat, March-Aug. 1964
8. Periodicals - Meat, May, June, Sept., Oct. 1965

Box 9

Folders

1. Periodicals - Meat, Feb., March, Aug., Dec. 1967
2. Periodicals - Meat, Jan., April, May, July-Sept. 1968
3. Periodicals - Meat, Feb.-May 1969
4. Periodicals - Meat, April, May, Nov. 1970
5. Periodicals - Meat, Feb., April 1971
6. Printed Materials - Union Market Sign, n.d.

Box 10

Folders

1. "We're the Amalgamated", n.d.
2. "Citizens First", 1964
3. "Union of the Big Shoulders", 1972

Box 11

1. Tape 1, Side 1
2. Tape 2, Side 1 and Side 2(part)
3. Tape 3, Side 1 and Side 2(part)
4. Tape 4, Side 1 and Side 2(part)

TAPE RECORDINGS

8 Tapes (Copies) and 4 Master Tapes - Of Interviews with Jane Gust, Nov. 1982-April 1983 Located in Tape Recording Drawer

Tape One, Side One

Counter Number; Subject

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

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

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

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)

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

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